'Rekabtalaei's Iranian Cosmopolitanism … stitches together the Iranian cinematic projects from the 1920s to the 1970s by attending to the irreducibly cosmopolitan quality of Iranian cinema … By sheer force of spectacular detail, Rekabtalaei is utterly convincing that there is no 'purely' Iranian cinema. Even when commandeered for nationalist propaganda, Iranian cinema is a story of cosmopolitanism across class-lines … [Her book] attest[s] to the rich, analytical potential of expansive notions of cinema.' William E. B. Sherman, Journal of Religion & Film
Introduction; 1. Cinematic imaginaries and cosmopolitanism in the early twentieth century; 2. Cinematic education, cinematic sovereignty: the creation of a cosmo-national cinema; 3. Industrial professionalisation: the emergence of a 'national' commercial cinema; 4. 'Film-Farsi': everyday constituencies of a cosmopolitan popular cinema; 5. Cinematic revolution: cosmopolitan alter-cinema of pre-revolutionary Iran; Conclusion.