Block Museum:
Like Water Through Stone: Celebrating Hamid Naficy’s Contributions to Iranian Film and Diaspora Studies, June 2-3, 2022.
Hamid Naficy, a core faculty member of the MENA Studies Program from its inception and Professor of Radio/Television/Film at Northwestern, is a pioneering scholar of Iranian and world cinema, exile and diaspora studies, media and cultural studies, and global Iranian studies.
His books include The Making of Exile Cultures: Iranian Television in Los Angeles (1993), Home, Exile, Homeland: Film, Media, and the Politics of Place (1999), An Accented Cinema: Exilic and Diasporic Filmmaking (2001), and the four-volume A Social History of Iranian Cinema, which has been called “a landmark achievement.”
On Thursday June 2 and Friday June 3, we are hosting an international gathering to celebrate Naficy’s career and intellectual legacies, to honor and reflect on his towering contributions to multiple fields. The gathering will include three panels, a keynote address, film screenings, personal testimonials, and more.
Participants:
Narges Bajoghli (Johns Hopkins University)
Simran Bhalla (Tulane University)
Maziyar Faridi (Clemson University)
Dilip Gaonkar (Northwestern University)
Michael M.J. Fischer (MIT)
Persis Karim (San Francisco State University)
Amy Malek (College of Charleston)
Negar Mottahedeh (Duke University)
Eric Patrick (Northwestern University)
Golbarg Rekabtalaei (Seton Hall University)
Ariel Rogers (Northwestern University)
Mehdi Semati (Eastern Illinois University)
Lynn Spigel (Northwestern University)
Mohamad Tavakoli (University of Toronto)
Speakers: https://mena.northwestern.edu/about/events/hamid-naficy-encomium-participants.html
Program: https://mena.northwestern.edu/about/events/hamid-naficy-conference.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1680507925622330/
Opening night https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/cinema/2022/opening-night-of-like-water-through-stone-celebrating-hamid-naficy.html
Teaser for the film Mouth Harp in Minor Key: Hamid Naficy in/on Exile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwQ3jm70b0s
Go to link
Wendy:
Thank you for sending this, Majid. Too bad they aren’t also going to be sharing this on Zoom. That way we and many others who are not able to go could
watch it.
Norma:
Dear Majid,
On Thursday and yesterday I was able to attend at least part of the festivities at northwestern in honor of Hamid's retirement. I live in Chicago. You may or may not remember that, since I believe the reason I first contacted you was about a Middle East poetry event at the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation, for which you generously provided some poems that were read for you by Hamid.
In any case, I wanted to let you know that your beautiful memory letter was read at the end of the day, along with the most moving contributions by family.
It was very intimate to hear how Hamid's older brother experiences had so profoundly shaped you, as a man and a poet. Thank you for sharing them. The audience was very touched. I piped up and mentioned that the poem you had posted that morning (yesterday) also mentioned a memory with Hamid. I was happy to be able to share that. It brought you a little closer into the room.
with appreciation and many thanks,
Norma