27th MESA FilmFest ’10 November 18-21, 2010 San Diego, California Descriptions and Schedule Thursday FRIday The Wedding Song 11:10am Stolen Kisses (Le Chant des Mariées) (Kobolat Masroka) 12:30pm photo courtesy Strand Releasing photo courtesy Khaked El Hagar 10

’ Women Without Men 8:45pm photo courtesy New Yorker Films

’ Day Break 4:00pm (Dame Sobh) photo courtesy Hamid Rahmanian ilms F

Hove 4:00pm SATURday (The Wind) eature photo courtesy Alex Webb F

Salt of This Sea 8:45pm photo courtesy Lorber Films

Masquerades 6:00pm photo courtesy Global Film Initiative

Middle East Studies Association 1219 N Santa Rita Avenue The University of Arizona Tucson AZ 85721 520 621-5850 u fax: 520 626-9095 [email protected] u www.mesana.org REGISTRATION REQUIRED Third Floor Windsor B/C WEAR YOUR BADGE TO ENTER FILMFEST Film Schedule

Thursday November 18 SATURday November 20 Mad Mad 10:00am Mad, Mad, World (the MESA FilmFest Logo) (4) 8:00am Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi (84) The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn (52) 9:30am Garbage Dreams (53) 11:00am Slingshot Hip Hop (83) 12:30pm STOLEN KISSES (120) 11:00am-1:00pm FilmFest Panel 2:30pm The Word and the Bomb: Alaa Al Aswany (29) Using Middle Eastern Film in the Classroom: The Maghrib 3:00pm Investigating the Attacks on Gaza (56) 4:00pm DAY BREAK (84) 5:30pm F Fundamentalist Fervor (26) 1:00-2:30pm MESA BUSINESS MEETING 6:00pm Muezzin (85) 7:30pm Refugees (67) 2:30pm F Sayed Kashua: Forever Scared (52) 8:45pm SALT OF THIS SEA (109) 3:25pm Arab Labor (1 episode) (30)

4:00pm HOVE (9) FRIday November 19 4:10pm Dishonorable Killings (26) 4:40pm F 21 Days to Nawroz (74) 8:00am Anjar: Flowers, Goats and Heroes (87) 9:30am F THE CURTAIN (13) 6:00pm masquerades* (94) 9:45am F Tagnawittude (80) uFilmmaker Lyes Salem

11:10am THE WEDDING SONG* (100) 7:30pm-9:30pm AIMS/FilmFest Reception *This screening is sponsored by the TALIM Kuniholm Windsor Foyer Women’s Literacy Program *The screening of Masquerades, the participation of 12:55pm F Imperial Outposts (67) filmmaker, Lyes Salem, and reception are sponsored uFilmmaker Amy Kristine Holmes by American Institute for Magrib Studies (AIMS). 2:10pm The Koran: The Origins of the Book (52)

3:05pm Tea on the Axis of Evil (67) SUNday November 21 uFilmmaker Jean Marie Offenbacher MEOC TEACHER FOCUS FILMS 8:00am FFinal Fitting (31) 4:15pm Live: From Bethlehem (37) 8:35am Veil of Dreams (47) 4:55pm F Left in Baghdad (12) 9:30am Iraqi Exodus: The and the ’s Refugee Crisis (52) 5:15pm Crossing Borders (70) 10:25am 9,409 Miles (5) uFilmmaker Arnd Wächter

10:30am Our Summer in Tehran (60) 7:00-8:30pm PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS uIntroduction by Barbara Petzen & AWARDS CEREMONY

11:45am The Nile River: Shared or Monopolized? (52) 8:45pm WOMEN WITHOUT MEN (99) 12:40pm Unveiled Views (52) 1:35pm F Fundamentalist Fervor (26)

