2009

middle east studies & Middle Eastern Diaspora

New Releases 3 Middle Eastern Diaspora 6 Middle East Studies 10 The Work of Jayce Salloum 14 N e w R e l e a s e s

Our mission is to foster the creation, appreciation and dissemination of social issue media made by or about people of color. Today, TWN carries on the progressive vision of NEW daughter. Hadja, a political asylum T h e W AY N o r t h : seeker from Algeria, is sans papiers its founders, and remains the oldest media arts organization M a g h r e b i W o m e n (without papers). The documentary shows these women's struggles to in the United States devoted to filmakers of color and i n M a r s e i l l e Shara K. Lange, 2008, 60 min cultivate alternative economic and their global constituencies. "I thought that in life would social supports for themselves in a be easier—it’s the land of liberty. society that has historically ignored But it wasn’t like that at all." --Fatima or misunderstood them. h o w t o o r d e r Rhazi “These women's lives in the context of a France that seemed From Marseille come the stories on the brink of exploding, provide Online: www.twn.org We accept institutional purchase of North African women making the opportunity for an “inside orders, credit cards and PayPal new lives for themselves in tense, view” of part of one of the most Email: [email protected] complex, contemporary France. consequential mass migrations accounts. Remember to add $20 in the world today as the Islamic for shipping and handling. Riots throughout France in population of Europe grows.” Phone: (212) 947-9277 ext. 11 November 2005 and the presidential Paul Stekler, Director of Last Man election in 2007 are backdrops to Standing Fax: (212) 594-6417 Get a 10% discount on all Middle East and Middle Eastern Diaspora this documentary about the women Arab Film Festival, , 2008 titles when you mention promo code of the community organization Cinemateque de Tanger, , 2008 Austin Film Society, 2008 Mail: Third World Newsreel EBME09. Women From Here and Afar, and 545 8th Avenue, 10th Floor community activist Fatima Rhazi. DVD Sale: 225.00 New York, NY 10018 Fatima gave up a successful career as a sports photographer in Morocco and immigrated to France in order to protect her daughter TWN is supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, the New York from in-laws who would have taken State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the her away. Itto, a young, newly immi- Ford Foundation, the Funding Exchange, the North Star Fund and The Asian Women Giving Circle, as well as individual donors. grated bride, negotiates a new culture while raising her young The Way North Cover Photo: With Blood by Juliana Fredman & Dan O'Reilly Rowe

[  ] www.twn.org www.twn.org [  ] [  ] www.twn.org www.twn.org [  ] N e w R e l e a s e s N e w R e l e a s e s nEW NEW W h o G i v e s K i s s e s W i t h B l o o d : B i d a m Juliana Fredman & Dan O'Reilly-Rowe, F r e e ly F r o m H e r 2006, 57 min. AWOL L i p s This documentary follows ordi- Simin Farkhondeh, 2008,41 min. nary people’s efforts to overcome Inspired by the work of Sara Gomez NEW extraordinary obstacles in pursuit of and Cuban Imperfect Cinema, Who A W o l Brigid Maher, 2005,20 min. routine health care in the West Bank Gives Kisses Freely From Her Keisha Johnson, an African American and Gaza Strip. Shot on location Lips, weaves together fiction and women soldier, goes AWOL in Iraq with patients and health workers documentary to tell the story of With Blood after she flees a violent incident. over seven months, this film offers a a filmmaker determined to make On her "walkabout" journey, she thought-provoking, compassionate Resistance here comes not in the a film on temporary marriage, a encounters children who decide to perspective on life in the Occupied form of guns and bombs, but rather taboo subject in Shia Iran. Salomé, help her. Keisha and the children Palestinian Territories. in the people's determination to conducts documentary interviews grow to understand each other continue to strive for life and health with real Iranians who have engaged despite the political barriers that in the face of adversity. With Blood in temporary marriage. They speak have torn their lives apart. offers unique access to these often frankly about the pros and cons of overlooked stories and explores how this type of union as apposed to "Maher evokes a wealth of cross- the confict in the region exacerbates permanent marriage. In the process cultural ambiguities and tensions already difficult and traumatic situa- of learning about Salomé's alienation generated by the war" - Pat Aufderheide, Film Critic tions. from the customs of her homeland, we learn about the complexities National Museum of Women in the Arts, "An important and powerful film. Washington DC, 2007 This story is told through the of the Shia' Islamic institution of Reel Women International Film Festival, voices of people seeking medical temporary marriage. , 2007 With Blood treatment (including kidney DVD Sale: $175 DVD Sale: $125 With Blood dialysis and chemotherapy), and Military checkpoints that lie between those trying to deliver it, and the villages and cities often prevent the obstacles they encounter by being movement of ambulances and the in an occupied territory... Useful to those studying the Palestinians, infirm, forcing critical cases to take the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and treacherous bypass routes through global health care disparities. olive groves and over rocky, moun- Recommended." tainous terrain. Medics, ambulance - Educational Media Reviews Online drivers, and doctors negotiate these (EMRO) shiftings barries in order to deliver Center of Contemporary Arab Studies, care. Georgetown University, 2008 DVD Sale: $225

