Kaveh Askari

askarik1@msu.edu
517-884-4460

C709 Wells Hall
619 Red Cedar Rd
East Lansing, MI 48824

FacultyEnglishFilm Studies

Professor
Director of Film Studies

Film and Media Studies; Postcolonial Studies

Biography

Kaveh Askari’s research and teaching focus on cinema and media history in a global context. Special areas of interest include art cinema, media circulation, film and the other arts, and cinemas of the Middle East. He is the author of Making Movies into Art(BFI, 2014) and co-editor of Performing New Media, 1890-1915 (John Libbey, 2014). He has also co-edited special issues of Film History (South by South/West Asia: Transregional Histories of Middle East—South Asia Cinemas), the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture (Locating Muslim Cinemas), and Early Popular Visual Culture (Early Cinemas of the Middle East and North Africa). His new book is Relaying Cinema in Midcentury Iran: Material Cultures in Transit(University of California Press, 2022)

Professor Askari has served on the executive committee for Domitor, the International Society of Early Cinema Studies, on the jury for the Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival, as co-chair of the host committee for the Seattle Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference, and as co-chair of the SCMS Middle East Caucus. He has collaborated on several film programs with institutions including the Pacific Film Archive, Il Cinema Ritrovato, and the Doha Film Institute.

Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2005

M.A., University of Chicago, 1999

B.A., New College of Florida, 1998

Courses

History of Film after Midcentury

Classical Film and Media Theory

Cinemas of the Middle East and North Africa

Iranian Cinema

Recycled Cinema

University News

Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival Returns to MSU 
Published October 3, 2024 in College of Arts & Letters
A collection of six film posters arranged in two rows. From left to right in the top row: "La Nuit du 12" (a woman in a red coat at night), "The Beast" (a close-up of a woman's face), and "Retour à Séoul" (a woman in a black coat in front of neon lgihts). Bottom row: "Other People's Children" (a smiling woman and man with a child), "Le Mépris" (a woman lounging in a room above the ocean), and "Banel & Adama" (a woman in a red dress laying on cracked earth).
Assistant Professors Elizabeth Tuttle and Jena Whitaker in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies at Michigan State University are excited to announce the return of the MSU Albertine…Read now »
Several College of Arts & Letters Projects Supported by HARP Grants
Published December 13, 2023 in College of Arts & Letters
A collage of photos of various different people in front of a collection of backgrounds.
Twelve College of Arts & Letters faculty members currently are working on projects supported by 2023 Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP) Grants. The projects range from mixed media…Read now »
College Celebrates Accomplishments of 2023 Promoted Faculty
Published September 20, 2023 in College of Arts & Letters
Outdoor clock tower.
This year, 20 faculty members within the College of Arts & Letters have received promotions. The success of these individuals was celebrated during the 2023 Faculty and Staff…Read now »
Department of English Honors Two Students with Outstanding Senior Awards
Published May 5, 2023 in College of Arts & Letters
Two picutes side by side: on the left a woman with long black hair and a leather jacket; on the right a woman with long black hair, glasses, and a green shirt.
Two Department of English students were selected to receive the department’s 2023 Outstanding Senior Awards. Sponsored by the Dianna S. Cavett Endowment for English Literature, this…Read now »
Film Studies Professor Wins Prestigious Award for Outstanding Cinema Research
Published April 24, 2023 in College of Arts & Letters
Kaveh Askari, Associate Professor and Director of Michigan State University’s Film Studies Program, is the 2023 recipient of the prestigious Katherine Singer Kovács Book Award, presented by the…Read now »
MSU Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival Set for Select Dates April 3-13
Published March 28, 2023 in College of Arts & Letters
The MSU Albertine Cinémathèque French Film Festival, which will bring six contemporary and classic French films to Michigan State University’s campus, will be held on select dates from April 3…Read now »
Film Students Take Inaugural Study Abroad Trip to Toronto International Film Festival
Published October 3, 2022 in College of Arts & Letters
The MSU Film Studies Program completed its inaugural study abroad trip to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) with 12 student filmmakers participating.  Kaveh…Read now »
Film Studies Graduate Accepted to UCLA’s MFA Screenwriting Program
Published May 6, 2022 in College of Arts & Letters
Garrett Boudreaux, who is graduating from Michigan State University this spring with a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies, was accepted to the School of Theater, Film, and Television’s…Read now »
Kaveh Askari Begins Tenure as Director of Film Studies
Published November 2, 2021 in College of Arts & Letters
Part of Michigan State University’s Film Studies Program core faculty for five years, Kaveh Askari is now the director of the program. He began his tenure as Film Studies Director in August…Read now »