CGIS: What is Muslim Cinema? with Kristian Petersen

At a moment when Muslims are so frequently vilified in popular media, what can be learned by focusing on cinema where Muslim creatives are in control and testify to their own self-presentation? In this presentation, Petersen offers an analytical framework that can register and synthesize the archive of Muslim produced film across a variety of cultural and geographic domains. “Muslim cinema” is employed as a comprehensive category, which includes film that is structured by local Muslim life and informed by interpretations of Islam, either in its production or consumption. Using several examples from Muslim minority filmmakers, as well as, from global Muslim majority film industries, Petersen identifies key elements that reveal how media makers narrate being Muslim in a multitude of ways. Kristian Petersen is an Associate Professor at Old Dominion University. His research focuses on “Muslim Cinema,” and he has edited several books on related topics, including Muslims in the Movies: A Global Anthology (2021), New Approaches to Islam in Film (2021), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Muslims and Popular Culture (2023), and Muslim Horror Film & Media (forthcoming). He is currently working on a project called Muslim Cinema Chronicles, which is an interactive web platform documenting the history of Muslim narratives in international film. He also serves as the Book Review Editor for the Journal of Religion & Film. Presented by the Center for Global Islamic Studies (CGIS).