Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East: A Dictionary Roy Armes 9780253355188

In this landmark dictionary, Roy Armes details the scope and diversity of filmmaking across the Arab Middle East. Listing more than 550 feature films by more than 250 filmmakers, and short and documentary films by another 900 filmmakers, this volume covers the film production in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and the Gulf States. An introduction by Armes locates film and filmmaking traditions in the region from early efforts in the silent era to state-funded productions by isolated filmmakers and politically engaged documentarians. Part 1 lists biographical information about the filmmakers and their feature films. Part 2 details key feature films from the countries represented. Part 3 indexes feature-film titles in English and French with details about the director, date, and country of origin.

Roy Armes is Professor Emeritus of Film at Middlesex University. He has published widely on world cinema and is author of Dictionary of African Filmmakers (IUP, 2008).

This is a unique resource that is scholarly and comprehensive in its coverage. It will be useful in academic libraries with extensive film collections a well as in larger public libraries with comprehensive film collections.

[Armes] has produced an excellent essay about the interaction of politics and cinema in the Arab world, which is worth consulting by anyone interested in this topic. Further, Armes has created a great resource for the study of Arab documentaries, and the book will become an important work for just this reason.

Given the breadth of sources, depth of subject coverage, and excellence of the author, this volume is a necessary purchase for academic and large public libraries. . . . Essential.April 2011