ABOUT ARTENEWS:

• Arts advocates and supporters have a new vehicle to find out about art and cultural happenings in the US and specific areas of the Middle East.
• ArteNews is a new web based newsletter that offers ongoing updates on arts news and events pertaining to the Middle East and its diaspora.
• Read featured articles that review events, give insight into cultural programs and regional ventures, and offer critical commentary on the cultural and artistic productions that make up the diverse Middle Eastern scene. 
• Our goal is to provide a wealth of resources that have until now been unavailable in one place. As we continue to develop ArteNews, you will be able to access news and event listings from regional newspapers, film festivals, art galleries, museums, cinemateques and arts and educational institutions.
  
  

Arab Films in the City:

At MoMA Film at The Gramercy Theatre
http://www.moma.org/visit_moma/momafilm/global_lens_2003.html

Rachida - 2002. Algeria. Directed by Yamina Bachir-Chouikh. Rachida is
a young Algerian schoolteacher who flees from the city to a remote
village after having been a victim of terrorism, only to find that
terrorism is inescapable. In Arabic, English subtitles. 100 min.
Saturday, November 29, 9:00


At Anthology Film Archives
http://www.nyadff.org/filmlisting03.htm

100% ARABICA, 1997,France. 85min, Directed by Mahmoud Zemmouri. Comedy in French with English subtitles. France's answer to the hood film, 100% Arabica - starring Rai music icons Khaled and Cheb Mami - is a hilarious, enjoyable, and often
enlightening, romp through the banlieu ('hood or barrio) of Paris.
Sun, Nov. 30 at 1:00pm.


BEDWIN HACKER, US Premiere, Tunisia, 2002, 103min, drama, French with English subtitles, Directed by Nadia El Fani.  From her workstation hidden in the Tunisian desert, Kalthoum, a computer genius and pirate in cyberspace, succeeds in taking over the entire network of European television channels to send political  messages in Arabic. In France, at the computer surveillance services, the search for the hacker is on! Bending gender expectations in many ways, this film presents an original and nontraditional look at the life of a modern woman in a Muslim society. Official selection FESPACO, The Pan African Film Festival of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Tue, Dec. 9 at 3:45pm, Wed, Dec. 10 at 6:15pm. Q&A.

CLAY DOLLS / POUPEES D'ARGILE, US Premiere, France/Tunisia/ Morocco, 2002, 90min, Drama, Arabic with English subtitles, Directed by Nouri Bouzid
Little Fedhah and the beautiful and sensual Rebeh have a common fate:  both have been taken from their families to the city to work as house- maids in the houses of the rich; both have been entrusted to the  protection of Omrane, a man in his forties who guarantees their virtue and the punctual delivery of their wages to their homes. Fedhah is the last deal concluded by Omrane. Without any ties of
love, the little girl seeks comfort by shaping clay dolls, while Rebeh, the rebel, now a woman aware of her charms, is ready to do anything to escape her fate. Official selection Festival Africano de Milano and Vues d'Afrique.
Fri, Dec. 5 at 7:20pm, Mon, Dec. 8 at 3:50pm.

CRY NO MORE, US Premiere, France/Morocco, 2003, 118min, drama, Arabic with English subtitles, Directed by Narjiss Nejjar. In Berber country, hemmed in by the Atlas Mountains lays a village of women who offer their bodies. The only men who enter are those who pay. The neighboring shepherds arrive for an annual debauchery, and the girls born out of this event are ritually inducted into their
mothers' trade. The women too old to earn money are consigned to a
settlement carved out of a cliff; they are ministered to by their daughters, but there is no love here. Official selection Cannes and Toronto Intern. Film Festivals.
Sat, Nov. 29 at 6:35pm, Sat, Dec. 6 at 2:50pm.

THE OTHER WORLD, NY Premiere France/Algeria, 2001, 97 min, drama in French/Arabic with English Subtitles, Directed by Merzak Allouache. L'Autre Monde (The Other World) is the heart-breaking story of one woman's search for the truth. Yasmine Hattou, a young French-Algerian, goes to Algiers in search of her fiancée. She desperately travels in a country she does not know, where nothing seems normal, another world filled with violence where death is ever-present.  Official selection Montreal World Film Festival.
Sat, Nov 29 at 2:50pm; Mon, Dec 1 at 1:40pm.

Reem Hussein Proverbs 

Tribes Gallery is pleased to present “Proverbs”, selected paintings from an ongoing series by Reem Hussein on exhibition from November 22 – December 6, 2003.

Opening Reception: November 22, 2003 6-9pm
Tribes Gallery
285 East Third Street (between C & D  New York, NY 10009
212-674-5576  www.tribes.org

Hussein’s work displays a vibrancy of colors layered with faint Arabic text floating across her watercolor paintings. Each piece merges an opposition of spontaneity and extreme control as the translucency of the background media meets the defined contours of the Arabic characters. Her love of visual sensation created by interactions between color and light is echoed in works that almost seem to resemble aged manuscripts associated with traditional Middle Eastern art. Each work is accompanied by a description revealing proverbs translated from Arabic to English, which she has then transliterated into Arabic.

Deema K. Shehabi is a Palestinian who grew up in Kuwait. She completed a
Masters in Journalism from Boston University in 1992 and has worked in
editing and writing for magazines and book publishers. She has traveled
extensively throughout the Middle East, North America, and Europe, and her
travels are often an inspiration for her poetry. Her poems have appeared in
the Atlanta Review, The Flyway Literary Review, and in several anthologies
including the Poetry of Arab Women, The Space Between our Footsteps, and The
Body Eclectic. She resides in the Bay Area with her husband and son.