KEY ALL CAPS= Feature film uFilmmaker/Director in attendance As a courtesy to others, please keep your cellphones on “vibrate” or “off” inside the F North American Premiere FilmFest screening room. Number after film title indicates film length in minutes. MESA 2010 FilmFest 10 Film Descriptions 21 Days to Nawroz (Kurdistan) 2008 60 min. In English and Dagh Turkey and to the former Ottoman Empire in a century Kurdish w/English subtitles. Director: Michelle Mama. Produced of epic stories and histories of wars, genocides, battles, miracles by and distributed through Tricon Films. Print Source: Michelle and triumphs. The film travels through time periods, geographic Mama. locations, memories and nightmares telling the story of the trials Kurdistan broke free from Iraqi rule and held its first parliamentary and tribulations of human suffering, survival and perseverance. elections in 1992. But the road to democracy was still a dangerous one, even with the protection of a “no fly zone” as enforced by Arab Labor (Israel) TV Series 2008. Episodes are 30 min. each. English and U.S. forces. 21 Days to Nawroz examines how this In , Hebrew w/English subtitles. Executive Producer: Daniel new reality has impacted the lives of three Kurdish women, each Paran; Writer: Sayed Kashua. Produced for Keshet Broadcasting. dealing with the uncertainty and promise of a new beginning Distributor/Print Source: Alive Mind for Lorber Films. for their homeland, as they prepare for the New Year feast of Arab Labor is a raucous and irreverent critically acclaimed comedy Nawroz. series from Israel about Amjad, a Palestinian journalist and Israeli citizen in search of his identity. The series is written by 9,409 Miles (Afghanistan/USA) 2009 5 min. No dialogue. the “Palestinian Seinfeld,” Sayed Kashua. FilmFest will screen one Director/Filmmaker: Gazelle Samizay. Print Source: Gazelle episode. Samizay. Over the past thirty years, millions of Afghans have fled their uCrossing Borders (Morocco) 2009 70 min. In English. homeland, living as permanent guests in countries around the Director/Producer: Arnd Wächter. Print Source: Arnd world. Their new homes are at once a blessing and a painful Wächter for Crossing Borders Education. reminder of what was lost. 9,409 Miles is about an architect, who Crossing Borders is a feature documentary that follows four having left Afghanistan more than 20 years ago, is still longing for American and four Moroccan college students as they travel the house he built and was forced to leave. together for eight days through the rich cultural landscape of Morocco and, in the process of discovering “the Other”, discover Anjar: Flowers, Goats and Heroes (/Lebanon) 2008 themselves. The film targets a young adult audience; good 87 min. Director: Noura Kevorkian. Distributor: Sareen Films. introduction for travel abroad. Print Source: Noura Kevorkian. In her debut feature length documentary Anjar: Flowers, Goats FTHE CURTAIN (USA) 2010 13 min. In English. Director/ and Heroes, filmmaker Noura Kevorkian takes the audience on a Filmmaker: Amany Seleem; Print Source: Amany Seleem. journey back to Lebanon, to her childhood village Anjar, to Musa Putting a curtain in one’s window to prevent one’s wife from

The Wedding Song (Le Chant des Mariées) AIMS at MESA FilmFest Meet Algerian filmmaker, Lyes Salem (Masquerades) at the film screening and at the FilmFest panel Saturday 11am-1pm The Making of an Algerian Comedy

film screening TALIM FRIDAY 11:10am You are cordially invited to the The Wedding Song screening is AIMS Reception sponsored by the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan immediately following the Studies (TALIM)* Kuniholm Women’s Literacy Program. screening of Masquerades Masquerades *TALIM is an AIMS overseas research center Saturday 7:30pm-9:30pm (Mascarades) located in Tangier. Visit: www.legation.org Windsor Foyer film screening rd Interested in research adjacent to the FilmFest screening room 3 floor Saturday 6:00pm opportunities in North Africa? Come visit us at Booth #8 American Institute for Maghrib Studies in the Book Exhibit with Overseas Research Centers in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia Visit: aimsnorthafrica.org

