سخنران: دکتر گلبرگ رکابطلایی، استادیار تاریخ، دانشگاه سیتون هال
شناخت و ارزیابی سینمای ایران در سطح بینالمللی از دههٔ ۱۹۹۰ میلادی منجر به علاقهٔ بیسابقهای به مطالعهٔ علمی و مردمی سینمای ایران شده است. با این حال، تمرک ز بر دورههای متأخر تاریخ سینمای ایران موجب بیتوجهی به فعالیتهای سینمایی در دورههای پیشین شده است. این سخنرانی به بررسی نقش سینما در مدرنیتهٔ ایران ی و در شهرنشینی تهران از دهه ۱۹۰۰ تا ۱۹۳۰ میلادی میپردازد.
Thank you to all who attended this event. Click here to see some photos from the evening and here to listen to the audio!
Since the 1990s\, the recogni tion and appraisal of Iranian cinema on an international level has led to a n unprecedented interest in scholarly and popular study of Iran’s post-revo lutionary cinema\, and at times\, its pre-revolutionary new wave counterpar t. This focus on the later periods of cinema history has led to a disregard and forgetfulness of cinematic activities in the earlier periods. Explorin g the early twentieth century\, this talk examines the role of cinema in Ir anian modernity and in the urbanization of Tehran from the 1900s to 1930s.< /p>
Iranian modernity in the early twentieth century was tied to diverse socio-cultural and political conditions that prompted a diverse and dynamic urban culture. Major cities in Iran became commercial\, artistic\, and pol itical hubs for residents from diverse ethnic\, religious\, and linguistic backgrounds who facilitated a cosmopolitan culture in urban centres such as Tehran. Cinema drew on and expanded these cosmopolitan experiences. On the one hand\, before national films were produced in the 1930s\, internationa l films exposed the public to new experiences\, different cities\, and nove l lifestyles. On the other hand\, movie theatres\, owned and operated by co smopolitan merchants became sites of sociability for Tehran’s population. H oused in the most prestigious streets of Tehran\, movie houses configured t he urban fabric of the city\, giving rise to some districts that became cen tres of socialisation\, critical thinking\, and entertainment for many deca des to come. Within such diverse social and cultural conditions\, Persian-l anguage film productions of the 1930s came to envision and express this rap idly-changing city onscreen. Films such as Mr. Haji: The Cinema Actor became a public medium through which criticisms were made against societal and urban transformations. Thus\, while cinema shape d the Iranian modern subject through national and international films that it showcased on-screen\, it also became engaged in processes of urban moder nity.
Dr. Golbarg Rekabtalaei is a cultural historia n of Modern Iran\, and the Middle East at large. She received her PhD in Ne ar and Middle Eastern Civilizations from the University of Toronto in 2015. She is interested in the relationship between cinematic image and space\, modernity\, cosmopolitanism\, urbanisation\, nationalism\, and revolutions. Her book\, Iranian Cosmopolitanism: A Cinematic History\, which w as published in 2019 in Cambridge University Press's “Global Middle East” b ook series\, focuses on the role of cinema in facilitating cosmopolitan ima ginations and hybrid subjectivities from the early twentieth century to the 1979 revolution. Rekabtalaei is currently an assistant professor in the De partment of History at Seton Hall University.