Tracing the Diasporic Experiences of Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Palestinians On-screen: Cinema Fouad (1993) and Sultana’s Reign (2023)

This article traces the diaspora of transgender and gender-nonconforming Palestinians in two documentary films made twenty years apart, Cinema Fouad (dir. Soueid, 1993) and Sultana’s Reign (dir. Moussally, 2023). Using queer/trans and post/decolonial theorists including Judith Butler, Hamid Naficy, and Walter Mignolo, the author takes a historical approach to queer Arab identity, navigating white Western assumptions bred from colonialism. Identifying nuance and authenticity as key to representations of diasporic non-Western queerness, this article engages with issues of language and assimilation and calls for a more expansive definition of queer .