Pop and Politics: Hany Abu-Assad's The Idol and the Pitfalls of the Biopic

Biographical works of art tend to occupy a tricky middle ground, blending and balancing between fact and fiction in telling their stories. Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad's film on Arab Idol winner Mohammed Assaf is no different; using it as a springboard, Rebekah Brammer teases out what it is, exactly, that draws us to the widely loved biopic genre.

Additional keywords: truth, reality, verisimilitude, media, representation, fictionalisation, dramatisation, authenticity.