11 MESA 2010 FilmFest being seen by others can cause a lot of problems. This charming leaders of the country, from the late Ayatollah Khomeini to the student work is based on a story by renowned Egyptian author, current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. In this fascinating Youssef Idris. documentary, he explains the different styles and the many variations on the traditional aba and ammameh (the turban and DAY BREAK (Iran) 2005 84 min. In Persian w/English subtitles. the robe), and shows us how he cuts and creates the garments Director: Hamid Rahmanian. Producer: Fictionville Studio. Print for each client. Source: Fictionville Studio. In Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi (Afghanistan) 2008 which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender’s 84 min. w/English subtitles. Director: Ian Olds. Producer: Nancy life. Day Break, based on a compilation of true stories and shot Roth. Distributor/Print Source: The Cinema Guild. inside Tehran’s century-old prison, revolves around the imminent A “fixer” is someone hired by foreign journalists to translate, execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the navigate and gain access for their stories. In 2007, twenty-four- family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed year-old Ajmal Naqshbandi, a journalist and fixer, was captured day, Mansour’s execution is postponed again and again. Stuck alongside Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo by the Taliban in inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes Afghanistan. With aid from both Italian and Afghan governments, on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and Mastrogiacomo was released. Ajmal was not. Why was the forgiveness. Italian journalist freed while Ajmal was left behind? This film is an insightful, compelling examination of the events before and after. Dishonorable Killings: Punishing the Innocent (Turkey) Includes graphic violence. 2008 26 min. w/English subtitles. Director/Producer: Richard Wolf; Distributor/Print Source: Films for the Humanities FFundamentalist Fervor (Afghanistan/Pakistan/USA) 2010 & Sciences. 26 min. With English subtitles. Executive Producer: Mark The horrific practice of honor killing still prevails in many Middle Stucke. Co-Producers: Films for the Humanities & Sciences and Eastern and Central Asian countries–and, as this film demonstrates, Journeyman Pictures. Distributor/Print source: Films for the it is wielded not only against rape victims but also to punish Humanities & Sciences. women for simple romantic attachments. Going deep into tribal Religious fundamentalism underpins some of the world’s most communities in rural Turkey, the video presents villagers who intractable political problems as members of fundamentalist describe and condone honor killings that have occurred locally. groups seek to influence both domestic and international policy. Most chilling is a conversation with a man who murdered his own After identifying general hallmarks of fundamentalist belief, this sister for the family’s honor. The documentary profiles potential program places fundamentalist movements within the Christian, victims of honor killing forced into hiding, often a result of gossip Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu religions into their cultural and and innuendo among neighbors, and critics of the ancient custom. historical contexts. Movements that are examined include the dispensationalist organization Christians United for Israel, the F Final Fitting (Iran) 2008 35 min. In Persian w/English subtitles. Jewish haredim, the Jewish settler group Gush Emunim, Hamas, Director: Reza Haeri. Distributor/Print Source: Icarus Films. and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a key component of the Hindu Eighty-year-old Mr. Arabpour is a master tailor and craftsman, “Saffron Brigade.” Some content is objectionable. and the proprietor of the most famous tailor shop in Qom. He has been the official tailor to the most important religious Garbage Dreams (Egypt) 2009 53 min. (79 min. version available) Director: Mai Iskandar. Distributor/Print Source: The Cinema Guild. Be sure to attend tHE For generations, the residents of have depended on the Zaballeen to collect their trash, paying them only a minimal FilmFest Panel amount for their garbage collection services. The Zaballeen Saturday November 20, 2010 11am-1pm survive by recycling the city’s waste. These entrepreneurial Windsor B/C, the FilmFest screening room garbage workers recycle 80% of all the garbage they collect, creating what is arguably the world’s most efficient waste disposal system. In 2003, following the international trend to Using Middle Eastern Film in the Classroom: privatize services, the city decided to replace the Zabelleen with The Maghrib multinational garbage disposal companies. Their giant waste trucks now line the streets, but they are contractually obligated “Filmmaking in the Middle East: Support, Obstacles and to recycle only 20% of what they collect, leaving the rest to rot Other Considerations” Thomas B. Stevenson, Chair & Discussant in giant landfills. Filmed over four years, this film is an intimate Ohio University, Zanesville look into lives of two teenage boys. “The Strength of Female Figures in North African Cinema” Dinah Assouline-Stillman, University of Hove (The Wind) (USA/Armenia) 2009 10 min. In English. “The Making of an Algerian Comedy” Director/Filmmaker: Alex Webb. Print Source: Alex Webb. Lyes Salem guest filmmaker- Masquerades Hove is a short film that tells the story of two modern Armenian “New Tunisian Cinema: Allegories of Resistance” women whose lives are shaken by an unexpected encounter with Robert Lang, University of Hartford the past, and the unresolved legacy of the Armenian genocide. organized by Nadia Hlibka

