dictionary’s entries on particular films and filmmakers do not make blanket presumptions about national or political concerns and have been careful to integrate descriptions and interpretations of them that will respect cultural differences while not eliding cross-cultural considerations and implications.
Scholarly analysis of Middle Eastern cinema has been practiced within many academic disciplines, using different approaches, but hails in part from area studies, a broadly interdisciplinary, Western academic field established and partly funded by the U.S. Department of State under the legislative act known as Title VI, first instituted in 1958 and renewed, often with significant emendations and changes of emphasis, every six years thereafter. Area studies’ wide scope, initially bolstered by Cold War imperatives—which, under the auspices of the U.S. Information Agency/Service, were also responsible for many film educational initiatives throughout the Middle East—has also sometimes tended to homogenize that region, thus running the risk of furthering orientalist views about it. One complex facet of this approach may be seen in contemporary debates over the status of women in the Middle East, especially in relation to a frequently misunderstood Islam, all too often treated as coterminous with the region. Framed commonly by social science paradigms of anthropology, ethnography, sociology, archaeology, and psychology, Middle Eastern women have often been positioned as needful of “modern” uplift and humanitarian rescue. Under this system, women and women’s issues are evaluated either according to universal models, such as those pertaining to social and reproductive roles or women’s rights—by which Middle Eastern societies are found deficient—or, conversely, by discourses limited to quite specific localities, which may all but foreclose debate on the subject. Both approaches fail to accommodate sufficiently the views of women in the region, something else we have also tried to redress in this historical dictionary.
A Note on What Is Not Here
This volume covers a broadly defined Middle East, as explained in the preface. Its reach has not been expanded to Central Asia, despite the relationship between Tajik and Persian and the Turkic languages that predominate in most of the other former Soviet republics. These countries maintain strong links to Russia, and their diasporic and exile communities are predominantly resident there. Afghanistan, an entry about which has been included, marks a special case, in that it has been incorporated into American conceptions of the Middle East by post–11 September 2001 discourse. In addition, parts of Afghanistan, especially the area around Herat in the west, have for long periods been part of historic Persia. We include an entry on the country, however, partially because of the involvement of Iranian filmmakers who, in working there, have tried to help reestablish cinema since the fall of the Taliban. At the other geographical extreme, we have drawn an imaginary line under the disputed territory of Western Sahara and do not include an entry on the largely Arab Muslim country of Mauritania—although we do have one on Abderrahmane Sissako because of his importance to the theorization of global neoliberalism, migration, and Islam. For similar reasons, our coverage does not extend to Chad in central Africa, although we include in the second edition of this volume an entry on the largely Arab country of Sudan in East Africa, where the very first stirrings of a revival in the cinema are only just occurring. This is not meant to imply that the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa are entirely distinct culturally or politically—as demonstrated by the pan-African production conditions referred to in the entry on Ousmane Sembene’s Camp de Thiaroye (1987). Finally, because their cinemas are still so little developed, neither Libya, another country embroiled in civil struggle so that possibilities for film production are severely circumscribed, nor the Gulf state of Oman have been given entries. This still leaves a plethora of engaging material in the compelling, interlinked, but distinctive entries on the cinemas of Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and the diasporic and exilic cinemas associated with them, and on the increasing if uneven production in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
A
ABAZA, RUSHDI (1927–1980)
A muscular Italian Egyptian actor famed during the 1950s and 1960s as both the romantic lead and tough guy, Abaza was born into a wealthy family and was fluent in five languages. Although he had no prior experience in the theater, he was keen to act in cinema; his first small role was in the film The Little Millionairess (Kamal Karim, 1948). In 1950, he attempted to break into the Italian film industry but, meeting with no success, returned to Egypt to play several minor roles. Many saw him as having the potential to reach international fame (comparable to that achieved by Omar Sharif) because he played small roles in The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956) and In the Valley of the Kings (Robert Pirosh, 1954). With slicked-back hair and a trimmed moustache, Abaza’s suave appearance could easily become disheveled and—shirt off—raunchy during the course of a film. In The Road (Hossam Eddin Mostafa, 1966), Abaza’s role as Saber is split according to his relationship with two very different women—as played by Souad Hosni and Shadia.
Under the direction of Ezzedine Zulficar, Rushdi starred in some of his most notable roles, including Road of Hope (1957) and A Woman on the Road (1958). Typical for the industry, these films set the tone for Abaza’s subsequent performances. He was often cast as the sleazy individual with a good heart—and a tendency to drink, gamble, and engage in illicit love affairs. He played the role of a gangster in The Second Man (Zulficar, 1959), starring Samia Gamal and Sabah, and a strong and canny sailor in Struggle on the Nile (Atef Salem, 1959), alongside Hind Rustom and Omar Sharif, while in A Man in Our House (Henri Barakat, 1961), he plays the opportunistic cousin who willingly exploits the situation. In Lost Love (Barakat, 1970), Abaza’s character cheats on his wife (Zubeida Tharwat) with her best friend (Hosni). Abaza also starred in comedies where, in contrast, he plays a hapless victim of the canny ploys of a witty and relentless female—most memorably in Too Young for Love (Niazi Mustafa, 1966), opposite Hosni. In The Little Witch (Mustafa, 1963), he is tormented, also by Hosni, who mistakes him for her estranged father, moves into his house, and disrupts his bachelor lifestyle, while in Wife Number 13 (Fatin Abdel-Wahab, 1962), his bride (Shadia) refuses to consummate their relationship after she discovers that he is a serial romantic who quickly loses interest after marriage. Similarly, in Beware of Eve (Abdel-Wahab, 1962), he plays a veterinary doctor who ultimately tames an ill-tempered shrew (Loubna Abdel Aziz). Abaza married actresses Sabah, Tahiyya Carioca, and Samia Gamal and continued to act until he fell ill and died before completing his role in the 1982 film The Strong Men (Ashraf Fahmy).
ABBASS, HIAM (1960–)
An increasingly visible figure in contemporary world cinema, Palestinian actress Abbass has appeared in several landmark Middle Eastern films. The most recent of these is Amreeka (Cherien Dabis, 2009), arguably the first Palestinian–American feature, in which she plays a sharp-tongued immigrant to the United States from the Occupied Palestinian Territories—a role that resituates but reprises her more militant role as a beur organizer in Living in Paradise (Bourlem Guerdjou, 1998). Abbass’s star persona is one of cool, often enigmatic introspection coupled with intelligent, principled resistance, characteristics that have led to her successful casting in Palestinian as well as Israeli films, notably Haifa (Rashid Masharawi, 1996), The Syrian Bride (Eran Riklis, 2004), Paradise Now (Hany Abu-Assad, 2005), Free Zone (Amos Gitai, 2005), Disengagement (Gitai, 2007), and Lemon Tree (Riklis, 2008), for which she won the Best Actress award from the Israeli Film Academy. Born in Nazareth and raised as a traditional Muslim, Abbass has also appeared in numerous international coproductions, including Ali, Rabia and the Others (Ahmed Boulane, 2000), Satin Rouge (Raja Amari, 2002), and Gate of the Sun (Yousry