Who Gives Kisses Freely From Her Lips

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l e s t w e f o r g e t f a r o u k a b d e l 2004 election approached, Ralph Jason DaSilva, 2003, 80 min. muthi: politi c a l reflected on being a Palestinian and This documentary follows the p r i s o n e r on voting for the first time, while the events post-9/11, examining the Konrad Aderer, 2003, 9 min. neighborhood chimed in. A short roundups and racial attacks that In April 2002, Farouk Abdel Muthi, a film that wrecks the western media occured in the name of national Palestine human rights activist was stereotype of Palestinians, and a security. The film contains stories arrested by the Justice Department display of a truly multicultural neigh- told by individuals who have felt on the basis of a 1995 deporta- borhood. Part of the Call for Change the severity of wartime racism in tion order. Partly because he was Series. a stateless Palestinian, the INS has America and explores the sullied Documentary Fortnight, Museum of Two Months to Home past in the hopes of creating been unable to deport him. Here, Modern Art, New York, 2007 lessons for a different future. Farouk tells his own story from Middle East Studies Association Film Festival, 2005 T W O m o n t h s t o Passaic County Jail, and speaks "This important film connects the h o m e out against the injustices inflicted on DVD Sale: $25 Janice Ahn, 2006, 8 min. alarming WWII internment of people Muslim immigrants since 9/11. Samira Rahman is an Afghan mother of Japanese descent with recent events where people of Arabic, S a j : who narrowly escaped death at the Middle East Studies Association Film South Asian and Muslim origin Festival, 2004 muslim in ameri c a hands of the Taliban just before became the new 'enemy aliens'." Sam Pollard, 2005, 56 min. September 11, 2001. Upon arrival San Francisco International Asian DVD Sale: $125 Sajda Abdul-Rahim, a college in the United States, she is unduly American Film Festival student living in New York City, talks held in a makeshift detention center Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, 2004 about her religious upbringing as for two months. Her husband and World Premiere, International a Muslim and her quest for a less Documentary Festival of Amsterdam four children are elated and relieved (IDFA), 2003 traditional and more personal spiri- when she is finally released and tual connection with God. Part of allowed to remain in New York City. DVD Sale: $225 the Call for Change Series. Samira learns a hard lesson about Documentary Fortnight, Museum of life in the United States, the price of Modern Art, New York, 2007 immigration, and the importance of Middle East Studies Association Film Festival, 2005 finding strength in herself. Just Ralph DVD Sale: $25 "Ahn brings a human side to post- September 11, 2001 detentions" National Museum of Women in the Arts j u s t r a l p h Clifton Watson, 2005, 11 min. Association for Asian Studies Annual An alternately serious and humorous Meeting, 2007 "day in the life" of Ralph, a DVD Sale: $25 Palestinian-American grocery store owner, whose Brooklyn store is the neighborhood drop in center. As the Saj Lest We Forget

