Basma al-Sharif
, 2007
, 11 min
In an empty room, a slideshow projection of abandoned places plays alongside the narrative of two girls who find themselves on the shores of a pre-apocalyptic paradise. Told through subtitle text that weaves fact and fiction together, the story of a massacre unfolds. When the image and text malfunction and the story is no longer…
Pegah Pasalar, Suneil Sanzgiri
Pegah Pasalar (b. 1992) is an Iranian interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and film editor currently based in Brooklyn. Her autoethnographic practice encompasses video, installation, and film, exploring themes including identity convulsion, cultural memory, fragmentation, temporality, and displacement. Pegah is particularly interested in oral histories and modes of storytelling people use to refabulate the past. She is the…
August 2023
Moumen Smihi, Dina Amer, Latifa Said
UN/BELONGING Featuring works by Dina Amer, Latifa Said and Moumen Smihi Screening Online: August 12 – 20, 2023 RSVP: artearchive.orgFree / $5 suggested donationAvailable in the Middle East, North Africa, United States and Canada In person screening: Sunday, August 13, 2023UnionDocs: 352 Onderdonk Ave, Queens, NY 11385Buy tickets here UN/BELONGING presents films that share intimate stories from the North African immigrant experience in…
Latifa Said
, 2016
, 29 min
Synopsis: Unquiet Days is the story of Fadila, a cabaret singer who escapes Oran after being threatened to death by religious fundamentalists. Algeria is in the middle of a civil war. She arrives to Aubagne, close to Marseille, to the home of one of her friends. But her friend does not live there anymore, so she wanders…
Moumen Smihi
, 1971
, 16 min
Synopsis: Shot in Paris after Smihi completed film school, Si Moh, the Unlucky Man is an investigation of the life of migrant workers in France. Connected to the Maghreb by postcards and to his fellow migrants by shared experiences of alienation, the character Simoh negotiates the industrialized suburbs of Paris as the subject of his intimate camera. Smihi’s…
Dina Amer
, 2021
, 90 min
Synopsis: Cultural and intergenerational trauma erupt in this story about two sisters on the outskirts of Paris. After the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world. Director Dina Amer takes on one of the darkest issues of our time and deconstructs it in…
July 2023
Darine Hotait, Randa Ali, Reem Jubran, Lily Ekimian Ragheb and Ahmed T. Ragheb, Zayn Alexander, Jenna Mahmoud-Bosco, Shayma Aziz
PRAYER OF THE WANDERER is a short film program that explores the complex and multifaceted experiences of Arab American immigrants in their pursuit of identity within the context of living in the United States. By delving into their narratives, this event seeks to shed light on the richness and diversity of Arab American cultural heritage…
Zayn Alexander
, 2018
, 9 min
Jad and Rania, a Lebanese couple living in New York City, struggle to achieve their shared dream of breaking into the acting industry due, in part, to the typecasting of Middle-Eastern actors. The combined pressures of juggling multiple day jobs and living so far from home begin to eat away at Jad, while Rania relishes…
Jenna Mahmoud-Bosco
, 14 min
Gamal, a new immigrant who works as a dishwasher at a diner, has to find a place to live after his friend kicks him out. Gamal’s coworker, Jose, encourages him to call Fritzie, a friendly regular customer who’s looking for a tenant. Fritzie’s high strung daughter, Rachel, pressures Fritzie to sell her house and live…
Shayma Aziz
, 2023
, 10 min
Between Land and Sky is an experimental moving image project which involves narration, stop motion animation, performance, ritual music and manipulated video. It explores the idea of estrangement by following a sequence of nonlinear events that connect childhood trauma, and vague memories to longing for a sense of home. The connection comes through the voice…
