Cinematic Homelands: The Cultural and Gendered Imaginaries of Iranian Diasporic Womens Filmmaking

This book maps an emerging cycle of films made by Iranian diasporic women filmmakers and produced outside of Iran, focusing on five significant examples: Shirin Neshats Women Without Men (2009), Sepideh Farsis Red Rose (2014), Maryam Keshavarzs Circumstance (2011), Ana Lily Amirpours A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) and Desiree Akhavans Appropriate Behaviour (2014). These films speak to the emergence of feminist concerns surrounding gender relations, female subjectivity and sexuality in diasporic filmmaking. The book intends to show how the body of recent Iranian diasporic womens films demonstrates a substantial shift within the existing exilic and diasporic paradigm, requiring analysis of intersectional relations not only between ethnicity, culture and nationality, but also gender and sexuality. Attending closely to the vibrant feminist film culture generated by Iranian women in diaspora, this book aims to interrogate the diversity of womens filmmaking practices and their role in shaping new representations of female subjectivity and the diasporic condition.