ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how we can come to construct a global appreciation of the cinematic lives of Muslim women, both in terms of representation and as filmmakers themselves. Here, I delineate some methodological challenges and future possibilities for doing research on Muslim women and film. Then I outline thematic patterns related to Muslim women in film images and film production. Next, I model an interpretive strategy that revolves around national and regional contexts, through a brief introduction to Muslim women, both in front of the camera and behind it, in Southeast Asian cinemas. Finally, I offer a theoretical framework for approaching ‘transnational’ cinema, which disrupts analysis of cinema in easily recognizable categories, such as national, regional, or ethnic. Altogether, the goal is not to be comprehensive in regional film analysis but rather chart a terrain and prompt further exploration in global cinema.
