Togo Mizrahi and the Making of Egyptian Cinema

In this book, Deborah A. Starr recuperates the work of Togo Mizrahi, a pioneer of Egyptian cinema. Mizrahi, an Egyptian Jew with Italian nationality, established himself as a prolific director of popular comedies and musicals in the 1930s and 1940s. As a studio owner and producer, Mizrahi promoted the idea that developing a local cinema industry was a project of national importance. Togo Mizrahi and the Making of Egyptian Cinema integrates film analysis with film history to tease out the cultural and political implications of Mizrahi's 2019;s work. His movies, Starr argues, subvert dominant notions of race, gender, and nationality through their playful's 2014;and queer's 2014;use of masquerade and mistaken identity. Taken together, Mizrahi's 2019;s films offer a hopeful vision of a pluralist Egypt. By reevaluating Mizrahi's 2019;s contributions to Egyptian culture, Starr challenges readers to reconsider the debates over who is Egyptian and what constitutes national cinema.;A captivating account of Egyptian film director Togo Mizrahi. Starr shows that Mizrahi's 2019;s distinct, often comical vision of Egypt captured a dramatic moment of social, political, and cultural transformation in which people of diverse backgrounds coexisted and struggled to achieve better lives. JOEL GORDON, author of Revolutionary Melodrama: Popular Film and Civic Identity in Nasser's 2019;s Egypt;A remarkable study of a remarkable career. Starr offers a comprehensive analysis of a life in filmmaking that adds nuance to our definition of Egyptian nationalism and enhances our appreciation of Alexandrian cinema. This is a book of recovery, reclamation, and celebration. NANCY E. BERG, Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, Washington University in St. Louis

Creative Commons