Sumaiya Rahman, Gender and Politics in Iranian Film

CFP: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/09/16/international-conference-on-gender-studies-%E2%80%9Cgender-narratives%E2%80%9D

Proposal

There have been many great films put out in Iran over the years. They’ve gotten a wide assortment of awards, such as Oscars, Golden Globes, a Satellite award, and many other accolades since the 1960’s. The Iranian New Wave occurred from the 1960’s to the 1970’s, right before the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. It was in response to the cultural, societal, and political pressures of the time. During this cinematic era, many new directors came out, especially women and they haven’t stopped producing wonderful arts that showcase gender and politics in Iran. Ever since the Iranian New Wave, there have been whirlwinds of change in the gender and politics and that is shown through Iranian film that is put out daily. Some of the great women directors in Iranian film include Marjane Satrapi, Samira Makhmalbaf, Niki Karimi, and a very notable one is Rakhshan Banietemad. Banietemad produced many iconic films such as Canary Yellow, Tales, Nargess, and many more. In Nargess and many of her other works Banietemad challenges censorship and she was even sentenced to prison at one point. There are not many works observing women and politics in Iranian film, and I would like to discuss Banietemad’s works and how revolutionary they were.

Banietemad and other female director’s works were insurgent after the Iranian New Wave. I would love to present the diversity and showcasing of gender and politics in Iran over the years and its changes through film.

Biography

Sumaiya Rahman graduated from Yale with a master’s in gender studies and minored in anthropology. She has always been very passionate about cinema in her own time and has been eager to deeply discover how gender and politics is and has been portrayed in film throughout the world.