Born to Palestinian refugees, Fady Joudah lived in Libya and Saudi Arabia
before coming to the United States to study medicine. He is a doctor of
internal medicine, practicing in Houston, TX. As member of Medicine Sans
Frontiers, he served in a refugee settlement in Zambia for 6 months last
year. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Warren Wilson's creative writing
program. His poems have appeared in Hayden's Ferry review and Passages
North.

Elmaz Abinader is an Arab American author, poet and performer whose books
include Children of the Roojme, A Family's Journey from Lebanon, a
collection of poetry, In the Country of My Dreams. and 3 plays, in the
Country of Origin Series. She is faculty and board president
of the Voices of our Nations Arts foundation , which organizes
workshops for writers-of-color. She lives in Oakland and teaches at Mills
College.

Tony Khalife is a well-known musician, composer and teacher who originates
from Lebanon and now lives in Palo Alto. He has two CDs including Fish Out
of Sea and Livinia's Dream. His compositions for the play, Country of
Origin, won him two Drammies (Oregon's Drama Award) and he is the Director
of the Country of Origin Band. Tony has been featured in Guitar Player
Magazine, Bam Magazine, San Jose Mercury News, Palo Alto Weekly and Times
Tribune as well as numerous other SF Bay Area publications and television
spotlights in Lebanon.

Geesu art + design presents “Middle East ‘58”
By: Prof. Herb Grika

2720 West 43rd Street (lower level)
Minneapolis, MN 55410
Question and information
612-253-0021 or
sina@geesu.com

Monday November 17th, 7.00 pm.  
Herb Grika, will reflect on his first trip abroad almost half century ago as a recent graduate at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago.  
This presentation will include slides taken in 1958 while touring Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel.

Some aspects of the talk may seem strangely “antique” and peaceful. It was the period that Egypt and Syria were joined as the United Arab Republic.  Britain put troops in Jordan while the US landed Marines in Lebanon. The areas became stable
with almost no injury and all troops left quickly.
 
Grika's presentation includes many images and recollections about the culture, people, landscape, and architecture. Herb Grika, Prof.Fine Artist, native of Chicago, and retired art professor at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design ‘01. Herb has lectured in the subject of Fine Art in past 30 years in Minneapolis, New York city, Kansas City, Germany, Italy, and England. On the side of Fine art, Herb has a long history of personal interest in the subject of art of other cultures. In the past, Herb created three successful Continuing Education Lecture Series in: The Arts and Cultures of Buddhis, The Art and Cultures of Islam, The Art and Cultures of Africa, developed four semi-annual all-college public lecture series, “World Views”,
developed and taught “World Expeditions”, a foundation course highlighting int’l cultural, historical, and linguistic perspectives as a basis
for exploring form and ideas in fine art and design.

This event will be 60 minutes long and donations are recommended.

Geesu art + design presents " Sephardic Music "A musical performance by: Stephanie Levi and Jim Allen.

November 23rd, 4.00 pm.

Sephardi song springs from the oral and literary sacred and secular traditions of
the Sephardim, the Jews of Spain, who, along with the Moors and the Gypsies,
were expelled from Sepharad (the Hebrew word for Spain) in 1492.
The resulting Sephardic Diaspora ranged at various times from Portugal to North Africa, Jerusalem, Syria, Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, Italy and the Americas.
Sung in Ladino, the Sephardic mother-tongue, the songs resonate with ancient Hebrew melodies, more than a millennium of close relations with Islamic cultures, and the musical traditions of Greece and the Balkan peoples.  The language of the Sephardi home, Ladino is based on medieval Castilian Spanish, spiced with words and phrases from Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Turkish, and the Balkan languages.
These are songs of survival and spirit;  of isolation, intimacy and community;  songs of the kitchen, the courtyard, and the court.  As you listen you will hear poetry of love, lust, laughter, lullaby, loss, and longing.

This event is a musical performance and admission is $10.00.

Stefanie Levi and James Allen are a south Minneapolis couple who have been playing Sephardic Jewish music together since 2001. They are the parents of two amazing daughters. Stefanie Levi (vocals, doumbek) has been singing ever since she remembers.  

An alumni and employee of the University of Minnesota and AFSCME local 3800
member, she has trained in Jazz and Classical vocal styles. Stefanie has performed
in the U.S., Greece, England, Turkey, and Australia; songs from a diverse repertoire, including Greek, Balkan, Xlosa, Yiddish, Blues, Gospel, and Sacred Harp.

James Allen (guitar) grew up in Tasmania, Australia.  He studied guitar from the age of seven,  with emphasis on Classical and Jazz styles.  He received a B.A. in Music from the Tasmanian Conservatory of Music and  a Diploma of Music Education from the University of Tasmania.  Since 1976, James has performed in Australia and the
U.S.  He is the guitarist for the local bands Global Jazz and Stir Fry.  James also
teaches guitar, ensemble and theory at the Perpich Center for Arts Education and
the West Bank School of Music.

Stefanie sings these songs as they have arrived today, trying to imagine the way they were originally sung:  A capella or with simple percussion.  James' guitar playing embellishes their stark beauty.

Geesu art + design 2720 West 43rd Street (lower level)
Minneapolis, MN 55410Question and information
612-253-0021 or
sina@geesu.com

g e e . s u (gê.sôô) n. archaic and poetic    
A Persian term, somewhat analogous to tresses
in English, with connotations surpassing the physical
and the mundane. [Middle Persian gesûk.]