[  ] www.twn.org www.twn.org [  ] [  ] [email protected], (212) 947-9277 ext. 11 www.twn.org [  ] M i d d l e E a s t e rn D i a s p o r a M i d d l e E a s t e rn D i a s p o r a i c a l l m y s e l f p e r s i a n : i r a n i a n s i n a m e r i c a Tanaz Eshaghian & Sara Nodojoumi, 2002, 27 min. From the Iran hostage crisis of '79 to the WTC attacks, images of hostile Iranians and Middle Easterners have I Exist been well-ingrained in the American psyche, but no informed images Kabul Kabul I E x i s t: V o i c e s come to mind representing Iranians f r o m t h e L e s b i a n living on American soil. The Iranian Kabul Kabul w e t o o s i n g a n d G ay Just Ralph Revolution took place in 1979, Sedika Mojadidi, 2000,46 minutes a m e r i c a documents the film- Yun Jong Suh, 2001, 12 min. M i d d l e E a s t e r n after which more than one million Kabul Kabul maker's journey back to Afghanistan A poignant and revealing document C o m m u n i t y i n t h e Iranians fled the country. Since then after a 23 year absence. She of the thoughts, hopes and fears of u s hundreds of thousands of Iranians recounts her struggle to reconcile Muslim, Arab-American and South Peter Barbosa & Garrett Lenoir, 2003, 56 have been living in the United the different levels of loss that many Asian children in the context of a min. States. I Call Myself Persian like her have experienced from the country calling for war and uncondi- The cultural and religious challenges lets Iranian-Americans speak of that many Lesbian and Gay Middle how their identities are affected by war. Her piece wrestles with the tional compliance after the events of Eastern people endure are unpar- being made to feel like outsiders in a irreconcilable impulses of memory, September 11th. Part of the Call to alleled. I Exist shows the journey country they now call home. home, representation, loss, and Media Action Series. many take in learning how to join desire in the face of occupation and Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001 both their cultural heritage and DVD Sale: $175 a civil war that has left Afghanistan Middle East Studies Association Film and its people devastated. Festival, 2003 sexual identity. Even with these chal- n a j e e b : a p e r s i a n lenges, stories of hope emerge and girl in ameri c a Women in the Director's Chair, 2001 DVD Sale: $25 Afghan Physician's Conference, 2000 show that a family's love can always Tanaz Eshaghian, 2000, 26 min. win over hatred and ignorance. Jewish young women of Persian DVD Sale: $ 225 "Deep, insightful, and original." descent grown up in Iranian homes - Peace & Justice Studies Association in the United States, where they z u l a i k h a "Gives voices to an invisible queer Sedika Mojadidi, 2000, 46 min. negotiate the contradictions of A portrait of an Afghan woman in Middle Eastern community in their conservative, traditional world desperate need of recognition." Los Angeles in the wake of the at home and the America that lies -Insideout, Toronto attack on the World Trade Center outside their front doors. Best Documentary, New York Lesbian & and the war in Afghanistan. Zulaikha We Too Sing America Gay Film Festival, 2003 Middle East Studies Association Film Wardak shares her reactions to both Best Documentary, Turin International Gay Festival, 2003 events and her own memories of & Lesbian Film Festival, 2003 DVD Sale: $175 war in Kabul. DVD Sale: $225 DVD Sale: $30

