Hamid Naficy

Hamid Naficy is a scholar of cultural studies of diaspora, exile, and postcolonial cinemas and media, and of Iranian and Middle Eastern cinemas and media. Naficy was born in Isfahan, Iran. In addition to his books and essays, Naficy has produced many educational films and experimental videos, organized numerous symposia and lecture series, participated in major international film festivals, curated film series, and initiated the annual Iranian film festivals in Los Angeles in 1990 and in Houston in 1992. Hamid Naficy is a producer and director, known for films such as Piano Player (1969), Blacktop (1970) and Salamander Syncope (1971). He is the Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in Communication at Northwestern University in the department of Radio/Film/Television and is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Art History. He has written on theories of exile and displacement, exilic and diaspora cinemas and media, and Iranian and Third World cinemas, publishing nearly a dozen books and scores of book chapters and journal articles. In addition, he has lectured nationally and internationally and his works have been cited and reprinted extensively and translated into many languages. His areas of research and teaching include these topics as well as documentary and ethnographic cinemas.