Films

Mahmoud Darwish in "Fi Hadrat al-Ghiyab"

Michael Teague

For many people in the Middle East, the supplementary material of this year’s selection of Ramadan television drama may be totally novel. For instance, the trial of Hosni Mubarak (in the countries where it will be allowed to air) could prove a spectacular introduction to reality TV, which continues to hypnotize so many Westerners. Also scheduled to air is a new biopic about the iconic Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Fi Hadrat al Ghiyab (“In the Presence of the Absent”), respectively written and directed by the well-known Hassan Yousif and Najdat Anzour, has ignited a fairly acrimonious controversy in the Arab press.

Nudity Overshadows Betrayal in 'Huda's Salon'

Arab Audience and Critics Riled Over Controversial Film

By Naomi Pham and Elie Chalala

The controversy over Palestinian-Dutch director Hany Abu-Assad’s “Huda's Salon” will not be the last furor over an Arab film. Not long ago, the film "Amira" and its director Mohamed Diab (more on “Amira” can be found in Al Jadid, Vol. 25, Nos. 80-81, 2021) met with similar disapproval. Most of the outrage against these two films did not center on the plots, themes, acting, directing, special effects, or cinematography, but on politics and what they considered immoral elements — which in “Huda’s Salon” is female nudity. The Palestinian creative community, including in the diaspora, has not been spared from harsh, and at times treasonous, accusations. Reasonable critics dismiss this latest controversy as being uninformed, superficial, and ideological. But the long-term consequences of these "populist" campaigns against Palestinian cinema carry intellectual costs. Many Palestinian talents, whether in the diaspora or inside Palestine, may retreat or abandon creative attempts to further the interests of their communities, given the chilling treatment met by their fellow directors. Despite the opposition's reasoning, profound ideological legacies of Palestinian politics still direct and guide some activists' campaigns that continue the old tactics and direct cultural politics to agree with their rejectionist political positions.

Films

Plot Twist Ties up Distribution of Controversial Arab “Life Smuggling” Film

By

Naomi Pham

Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Diab’s 2019 “Amira” faced a storm of social media backlash following accusations that the film belittles the Palestinian struggle. Diab — director of the well-received “Cairo 678” (2010) and “Clash” (2016) — has pulled the film from any future screenings, including Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. This decision comes after Jordan’s Royal Film Commission ultimately withdrew “Amira” as its entry as the Oscar’s 2022 Best Foreign Film.

Documentary Reveals Constant Surveillance of Arab Americans

By Lynne Rogers

In her award-winning documentary, “The Feeling of Being Watched,” young filmmaker and journalist Assia Boundaoui records her own sleuthing efforts to uncover the FBI’s surveillance of her neighborhood. The film begins in her family home with a memory of two men on a telephone pole outside her bedroom window at 3 o’clock in the morning. Her feisty hijab wearing mom assures her that it is probably just the FBI and tells her to go back to sleep. As far back as 1997, she remembers the fathers of two of her friends being investigated for terrorism and found subsequently guilty instead of white-collar crimes; mail fraud and lobbying without a license. Still after these two men served their sentences, the constant surveillance caused the families to separate as the fathers migrated to other countries. Now as an adult, Assia, with her mother’s full support, turns to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to uncover the extent of surveillance on her tightknit Muslim community of Bridgeview, Illinois and to address the constant unsafe feeling “like someone is invading your life.”

Films

Remembering Lokman Slim (1962-2021)

Lebanese publisher, filmmaker, and activist Lokman Slim, an outspoken critic of Hezbollah, was murdered on Feb. 4, 2021 while on his way home from southern Lebanon. In 2017, Al Jadid published a review of his award-winning film “Tadmor” (Icarus Films, 2016), co-directed with his wife, Monika Borgmann. “Ghosts of the past come in many forms.

Film “1982” Glimpses into Emotional Costs for Innocents Caught in Lebanese War

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, director Oualid Mouaness’ contemplative drama film “1982” explores the anxiety of war for those who never wished to take part in it. For the teachers and students at a private school in East Beirut, what should have been a “normal” last day of classes becomes anything but, as the distant sounds of bombing come closer and closer. It is 1982, and Beirut, divided between Muslims on the west and Christians on the east, teeters on the cusp of invasion as Israel and Syria fight overhead.

Play Reveals Wounds of Palestinian Occupation

By

Bobby Gulshan

An event hosted by the Voices from the Holy Land Film Series will focus its next Online Discussion Salon on director Pamela Nice’s "It’s What We Do: A Play About the Occupation" on June 14, 2020 at 2 pm EST. The event will feature guest speaker Yonatan Shapira, a former IDF helicopter pilot, who has been involved in speaking out against the abuses of the IDF since his service. Please register for the one-hour discussion, which will be in a Zoom format, at this link. Organizers are asking all registrants to view a 55-minute video beforehand. You can access it at www.iwwdplay.org.

Earlier this year, the Israeli Knesset passed a law barring “Breaking the Silence” from presenting in schools, universities, or any other non-profit institutions. The initiative to enforce a ban on the group came from Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who accused “Breaking the Silence” of denigrating the reputation of the Israeli Defense Force in the eyes of Israeli youth.

FILM REVIEWS FORTHCOMING IN AL JADID, VOL. 23, NO. 77, 2019

‘Out on the Burning Sands’

By

Al Jadid Staff

Despite being a 20-year-old film, “Hollywood Harems,” directed by Tania Kamal-Eldin, discusses myths and fantasies of Orientalism and Arab women that still resonate today. The documentary takes a close look at several films, from “The Sheik” (1921) to “The Mummy” (1932), and others spanning between the 1930s and 1960s, with a sharp focus on the portrayal of women -- from fictionalized harems and the voyeuristic “intruder’s gaze” of men, to the depiction of their exploiters as Arab men and saviors as white men.

Documentary Examines Different Narratives of Lebanese War from the Perspective of Major Participants

Forthcoming in Al Jadid

In a recent film, co-directors Daniele Rugo and Abi Weaver consider the tragic extent of the Lebanese Civil War. Following the experiences of three ex-fighters from different sides of the conflict, the documentary “About a War” reopens old wounds while paving a path towards healing. In the words of Sarah Khalil, who interviewed Weaver for an Al Araby article, “Communities are still yet to hear the experiences of others who now they call neighbors. In the film, the confessions of the ex-fighters are woven together to present narratives likely unheard by the other side.”

Films

Weaponizing the Bodies of Syrian Women – Rape, War, and Syria: The Crime That ‘Never Happens,’ The Shame that Never Dies!

Elie Chalala

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