[  ] www.twn.org www.twn.org [  ] [  ] [email protected], (212) 947-9277 ext. 11 www.twn.org [  ] M i d d l e E a s t S t u d i e s M i d d l e E a s t S t u d i e s r e f u s e n i k s Sonja de Vries, 2006, 56 min. "At once troubling and uplifting, F o r b i d d e n t o Refuseniks uses stunning archival Refuseniks exposes a growing w a n d e r chasm between young and footage, still photos and interviews to Susan Youssef, 2003, 35 min. idealistic citizen-soldiers of the Forbidden to Wander chron- document the stories of Israeli men Israel Defense Forces and what icles the experiences of a young and women who refuse to serve in the occupation compelled them the military occupation of the West to do... Sonja de Vries has Arab American woman traveling Bank and Gaza Strip. Refuseniks created a beautiful, honest, and on her own in the occupied terri- is a moving portrait of Israelis who unforgettable film, required viewing tories of the West Bank and Gaza for any one who refuses to accept have been willing to risk imprison- Strip during the summer of 2002. easy answers about the Israeli- The film is a reflection on the ment in defense of their stands Palestinian conflict." Her Israel against the occupation by refusing Joel Krieger, Prof. of Political Science, complexity of Palestinian existence to serve. They differ in spiritual and Wellesley College and the disturbing ordinariness of living under constant curfew. h e r i s r a e l Marjan Tehrani, 2004, 57 min. The film's title reflects this, as the A documentary that follows three Arabic words used to describe the women, a Jewish-Israeli, a Jewish- imposed curfew "mane' tajawwul" Ukranian and a Palestinian, through literally translate as "forbidden to Just Ralph their daily lives in the bustling micro- wander." This film is also the journey cosm of TelAviv/Yafo. of personal discovery for the film- maker, the wanderer who falls in "Entertaining …beautifully made" love with a Palestinian man in Gaza. - Jewish Bulletin Refuseniks Documentary Fortnight, Museum of "Tehrani presents a glimpse at the Modern Art, New York, 2004 diverse reality of modern Israel." political beliefs, some are ardent Refuseniks is a powerful testament - Sundance Channel DVD Sale: $225 Zionists, and some question and to the courage and integrity of the "An engaging, eye-opening view young people who make up the challenge the concept of Zionism, of what it's like to live in such a refuser movement." but all of them have come to believe conflicted region: boyfriends cheat, Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, Jewish Voice babies need baths, grandmas tell that taking a stand is crucial to their for Peace granddaughters their outfits are own humanity and to the future of "I found it very heartening and too skimpy, and, on occasion, their country. inspiring to meet so many Israelis sudden instances of violence rock in Refuseniks who went into the the streets – all of which is taken in "Powerful, moving, inspiring... This army, had their eyes opened and stride." film will contribute to solidarity have found the courage to take the - Cheryl Eddy, San Francisco Bay Guardian between U.S. and Israeli soldiers of personal risk of refusing to serve. Online conscience." This is an important story that Howard Zinn needs to be heard." DVD Sale: $225 Debra Chasnoff, documentary filmmaker Forbidden to Wander

DVD Sale: $225

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n o t i n m y g a r d e n c h i l d r e n o f f i r e overlooking the Bashoura Cemetary Video '48, 2000, 50 min. Mai Masri, 1990, 50 min. reflects on the circumstances of her In 1991, Israeli authorities attempted This film offers a rare view of the life. In The Fountain (10 min), the to evict the Arab residents of the Intifada as seen through the eyes family of an Egyptian carpet maker Galilean village of Ramia. Public of Palestinian children. At age five, living in the ruins of an old mansion pressure delayed the eviction, but Fadi is already throwing stones, gather round and tell stories. As the the neighboring city of Carmiel has all while for Hana, 11, the Intifada, father repairs the fountain, they talk but swallowed up the village. Huge is a new way of life which, 'has about the memories the mansion apartment houses have sprung up, taught us to depend on ourselves.' holds for them. In Motorcycle (8 while the people of Ramia, prohibited Through deeply moving inter- min) a noble and wealthy man had from building, have had to remain in views we learn what a tremendous no children to inherit his wealth - a crowded tin shacks. With both legal psychological impact the curfews, woman who had worked as his and financial prowess, Carmiel has house demolitions, night raids, servant is now the only one left been put to the test by the popular expulsions, school closings, death to tell his story. In Abdel-Halim struggles of Ramia. and destruction have had on the Cinema Fouad (7 min), Mrs. Jabr recounts the children. "This engaging video group, seeks marriages, deaths and births that to put in the spotlight what the "A moving and beautifully directed c i n e m a f o u a d have happened in her house as her establishment does not want to see. documentary." Mohammed Soueid, 1994, 28 min. grandchild tells the story of her own A timely, much-needed film." -- The Sunday Times wedding. --Nahman Ingber, Film Critic A documentary on the life and VHS Sale: $225 ambitions of a young Lebanese DVD Sale: $225 DVD Sale: $225 crossdresser. The video follows j a g a d a k e e r . . . n a z a r e t h i n her journey from soldier to cabaret dancer in an effort to raise funds b e t w e e n t h e n e a r a u g u s t a n d e a s t Norman Cowie, Ahmed Damian & Dan for her sex change operation. Shot Tina M. Bastajian, 2001, 19 min. Walworth, 1986, 58 min. in Beirut, Cinema Fouad weaves Jagadekeer is an Armenian word Surrounded by Jewish settlements a complex and multi-layered story meaning fate, or literally, what is and the encroaching Jewish city of of sexuality, identity and desire and written on one's forehead. Memory, Nazareth Elite, the life of Nazareth's paints a compelling portrait of its nostalgia, displacement, absence 55,000 Arabs remains a daily subject. and reconnection are explored struggle. This documentary shows DVD Sale: $225 using the Armenian genocide as a Palestinian Arabs living as Israeli citi- point of reference and a visual/aural zens and their efforts to gain equal h o m e backdrop. rights. Arab and Jewish officials, Akram Zataari, 1994, 33 min. activists and workers analyze the Four shorts documenting the lives of Women in the Director's Chair, 2002 Beiruti women. Make-up (8 min) is San Francisco International Film Festival, conflicts between Palestinian and 2001 Israeli sovereignty. Children of Fire a meditation on age, death and the cycle of life as a widow who lives DVD Sale: $225 DVD Sale: $175

