Examined within their economic, cultural, and political context, the workof women Maghrebi filmmakers forms a cohesive body of work. Florence Martin examinesthe intersections of nation and gender in seven films, showing how directors turnaround the politics of the gaze as they play with the various meanings of the Arabicterm hijab (veil, curtain, screen). Martin analyzes these films on their owntheoretical terms, developing the notion of "transvergence" to examine howMaghrebi women's cinema is flexible, playful, and transgressive in its themes, aesthetics, narratives, and modes of address. These are distinctive films thattraverse multiple cultures, both borrowing from and resisting the discourses thesecultures propose.