The Fluid Gulf: Framing Multicultural Heritage Through Film

The Fluid Gulf: Framing Multicultural Heritage Through Film

Stories of desert landscapes, cutting-edge production facilities, and lavish festivals often dominate narratives about film and digital media on the Arabian Peninsula. However, the newly released anthology (Indiana University Press, 2024) reveals a more complicated history between the Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean. Just as these waters are fluid spaces, so too is the flow of film and digital media between Southwest and Southeast Asia, South Asia, North Africa, East Africa, and the United States. In this conversation, Alia Yunis, a co-editor of the volume and AGSIW visiting scholar, and Samhita Sunya, a professor at the University of Virginia, will consider the role of Hollywood, Bollywood, and Nollywood in past and current films made in and about the Gulf; the Western oil companies that introduced film to the Gulf in the 1930s; the first Gulf films produced on the Arabian Peninsula in the late 1960s; Dubai's emergence in global film production; social media as a vehicle for filmmaking; and citizen and migrant amateur films that turn a lens on rarely discussed social issues.

Speakers:

Kate Seelye, Vice President for Arts and Culture and Communications, Middle East Institute 

Samhita Sunya, Associate Professor of Cinema, University of Virginia 

Alia Yunis, Visiting Fellow, AGSIW 

Kristin Smith Diwan, Senior Resident Scholar, AGSIW (Moderator)

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, 1050 Connecticut Avenue Northwest, Washington, United States