Refocus: the Films of Rakhshan Banietemad

Rakshi Banietemad is one of Iran's first female film directors. This book, the first English language study of her films and career, contains chapters by some of the most prominent scholars of Iranian cinema, as well as younger scholars with fresh points of view.

Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the book gives special attention to Banietemad's under-studied documentaries and films, including Under the Skin of the City (2000) and Tales (2014), while offering new perspectives on well-known works such as The Blue Veiled (1994) and The May Lady (1997). The contributors focus on questions of aesthetics and poetics, social realism, gender dynamics and the 'afterimages' and 'counter-memories' of revolution and war, and the book also includes an in-depth interview with Banietemad herself.

Maryam Ghorbankarimi is a Lecturer in Film at Lancaster University. Her research concentrates on Iranian Cinema and transnational cinema and cultures, specifically the representation of gender in Middle Eastern cinemas.