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this is not beirut/ t h e r e w a s a n d t h e r e w a s n o t Jayce Salloum & Walid Ra'ad, 1994, 49 min. A personal essay on the popular misrepresentaion of Lebanon and Beirut which documents the film- makers own experiences while untitled part 3b working in Lebanon. u n t i t l e d pa r t DVD Sale: $250 3 b : ( a s i f ) b e a u t y n e v e r e n d s Jayce Salloum, 2003, 11 min. In this video essay about dystopia Introduction to the End of an Argument in contemporary times, Jayce i n t r o d u c t i o n t o "Suleiman and Salloum are skilled Salloum presents raw footage t h e e n d o f a n image makers, and their relentless documenting the 1982 massacre argument/inti - send-ups of stereotype, racism of the Sabra and Shatila refugee and cultural ignorance are very camp in Lebanon. Working directly, f a d a : s p e a k i n g entertaining and absorbing; they Up to the South viscerally, and metaphorically, f o r o n e s e l f... manage to cover just about every unti- s p e a k i n g f o r demented permutation of the tled part 3b provides an elegiac up to the south o t h e r s problem" response to the Palestinian dispos- Jayce Salloum, 1993, 60 min. Jayce Salloum & Elia Suleiman, 1990, 45 Tony Reveaux, ARTWEEK session. An oblique, albeit powerful docu- min. "Salloum and Suleiman have mentary which examines the current Using clips from feature films, constructed an oddly wry narrative, Part of untitled, a series of proj- conditions, politics and economics cartoons and network tv, this mimicking the history of Mideast ects addressing social and political politics. Through key political of South Lebanon. The tape unique video provides a critique of realities and representations, focuses on the social, intellectual phrases we see repetitive distortions manifestations, and enunciations, the portrayal of Arabs in Western transformed into foreign policy. The and popular resistance to the Israeli media. Collaborating images of injustice, of course, is that this is our focusing on borders/nationalisms/ occupation, as well as conceptions Valentino, Barbara Eden, Golda Meir, history of their struggle. Speaking for movements and subjectivity and of "the land" and culture, and the Elvis Presley and Mr. Magoo, lead oneself... is a first attempt at making the conditions of living between imperiled identities of the Lebanese the image and the act one and the a barrage of found footage that is polarities of culture, geography, people. Simultaneously, the tape same." history, and ideology. juxtaposed with text and location Steve Seid, Pacific Film Archives self-conciously engages in a parallel footage shot on the West Bank and Sydney Arab Film Festival, 2007 critique of the documentary genre in Gaza. It also points to the nega- DVD Sale: $225 Middle East Studies Association Film Festival, 2008 and its traditions. tive influence of Arab stereotypes on DVD Sale: $250 U.S. views and foreign policy. DVD Sale: $200

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T h i r d w o r l d n e w s r e e l middle east studies & Middle Eastern Diaspora