Critics and academics have generally dismissed the commercial productions of the late Pahlavi era, best known for their songs and melodramatic plots, as shallow, derivative entertainment . Instead, they have concentrated on the more recent internationally acclaimed art films, claiming that these constitute Iranian national' cinema, despite few Iranians having seen them. Film discourse, and even fan talk, have long attempted to marginalize these movies with the moniker filmfarsi, ironically asserting that such popular favorites were culturally inauthentic.

This book challenges...