Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Preface -- Creative responses to conflict / Josef Gugler -- Regime critics confront censorship in Iranian cinema / Eric Egan. The hidden half (Tahmineh Milani): love, idealism, and politics / Fakhreddin Azimi -- Marriage of the blessed (Mohsen Makhmalbaf): the wounds of war and the betrayal of the revolution / Eric Egan -- Under the skin of the city (Rakhshan Bani-Etemad): under the surface contrasts / Rini Cobbey -- Stray dogs (Marziyeh Meshkini): cruelty and humanity amid hardship in Afghanistan / Eric Egan -- Tolerated parodies of politics in Syrian cinema / Lisa Wedeen. The dupes (Tawfik Saleh): three generations uprooted from Palestine and betrayed / Nadia Yaqub -- The extras (Nabil Maleh): lovers suffer the twin repressions of patriarchal culture and a police state / Josef Gugler -- Lebanese cinema and the representation of war / Lina Khatib. In the shadows of the city (Jean Khalil Chamoun): reconciling the diverse legacies of a collective memory / Edward Gibeau -- Israeli cinema engaging the conflict / Nurith Gertz and Yael Munk. Kedma (Amos Gitai): the birth of two nations at war in 1948 / Nurith Gertz, Gal Hermoni, and Yael Munk -- Avanti popolo (Rafi Bukaee): battle cry of the fallen / Judd Ne'eman and Yael Munk -- A chronicle of Palestinian cinema / Nurith Gertz and George Khleifi. Waiting (Rashid Masharawi): a scattered people waiting for a shared future / Nadia Yaqub -- Tale of the three jewels (Michel Khleifi): children living and dreaming amid violence in Gaza / Nurith Gertz and George Khleifi -- Paradise now (Hany Abu-Assad): narrating a failed politics / Nadia Yaqub -- Political film in Egypt / Walter Armbrust. Destiny (Youssef Chahine): liberal and fundamentalist Islam clash amid the splendor of twelfth-century Andalusia / Josef Gugler -- Closed doors (Atef Hetata): the attractions of fundamentalism / Josef Gugler and Kim Jensen -- Cinema and state in Tunisia / Florence Martin -- Bedwin hacker (Nadia El Fani): a hacker challenges Western domination of the global media / Josef Gugler -- From state production to cin�ema d'auteur in Algeria / Roy Armes. Days of glory (Rachid Bouchareb): another vision of French history / Olivier Barlet -- Hamlet of women (Mohamed Chouikh): village chronicles from a time of terrorism / Denise Brahimi -- Morocco: a national cinema with large ambitions / Kevin Dwyer. Ali Zaoua, prince of the streets (Nabil Ayouch): the harsh life of street children and the poetics of childhood / Josef Gugler.