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Middle East and North African Film Series

Thursdays, 7:30pm to 10:00pm, Lecture Hall 6
Free and Open to the Public

Sponsored by the Middle East and North African (MENA) Program
Co-sponsored by the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies, the Cinema Department, and the Institute for Global Cultural Studies
Coordinated by Professor Kevin Lacey (Classical and Near Eastern Studies; MENA) and Professor Dorit Naaman (Cinema)  

January 25
Chronicle of a Disappearance (Palestine, 1996). In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. 88 minutes, color. Directed by Ella Suleiman. Part documentary, part comedy-drama, this film, winner of the Best First Feature Award at the 1996 Venice Film Festival, is a chronicle of the experiences of the director, a Palestinian who returns to his native land after twelve years of self-imposed exile in New York. The filmmaker has described this film as “a journey in search of what it means to be Palestinian,’ and begins his journey with a return to his home in the West Bank town of Nazareth. Continuing on to Jerusalem, he interweaves reality and fiction to make a larger statement about the Palestinian experience within the context of growing political and economic instability and the terrible psychological effect of Living under Israeli occupation. “[C]reates. . . a Palestinian’s sense of marginalization as well as pride in a series of vignettes, some dryly amusing, others expressing powerful emotions. . . . A triumph of succinct images and adroit structure.” —Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times.

February 8
Salut Cousin! (France, 1996). In French with English subtitles, 100 minutes, color. Directed by MerzakAllouache. This entertaining story of culture clash and ethnic fusion comes from the director of the critically-acclaimed Bab el-Oued City (1994). Salut Cousin! depicts the adventures of a young man who arrives from Algiers to stay in an ethnically diverse quarter of Paris with his more worldly cousin, an aspiring rap artist who bases his lyrics on the work of seventeenth-century French poet Jean de Ia Fontaine. The contrast between the two young men mirrors the cultural divide between Arab North Africa and the multiethnic urban milieu of Paris. In the hands of director Allouache, this entertaining film skillfully depicts, with both humor and poignance, the wide-eyed amazement of the new arrival as he is captivated by the freewheeling life in the French metropolis versus the sense of isolation and desperation felt by his hip, seemingly assimilated cousin. “An invitingly giddy, multicultural swirl.” —Stephen Holden, The New York Times.

February 22
Umm Kulthum, A Voice Like Egypt (USA, 1996). Directed by Michal Goldman. English anti Arabic with English subtitles. ô7 minutes, color and black and white. This documentary presents a portrait of the great Egyptian singer, Umm Kulthum.  The life of this legendary woman, who was burn at the turn of the century in humble circumstances and rose to become an Egyptian national icon, is placed within the context of the emerging public status of women in Egypt and that country’s path to independence in the first half of the 20” century. A friend and supporter of Egyptian president Gamal Abd al­-Nasser, Umm Kulthum lent her prestige to the twin causes of Egyptian and Arab nationalism and thereby helped restore her country’s morale after its defeat in the 1967 war with Israel. Director Goldman, whose work includes the klezmer documentary A Jumpin’ Night in the Garden of Eden, brings us a film that incorporates interviews, clips from Egyptian films, and stirring concert footage to vividly depict the life of this superstar and her profound effect upon her audience in a career spanning more than half a century. Narrated by Omar Sharif. “Umm Kulthum grows more revealing as it proceeds, helped enormously by the rich legacy of films and recordings.” —Lawrence Van Gelder, The New York Times.

March 8
Nasser 56 (Egypt, 1996). In Arabic with English subtitles. 2 hours, 20 minutes, black and white. Directed by Mohamed Fadel. The “56” in this film’s title refers to the year 1956, when Egyptian president GamalAbd al-Nasser, the hero of the modern pan-Arab movement, boldly orchestrated the nationalization of the Suez Canal in defiance of the United States and its European allies. This pivotal moment in modern Egyptian history — which brought the Middle East to the brink of war — is depicted through a dramatization of Nasser’s role as a dedicated national leader who was also devoted to his family. “A splendid, highly engrossing epic. Nasser emerges as a visionary of immense courage, concentration and daring.” —Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times.

March 22
Man of Ashes (Tunisia, 1986). In Arabic with English subtitles. 109 minutes, color. Directed by Noun Bouzid. Shown at Seattle’s Arab Film Festival in 1990 and 1998, where it prompted comparison with Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, this film brings us the story of two young men, friends since childhood, who live in a coastal town in Tunisia. As one young man grows anxious about his upcoming wedding, his friend is targeted by rumor­ mongering questioning his manliness. Moreover, the two friends both suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of the carpenter who trained them —a secret they have kept between themselves since then. In desperation, the two seek various solutions to their respective dilemmas, including, for one of them, a personal journey of self-discovery. “Raw in its power and light on its feet, Man of Ashes is a handsomely crafted parable of sexual peril and promise.” —Seattle Times.

April 5
Honey and Ashes (Tunisia, 1996). French and Arabic with English subtitles. 80 minutes, color. Directed by Nadia Fares. Set in an unnamed North African country, this film examines the intersecting lives of three women who are at odds with the established conventions of their society: a young woman pursuing a love affair despite her father’s violent opposition; a middle-aged doctor who, as a young woman, was compelled by her family to abandon her lover and enter into an arranged marriage; and one of the doctor’s patients, who lives under the threat of violence from her husband. The lives of these three women weave together in unexpected ways within the context of this film’s North African, feminist viewpoint that questions the conventions governing male-female relations in Arab-Islamic North Africa. “Edgy . .. intelligent.” —David Rooney, Variety.

April 19
Taste of Cherry (Iran, 1997). In Farsi with English subtitles. 95 minutes, color. Directed by Abbas Kiarostami. In this film, an affluent middle-aged man roams the streets of Teheran in his dusty Land Rover searching for someone who will agree to bury him if he is successful with his plan to commit suicide. As the man interviews various individuals one-by-one, for the bizarre task that he wishes to he done, we are treated to a procession of characters representing disparate elements of modern Iranian society. A taxidermist, who himself previously attempted suicide, agrees to assist the suicidal fellow while at the same time trying, with simple eloquence, to dissuade him from his self-destructive goat. Taste of Cherry won top prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. “Kiarostami, like no other filmmaker, has a vision of human scale that is simultaneously epic and precisely miniscule.” —Stephen Holden, The New York Times.

 

 

Spring 2001