Roots of the New Arab Film deals with the generation of filmmakers from across North Africa and the Middle East who created an international awareness of Arab film from the mid-1980s onwards. These seminal filmmakers experienced the moment of national independence first-hand in their youth and retained a deep attachment to their homeland. Although these aspiring filmmakers had to seek their training abroad, they witnessed a time of filmic revival in Europe – Fellini and Antonioni in Italy, the French New Wave, and British Free Cinema.
Returning home, these filmmakers brought a unique insider/outsider perspective to bear on local developments in society since independence, including the divide between urban and rural communities, the continuing power of traditional values and the status of women in a changing society. As they made their first films back home, the feelings of participation in a worldwide movement of new, independent filmmaking was palpable. Roots of the New Arab Film is a necessary and comprehensive resource for anyone interested in the foundations of Arab cinema.
Roy Armes is Professor Emeritus of Film at Middlesex University. He has written extensively on African and Arab filmmaking and his latest books include dictionaries of both African and Middle Eastern filmmakers and, most recently, New Voices in Arab Cinema and Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East.
Reviews:
“Roy Armes, who has already established himself as one of the most insightful and productive writers on Arab cinema, looks both backward and forward, showing how this generation of Arab filmmakers extends and innovates with regard to earlier generations, laying the groundwork for filmmakers working in the 2000s.”
— Kevin Dwyer, author of, Beyond Casablanca: M. A. Tazi and the Adventure of Moroccan Cinema
“The structure, argument, and content of this volume treat a timely topic that will meet a welcoming readership. It will make a nice companion to New Voices in Arab Cinema and fill a void in scholarship on the Arab world and in cinema in general.”
— Michael F. O'Riley, author of , Cinema in an Age of Terror: North Africa, Victimization, and Colonial History