MESA 2010 FilmFest 12 FuImperial Outposts: The Secret History of the US discoveries of Koranic manuscripts analyzed by scientists, dating Military Presence in Turkey (Turkey) 2010 65 min. In English from around 680-the oldest in the world-indicate that the Koran and Turkish w/English subtitles. Director/Writer: Amy K. Holmes; would appear to have a history. This work explores the origins of Print Source: Amy K. Holmes. the Koran and an invitation to discover where Muslim tradition This documentary provides an historical overview of the and scientific research converge. American military presence in Turkey from the early 1950s until the present. Through a combination of interviews with eye- FLeft in Baghdad (USA) 2010 12 min. In English. Directors/ witnesses and declassified archival footage, the film addresses Filmmakers: Peter and John Kane. Distributor/Print the changing consensus on security issues within Turkey as part Source: Icarus Films. of the larger democratization process. The film provides a good After losing his left arm to an IED while serving in Iraq, American overview of the forces acting on the division of the Ottoman soldier Ross Graydon spends six months rehabilitating at the Empire and their effects. Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Left in Baghdad follows Ross as he returns with his wife and daughter to their home in Ft. Investigating the Attacks on Gaza () Campbell, Kentucky. Ross resumes civilian life, never letting his (USA) 2009 56 min. In English. Distributor/Print Source: new physical limitations affect his happy-go-lucky attitude. Films for the Humanities & Sciences. A controversial investigation found that both Hamas and the Live: From Bethlehem (Palestine) 2009 36 min. Producer/ Israel Defense Forces may have committed war crimes in Director: Matt Sienkiewicz and Joseph C. Sousa. Associate Gaza earlier this year. In this edition of the Journal, Bill Moyers Producers: Emily Sienkiewicz, Vera Ventura. Distributor/Print talks with the man at the center of the storm, Justice Richard Source: Media Education Foundation. Goldstone, who despite working with many pro-Israel groups and The Bethlehem-based Ma’an News Agency (MNA) is the only Israeli institutions in the past, has drawn intense criticism from independent news network in the Palestinian Territories and an some of Israel’s supporters for his report on the investigation increasingly prominent and influential journalistic force in the for the UN Human Rights Council. A tribute to the late Justice wider Middle East. Live from Bethlehem tells MNA’s remarkable William Wayne Justice, a resolute champion of the law in Texas, story. It chronicles the agency’s struggles and successes through concludes the program. the eyes of the station’s reporters, producers, and photographers, and in the process quietly reveals the humanity of ordinary Iraqi Exodus: The Iraq War and the Middle East’s Refugee Palestinians as they go about their daily business.

