About

Yaron Shemer is an Associate Professor of Israel cultural studies and Jewish Studies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned his B.F.A. from Tel Aviv University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Film Studies from The University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on Israeli ethnic cinema, Middle Eastern cinema, and related cultural topics. Shemer is the author of the book 'Identity, Place, and Subversion in Contemporary Mizrahi Cinema in Israel,' published by the University of Michigan Press in 2013. His current research projects include 'Neighboring Identities: The Jew in Arab Cinema' and a comparative study of Israeli and Palestinian political cartoons. In addition to his scholarly work, Shemer has produced and directed documentary films in Israel, Poland, and the US.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Law

Selected publications

• Thematics and Hermeneutics in Four Recently Published Books on Middle Eastern/Arab Cinema

  Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) · 2024-10-12

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Along with the periodic irreverence towards Area Studies by its disciplinary counterparts, there has also been some discomfort within the narrow confines of Film Studies for scholarship that focuses on individual national or regional cinemas. And yet, the growing interest in the cinema of the Middle East (North Africa included) is unquestionable. The four books reviewed here are part of this trend; dozens of other publications on Middle Eastern cinema have been authored in English alone in the new millennium. Explanations for this (re)ignited interest go beyond the obvious political currents in the Middle East and include, inter alia , the increasingly common practice of co-productions, mainly between Europe and the Maghreb, where the terms of the co-production often result in availing Middle Eastern films to international markets and in the inclusion of these films in prestigious film festivals worldwide. The launching of new international film festivals in the Arab world/Middle East furthers the cinematic dialogue between this region and the rest of the world. Concurrently, even a cursory survey will point to the significant surge in courses on Arab/Middle Eastern cinema since the early 2000s in institutions of higher education in the United States and beyond.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• So Close, So Far

  Duke University Press eBooks · 2023

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Political Science
  • Law

  So Close,

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 5 So Close, So Far: Gaza in Israeli Cinema

  2023-12-31

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  So Close,

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Failing Intersectionality: Gender, Ethnicity, and Religious Traditions in Recent Israeli Films

  Quarterly Review of Film and Video · 2019-05-06

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Thematics and Hermeneutics in Four Recently Published Books on Middle Eastern/Arab Cinema

  Review of Middle East Studies · 2016-02-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Along with the periodic irreverence towards Area Studies by its disciplinary counterparts, there has also been some discomfort within the narrow confines of Film Studies for scholarship that focuses on individual national or regional cinemas. And yet, the growing interest in the cinema of the Middle East (North Africa included) is unquestionable. The four books reviewed here are part of this trend; dozens of other publications on Middle Eastern cinema have been authored in English alone in the new millennium. Explanations for this (re)ignited interest go beyond the obvious political currents in the Middle East and include, inter alia , the increasingly common practice of co-productions, mainly between Europe and the Maghreb, where the terms of the co-production often result in availing Middle Eastern films to international markets and in the inclusion of these films in prestigious film festivals worldwide. The launching of new international film festivals in the Arab world/Middle East furthers the cinematic dialogue between this region and the rest of the world. Concurrently, even a cursory survey will point to the significant surge in courses on Arab/Middle Eastern cinema since the early 2000s in institutions of higher education in the United States and beyond.

  PublisherDOI

• From Chahine’s al-Iskandariyya … leh to Salata baladi and ʿAn Yahud Misr

  Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication · 2014-01-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This study examines the discursive trajectories of the cosmopolitan Egyptian Jew in the documentaries Salata baladi (Nadia Kamel, 2007) and ‘An Yahud Misr (Amir Ramses, 2012) in light of Youssef Chahine’s classic al-Iskandariyya … leh (1978). Undoubtedly, each of these films provides a complex story of Jewish life in Egypt and, taken together, these creative works offer an alternative to formulaic representations of Jews in Egyptian cinema and television. Yet, a close analysis of the three films reveals an underlying problematic rendering of cosmopolitanism in the context of the Egyptian Jewish community. Arguably, the filmmakers’ main interest in attending to the Jewish question relates more to nostalgic views of Egyptianness (of the pre-1952 Revolution era) as a cosmopolitan, multiethnic and multi-religious identity, than to a genuine interest in Jewish life, history and religion. In other words, the limited and skewed view of the Jewish community, with its near exclusion of the poor, uneducated, monolingual and religiously traditional Jewish residents of Egypt, is driven primarily by anxieties about Egyptian identity in which cosmopolitan Jews are assigned a supporting role in the play of an idealized Egypt of the past and in challenging xenophobic sentiments in the present.

