Outside in: ‘accented cinema’ at large
Author(s)
Date
2006Source Title
Inter-Asia Cultural Studies
Print ISSN
1464-9373
Electronic ISSN
1469-8447
Publisher
Routledge
Volume
7
Issue
3
Pages
363 - 382
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
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Abstract
This paper aims to engage in a critical analysis of the concept of ‘accented cinema’
recently developed by Hamid Naficy to refer to the emergent genre of exilic/diasporic filmmaking.
Naficy’s theorization of ‘accented cinema’ in particular and discussions around exilic/diasporic
cinema in general will be challenged on the basis of the observation that the cinematic styles and
thematic preoccupations associated with exilic/diasporic films consistently appear also in wideranging
examples of contemporary ‘world’ cinema that are often classified under the rubric of
‘national cinemas’. To illustrate this observation, the paper provides a parallel reading of three recent
films – A Time for Drunken Horses (1999) by Kurdish-Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi, Happy
Together (1997) by Hong Kong director Wong kar-wai, and Distant (2002) by Turkish director
Nuri Bilge Ceylan – whose directors cannot possibly be considered as ‘exilic/diasporic’ in a conventional
sense. Yet, it will be argued, the styles and thematic concerns associated with exilic/diasporic
cinema manifestly prevail in all three films discussed in this paper as well as in many other examples
of contemporary ‘world’ cinema. Departing from this observation, the paper will open up the new
genre of ‘accented cinema’ to further questioning and suggest that unless the mutual entanglement
between exilic/diasporic filmmaking and national cinema is disclosed, the notion of ‘accented cinema’
will not be sufficiently able to realize its critical potential.