Crisis (Iraq) 2008 57 min. In Arabic and English w/English subtitles. Mad

Executive Producers: Paul Mitchell, Pamela Hogan; Producer/ Mad, Mad, World (Iran) 1975 4 min. Print Source: Director: Tania Raghmanova; A production of Thirteen/WNET University of Carolina, Chapel Hill Media Resources New York & ITVS International by Wilton Films. Distributor/ Center. Print Source: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. The MESA FilmFest logo. This is a black and white animated This Wide Angle report travels to the front lines of the staggering cartoon from Iran about “global relations.” The more things refugee crisis that continues to unfold in the Middle East as change, the more they stay the same. Iraqis flee their war-torn hometowns to live either as exiles in neighboring countries or dislocated within Iraq’s borders. The uMasquerades (Mascarades) (Algeria)* 2008 92 min. In situations in Syria and Jordan, where refugees cope with their new Arabic, with English subtitles. Director/Filmmaker: Lyes Salem; surroundings amidst government pressure and rising resentment Producers: Yacine Laloui, Isabelle Madelaine. Distributor/Print from the local population, are spotlighted. In addition, Aaron source: Global Film Initiative (Global Lens 2010). *Film Brown speaks with regional leaders about how the catastrophe is screening supported by the Global Film Initiative. Lyes Salem’s impacting the Middle East–and these millions of homeless Iraqis participation supported by AIMS. whose hope of return grows dimmer with each passing year. Part comedy, part drama, this endearing film highlights the joys and sorrows of living in a small town. It is a story of love, deceit, Iraq in the USA (USA) 2009 24 min. In Arabic and English manipulation, and thwarted dreams. w/English subtitles. Director/Producer: Tanya Sleiman. Print source: Tanya Sleiman. Muezzin (/Turkey) 2009 85 min. In Turkish w/ In a multi-voiced portrait created through vibrant observational English subtitles. Director: Sebastian Brameshuber/ Producers: scenes and intimate interviews, Iraq in the USA provides a lens Sebastian Brameshuber, Gabriele Kranzelbinder, David Bohun. into stories of the Iraqi refugee experience while documenting a Distributor/Print Source: cinephil; KGP Kranzelbinder new migration wave to US shores. Gabriele Production. Since the time of the Prophet Mohammed, faithful Muslims have The Koran: The Origins of the Book (Egypt, , heeded the muezzin’s call to prayer five times a day. A more recent Saudi Arabia, ) 2009 52 min. In Arabic, English, French, phenomenon is the Turkish call to prayer contests. Each year, German, w/English narration and subtitles. Director: Bruno the country’s muezzins compete, and their powerful creativity Ulmer. Producer: Arte France; Print Source: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. According to Muslim tradition, since its revelation to the prophet fter viewing a film, please take a moment to complete theA- evaluation form available in the auditorium. This is Mohammed between 610 and 632 CE in Mecca and Medina, the an important service to the committee as well as to the Koran has remained static and unchanged. However, recent filmmakers and distributors. 13 MESA 2010 FilmFest proves that muezzins are a special kind of artist. Muezzin follows street because no other authority took responsibility for them. the dramatic progress of the competition and investigates the The only help offered was from individuals and former refugees phenomenon of individuality within Islamic culture. who worked day and night to find food, clothing and shelter for the newcomers. The film follows the refugees over the course of The Nile River: Shared or Monopolized? (Nile Bordering a year, documenting the trauma of the various groups and focusing countries) 2008 52 min. In English. Director/Producer: Nia on two personal stories. Refugees or illegal immigrants? Dryhurst for S4C and Green Bay Media. Distributor/Print Source: Films for the Humanities and Sciences. SALT OF THIS SEA (Palestine) 2008 109 min. In Arabic Were it not for the elemental forces of the Nile River, the great and English w/English subtitles. Director: Annemarie Jacir. architecture of ancient Egypt and Ethiopia might never have been Distributor/Print Source: Lorber Films. built. But in today’s water-starved world, the river could lead both This is the story of Soraya (Suheir Hammad), a Brooklyn-born countries down a destructive path. This program examines lives woman who travels to Palestine to retrieve her grandfather’s and livelihoods that depend on the Nile, from the humble to the savings, frozen in a Jaffa bank account after his 1948 exile. hugely ambitious. In Egypt, viewers encounter a struggling Cairo Struggling to feel at home in the land of her ancestors–and rebuffed fishing family, a father-and-son farming team, and the nation’s by the country’s financial institutions–she meets Emad, a young irrigation minister, who discusses diverting part of the river into a Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever. new valley. Moving to the source of the Nile, the program depicts Tired of the constraints that dictate their lives, they devise a plan Ethiopia’s efforts to exploit the river–a series of hydroelectric to reclaim what is theirs–whatever the consequences may be. A projects that have created tension with Egypt. beautiful film, beautifully presented.

