Wael Noureddine
, 2006
, 35 min
July Trip synopsis: Beirut, July 2006. The Israeli bombings strike the city. While Beirut is still on fire, the filmmaker starts a journey across his natal land. The film is not a documentary – although the images are burning real – but an essay. Using two complementary techniques, the 16 mm film and HDV, the artist…
Ali Cherri
, 2007
, 12 min
Can we construct war experience narratives without any “war” images? Filmed in 2006 during the July War between Lebanon and Israel, Slippage is an attempt to escape the feeling of imprisonment, to another space and time. Trying to take possession again of our lives, just like Ilya Kabakov’s “Man Who Flew into Space from his…
August 2021
Carol Mansour, Charbel Samuel Aoun, Wael Noureddine, Ali Cherri
Marking the one-year anniversary of the devastating Beirut blast, this program of films and videos from Lebanese artists and filmmakers conveys their direct experience assimilating the overwhelming experience of loss and trauma. Two of the works are a response to the Beirut blast, which shook the city on August 4, 2020, while the other two…
Meriem Bennani
, 2018
, 26 min
Party on the CAPSParty on the CAPS synopsis: In a world where teleportation has replaced planes, a wacky crocodile named Fiona tells of life on the CAPS: an island-turned-refugee-camp for illegal immigrants caught mid-teleportation. Themes of displacement, biotechnology and privacy are evoked through the augmented reality of a raucous birthday party in the Moroccan quarter of the…
Mariam Mekiwi
, 30 min
Before I Forget Synopsis: El Captain disappears, one of his disciples takes a journey in the ocean to cut off the internet cable, the water level is rising, an amphibian woman appears at the shore looking for her mother, and the memories of two women in a ward intertwine. Scientist Dr. Sharaf is trying to congregate all…
Larissa Sansour
, 2012
, 9 min
Nation Estate synopsis: With its glossy mixture of computer-generated imagery, live actors, and an arabesque electronica soundtrack, the Nation Estate film explores a vertical solution to Palestinian statehood. Palestinians have their state in the form of a single skyscraper: the Nation Estate. One colossal high-rise houses the entire Palestinian population – now finally living the high life.
Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind
, 2016
, 28 min
Synopsis: Combining live-action and computer-generated imagery, In the Future They Ate from the Finest Porcelain explores the role of myth in history, fact, and national identity. A narrative resistance group makes underground deposits of elaborate porcelain, which they suggest belonged to an entirely fictional civilization. Their aim is to influence history and support future claims to their…
July 2021
Larissa Sansour, Meriem Bennani, Mariam Mekiwi
Disrupted Pasts, Displaced Futures is a selection of moving image works by contemporary artists from the Middle East and North Africa, blending science fiction, arabfuturism, and magic realism to tackle themes of displacement, migration, and climate crisis. Responding to an unstable present through the lens of the future, these alternate realities resist hegemonic narratives and open…
Suzannah Mirghani, Sarra Idris, Hashim Hassan
Next Gen Sudan + Talkback Thursday, July 15 to Sunday, July 18 Online Stream – Register for Free or $5 Suggested Donation Live Virtual Talkback: Sunday, July 18, at 3 pm EDT This month’s Arab Film Series brings us an intimate look at Sudanese youth – the challenges they face, the tough lessons learned, and the pride…
Suzannah Mirghani
, 2020
, 20 min
Synopsis AL- Sit: In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, 15-year-old Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, but her parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman living abroad. Nafisa’s grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, has her own plans for Nafisa’s future. But can Nafisa choose for herself?
