Contemporary Gulf Cinema

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines the development of contemporary cinema in the Gulf, situating recent films and filmmaking practices within broader historical, political, and cultural contexts. Students will explore how contemporary Gulf cinema engages with questions of identity, globalization, urbanization, and migration, and how filmmakers navigate the opportunities and constraints of transnational production, circulation, and reception. The course examines feature films, documentaries, and experimental works, with close attention to aesthetics, narrative strategies, and production infrastructures. By situating Gulf cinema within world cinema and global media ecologies, the course provides a critical framework for understanding film as both a cultural practice and a site of social and political negotiation in the contemporary Gulf.