Our Summer in Tehran (Iran) 2010 60 min. In English, Sayed Kashua: Forever Scared (Israel) 2009 52 min. In Arabic, Farsi, and French w/English subtitles. Director: Justine Shapiro; Hebrew w/English subtitles. Director: Dorit Zimbalist; Producers: Producers: Promises Films and Independent Television Service. Barak Heymann & Dorit Zimbalist. Distributor/Print Source: Print Source: Promises Films. Ruth Diskin Films. Justine Shapiro, a Jewish-American filmmaker, takes her 6-year- Sayed Kashua is a talented and ambitious Israeli writer with a old son Mateo with her to Tehran where they spend the summer top-rated television comedy series, Arab Labor, but Kashua with three families: a religious family with ties to the government; never feels at home. He’s a Palestinian citizen of Israel, a walking, a cosmopolitan, secular family; and a single mom who is an actress. talking oxymoron, an invisible man constantly called upon to When the Iranian government abruptly gives Justine and Mateo 48 justify himself, his work and even his decision to write in Hebrew. hours to leave the country, promising relationships are severed. Filmed over seven years, the film is a fascinating journey inside the complicated life and complex mind of a unique creative force. Refugees (Israel) 2009 67 min. In Arabic, English, and Hebrew w/English subtitles. Director: Shai Carmeli-Polak; Producers: Slingshot Hip Hop (Palestine) 2008 83 min. In Arabic, English, Zafrir Kochanovsky, Miri Ezra. Distributor/Print Source: and Hebrew w/English subtitles. Director: Jackie Reem Salloum; Ruth Diskin Films. Producers: Jackie Reem Salloum, Rumzi Araj, Waleed Zaiter In 2007, a wave of African refugees crossed the border into Israel. for Fresh Booza Productions. Print Source: Fresh Booza Empty-handed, having traversed the desert on foot, they crossed Productions. the border between Egypt and Israel in the dark of night, sometimes Slingshot Hip Hop braids together stories of young Palestinians living under Egyptian fire, by which many were killed. The Israeli military in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel as they discover hip hop and received the refugees but one day later they could be found on the employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and separation walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of MESA FilmFest ’10 young people crossing the borders that separate them. FilmFest Committee FilmFest Reviewers STOLEN KISSES (Kobolat Masrokta) (Egypt) 2009 120 min. Faith Childress Mirna Lattouf Director: Khaled El Hagar. Print Source: Khaled El Hagar. Rockhurst University Arizona State University Yaron Shemer Julie Ellison Director Khaled El Hagar sketches a picture of modern Cairo by University of North Carolina University of Arizona focusing on themes such as family conflict, unemployment, sexual at Chapel Hill Josef Gugler frustration, prostitution and violence, themes which are rarely Suzanne Simons University of Connecticut touched upon in Egypt. The characters are all in their twenties The Evergreen State College Amy W. Newhall and are buffeted by socio-cultural constraints. Winner of eight Thomas B. Stevenson University of Arizona International acting awards at Alex International Film Festival. Ohio University, Zanesville Dinah Assouline Stillman Tagnawittude (France/Algeria/Morocco) 2010 80 min. In University of Oklahoma Arabic, English, French w/English subtitles. Director/Filmmaker: Rahma Benhamou El Madani; Producer: Plein Cadres (Rahma Thank You! B. El Madani). Coproducers: All Cuts Studio (Kevin Hamon) Nadia Hlibka France; Lotus Films (Rachid Diguer) Algeria; Awman Production MESA FilmFest Coordinator (Mohamed Nadif) Morocco. Distributor: All Cuts Studio. Print Source: Rahma Benhamou El Madani.