  PublisherDOI

• Iraq ’N’ Roll (Israel, Iraq) 2011 Color 52 min. In Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles. Director: Gili Gaon; Producer: Dani Haimovich and Station Films Ltd. Distributor: Ruth Diskin Films Ltd., PO Box 7153, Jerusalem, 9107101, Israel (tel: +72-2-6724256, 972-2-6724702; e-mail: ruth@ruthfilms.com; www.ruthfilms.com).

  Review of Middle East Studies · 2014-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Iraq ’N’ Roll (Israel, Iraq) 2011 Color 52 min. In Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles. Director: Gili Gaon; Producer: Dani Haimovich and Station Films Ltd. Distributor: Ruth Diskin Films Ltd., PO Box 7153, Jerusalem, 9107101, Israel (tel: +72-2-6724256, 972-2-6724702; e-mail: ruth@ruthfilms.com; www.ruthfilms.com). - Volume 48 Issue 1-2

  PublisherDOI

• Identity, Place, and Subversion in Contemporary Mizrahi Cinema in Israel

  University of Michigan Press eBooks · 2013-01-01 · 25 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  In Identity, Place, and Subversion in Contemporary Mizrahi Cinema in Israel , Yaron Shemer presents the most comprehensive and systematic study to date of Mizrahi (Oriental-Jewish or Arab-Jewish) films produced in Israel in the last several decades. Through an analysis of dozens of films the book illustrates how narratives, characters, and space have been employed to give expression to Mizrahi ethnic identity and to situate the Mizrahi within the broader context of the Israeli societal fabric. The struggle over identity and the effort to redraw ethnic boundaries have taken place against the backdrop of a long-standing Zionist view of the Mizrahi as an inferior other whose "Levantine" culture posed a threat to the Western-oriented Zionist enterprise. In its examination of the nature and dynamics of Mizrahi cinema (defined by subject-matter), the book engages the sensitive topic of Mizrahi ethnicity head-on, confronting the conventional notion of Israeli society as a melting pot and the widespread dismissal of ethnic divisions in the country. Shemer explores the continuous marginalization of the Mizrahi in contemporary Israeli cinema and the challenge some Mizrahi films offer to the subjugation of this ethnic group. He also studies the role cultural policies and institutional power in Israel have played in shaping Mizrahi cinema and the creation of a Mizrahi niche in cinema. In a broader sense, this pioneering work is a probing exploration of Israeli culture and society through the prism of film and cinematic expression. It sheds light on the play of ethnicity, class, gender, and religion in contemporary Israel, and on the heated debates surrounding Zionist ideology and identity politics. By charting a new territory of academic inquiry grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, the study contributes to the formation of "Mizrahi Cinema" as a recognized and vibrant scholarly field.

  PublisherDOI

• 10. Trajectories of Mizrahi Cinema

  University of Texas Press eBooks · 2011-12-31 · 3 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Identity Politics on the Israeli Screen (review)

  Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) · 2007-09-18

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Tomer Pintel

  The University of Texas at Austin

  1 shared

• Esther Raizen

  1 shared

• Efrat Strassberg

  The University of Texas at Austin

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• 2013-14: ACLS/SSRC/NEH International and Area Studies Fellow…
• 2013-14: Stanford Humanities Center fellowship, for the book…
• Spring 2012: Publication grant for Identity, Place, and Subv…
• Spring 2011: The Institute for the Arts and Humanities (IAH)…
• Summer 2009: Fellow at the Schusterman Center’s Summer Insti…