There has never been a moment in the long history of cinema when it was confined to its current frontiers. The very first sound film, Dokhtar-e Lor/Lor Girl, 1932, also known as The Yesterday and of Today, was produced by Ardeshir and Abdolhossein Sepanta in the Imperial Film Company in Bombay. There is a larger frame of reference that extends from Europe to the Ottoman and Russian empires all the way to Egypt and India, which was the site of the rise of Persian prose and poetry as well as visual and performing arts.