MESA 2010 FilmFest 14 Gnawa music has been a ritual for many centuries in the Maghrib. Women Without Men (Iran)* 2010 99 min. Director: Shirin Now it is finding its way into the French music scene. This is the Neshat. Distributor/Print Source: New Yorker Films. case of Amazigh Kateb and his band Gnawa Diffusion, who have *Film screening supported by New Yorker Films. incorporated this style since 1992. Filmmaker Rahma Benhamou Women Without Men is Shirin Neshat’s independent film adaptation El Madani revisits attending gnawa rituals from childhood with of Shahrnush Parsipur’s magic realist novel. The story chronicles her mother. As an adult, she explores modern gnawa and fusion the intertwining lives of four Iranian women during the summer of gnawa music. The film features interviews with musicians and 1953; a cataclysmic moment in Iranian history when an American participants. A fascinating look at a ritual activity that is inextricably led, British backed coup d’état brought down the democratically entwined with music. elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, and reinstalled the Shah to power. uTea on the Axis of Evil: A Film about Real life in Syria (Syria/USA) 2009 67 min. In Arabic, English, Italian w/English The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn subtitles. Director: Jean Marie Offenbacher. Print Source: Jean Middle East: The Birth of Nations–Albert Kahn’s Archive Marie Offenbacher. of the Planet (Turkey and general Middle East) 2008 52 min. In After the invaded Iraq, the media began to describe English. A BBC/Musee Albert-Kahn co-production. Distributor/ Syria (and Iran) in terms used to justify the invasion of Iraq. It Print source: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. was possible that intentions to destabilize Syria could proceed No sooner had Europe declared an end to its Great War than unopposed by a misinformed public. The filmmaker took this idea the seeds of new conflict were sown–in the dismemberment of to be a challenge, so she moved to Syria to record a portrait of life the Ottoman Empire. With typical global awareness, photography in the countryside, in the halls of power in Damascus and places patron and archivist Albert Kahn chose to document the historic in between. changes occurring in the colonial Middle East. This program traces his team’s expeditions into Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Unveiled Views: Muslim Women Artists Speak Out Palestine as Western powers redrew the map of the region. The (Afghanistan, Bosnia, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey) 2009 52 min. French takeover of Syria, the Balfour Declaration, and Turkey’s In Bosnian, Turkish, Farsi, and Urdu with English subtitles. war with come to life in Kahn’s street-level films and Filmmaker: Alba Sotorra. Distributor/Print source: Women autochromes–which also serve as reminders that Jerusalem, like Make Movies. many other Middle East locations, suffered greatly during World In this revealing documentary five extraordinary women talk War I. Contains mature subject matter. about their occupations, aspirations, and the rights and status of women in their Muslim countries. These include a performance The Word and the Bomb: Writing in the Age of Terror, artist, dancer, writer, musician and filmmaker. Captured by Alaa Al Aswany (Egypt) 2009 29 min. In English. A Films for the Spanish filmmaker Alba Sotorra, who hitchhiked from Barcelona Humanities & Sciences production. Distributor/Print source: to Pakistan to shoot Unveiled Views, these self-portraits of hope, Films for the Humanities & Sciences. heroism, and pride challenge conventional Western stereotypes The early years of Dr. Alaa Al Aswany’s dental practice in Cairo’s about women in the Islamic world. deteriorating Yacoubian Building were transformed into the wildly successful novel of the same name. This interview with Veil of Dreams: Women’s Soccer and Islamic Tradition in the Egyptian author highlights his views on social issues affecting Iran (Iran) 2008 47 min. In Persian w/English subtitles. Director: the Islamic world as well as his attitudes towards literature and Zaihirat Banu Codelli; Producers: Lim Sual Yen, Gary Ka Byung the West. Guiding viewers through his favorite haunts, past sook, Lal Jason for Oak 3 Films. Distributor/Print source: and present, among the streets of Cairo, Al Aswany addresses Films for the Humanities & Sciences. several topics–including the 2005 Danish cartoon controversy, Exploring a clash between religious customs and contemporary the damage caused by stereotypes, and the author’s belief that athletic aspirations, this program follows an Iranian women’s dictatorship, not fundamentalism, is the “disease” which Egypt and soccer team daring to push traditional limits and pursue victories other Islamic nations must cure. both on and off the field. Interviews with players and their families are combined with commentary by supporters of the sport. MESA FilmFest 2011 Wedding Song (Le Chant des Mariées) (Tunisia) 2008 100 Call for Entries min. In Arabic, French, and Hebrew w/English subtitles. Director: Karin Albou. Distributor/Print Source: Strand Releasing* The 2011 MESA FilmFest Committee seeks submissions in video/dvd *Film screening sponsored by the TALIM Kuniholm format for the FilmFest 2011 to be screened during the Annual Meeting Women’s Literacy Program (AIMS affiliation). in Washington, DC December 01-04, 2011. All entries will be reviewed Tunis in 1942; it is the chronicle of two friends, one Muslim, by members of the FilmFest Committee and coordinated by Nadia Hlibka. one Jewish and how their lives intertwine on the levels of family, Films should be in VHS (NTSC) format or DVD (must be region-free), also neighborhood, culture and humanity. Myriam and Nour come of age together in the worst of times. They share the same house in playable as NTSC in English or with English subtitles. Send 2 copies of a modest neighborhood where Jews and Muslims live in harmony. film for preview with entry form which will be available online, to: Nadia Each one secretly desires the other girl’s life. A powerful testimony Hlibka, MESA Secretariat, 1219 N. Santa Rita Ave., The University of Arizona, of the triumph of humanity over uncontrollable external pressures. Tucson AZ 85721 (520 621-7073; [email protected]). Submission deadline: June 15, 2011. 15 MESA 2010 FilmFest Film Distributors / Filmmakers / Print Source

The Cinema Guild Noura Kevorkian Amany Seleem 800 723-5522 toll free Anjar: Flowers, Goats & Heroes The Curtain 212 685-6242 Six Island Productions 614 589-8879 fax: 212 685-4717 416 530-8170 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Gazelle Samizay www.cinemaguild.com Kino Lorber Films 9,409 Miles cinephil 333 West 39th Street, Suite 503 [email protected] Muezzin New York NY 10018 Tanya Sleiman 212 629-6880 KGP Production Iraq in the USA [email protected] fax: 212 714-0871 646 645-4225 www.lorberfilms.com www.kgp.co.at [email protected] Ruth Diskin Films Michelle Mama Strand Releasing 21 Days to Nawroz 972-2-6724256 Wedding Song fax: 972-2-6724210 meemama productions 310 836-7500 [email protected] 416 993-9063 fax: 310 836-7510 [email protected] www.ruthfilms.com [email protected] www.triconfilms.com www.strandreleasing.com Khaled El Hagar www.meemamaproductions.com Stolen Kisses Arnd Wächter Media Education Foundation 202 3383 8822 Crossing Borders mobile: 20105452587 413-584-8500, X 2205 00447901985485 [email protected] fax: 413 586-8398 [email protected] [email protected] www.crossingbordersfilm.org Rahma Benhamou El Madani www.mediaed.org Tagnawittude Alex Webb New Yorker Films All Cuts Studio Hove Moulineaux France Women Without Men 212 748-9799 212 757-4743 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.hoverthewind.com Fictionville Studio www.newyorkerfilms.com Day Break Women Make Movies Hamid Rahmanian & Melissa Hibbard University of North Carolina 212 925-0606 tel/fax: 718 852-7815 Media Resources Center CB #3942 fax: 212 925-2052 [email protected] R.B. House Undergraduate [email protected] www.fictionvillestudio.com Library www.wmm.com 919 962-2559 Film Media Group fax: 919 962-2697 Films for Humanities & Sciences www.lib.unc.edu/house/mrc A Vibrant MESA FilmFest 800 257-5126 depends on YOU fax: 609 671-0266 Jean Marie Offenbacher [email protected] Tea on the Axis of Evil FilmFest SPONSORSHIPS–A new opportunity is available ffh.films.com [email protected] to get your "name up in lights"! Your name (or your www.reorientfilms.org group's name) will be mentioned (if you have a logo Fresh Booza Productions image, that can be included as well) in the MESA annual Slingshot Hip Hop Promises Films conference FilmFest program. Different levels of fiscal [email protected] Our Summer in Tehran sponsorship are available. www.slingshothiphop.com [email protected] www.promisesfilms.com FilmFest SUPPORTER $250 The Global Film Initiative Benefit is listing as a FilmFest Supporter in the MESA pro- 415 934-9500 gram and on the website (logo in B/W in program; logo fax: 415 934-9501 in color on the web). [email protected] www.globalfilm.org FilmFest SPONSOR $375 Thank You Benefit is listing as a FilmFest sponsor in the program Amy Kristine Holmes ! and on the website; plus a quarter-page ad in FilmFest Imperial Outposts to all the filmmakers and distributors program and logo in color on the web. [email protected] for making the FilmFest PATRON $650 Icarus Films MESA FilmFest a continuing success. Benefit is listing as a FilmFest Patron in the program and 718 488-8900 on the website; plus a half-page ad in the MESA program fax: 718 488-8642 (logo in B/W in program; logo in color on the web). [email protected] Contact Nadia Hlibka, MESA FilmFest Coordinator for www.frif.com more information, at [email protected].