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New York Premiere
Synopsis: Shot in Iraq by a filmmaking collective of independent activists, academics, and artists, this compelling documentary follows Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi poet, who returns to his native Baghdad after twelve years of exile in the United States. His conversations with Baghdadis of all stripes build a complex portrait of resilience amid the chaos immediately following the US invasion in 2003. Schoolchildren, poets, professors, even asylum inmates express relief at the ousting of Saddam, skepticism about the interloping Americans (and émigré Iraqis like Antoon himself) who have not suffered decades of trauma, and their regrets, hopes and fears for their country in a tumultuous new era.
In English and Arabic w/English subtitles
Synopsis: Set in the aftermath of September 11th, no news... is an Arab-American woman’s personal reflection on the cycles of violence, war and terrorism that have plagued both the U.S. and the Middle East and their repercussions in her family history.
Synopsis:Now banned in Iran by clerics disgruntled by for its impious slapstick, The Lizard has nonetheless become a smash hit (reformist President Muhammad Khatami allegedly arranged a private screening). In a brilliant comic set-up, a petty thief escapes prison by disguising himself as a mullah. Inevitably, he’s forced undercover for longer than expected and, while struggling with his unwieldy new wardrobe, finds himself becoming the revered leader of a small-town mosque. The result is a smart, sincere comment on contemporary Iran: biting and sardonic, but also surprisingly religious. In Farsi w/English subtitles
Synopsis:A classic of Arab cinema, You Are My Love is a delightful, lighthearted musical directed by Egypt’s most renowned filmmaker and starring popular singers Farid Al Atrash and Shadia. Out of economic necessity, two Cairene families decide to marry their children. But Farid and Yasmina cannot stomach one another. Farid is secretly leading a busy nightlife, singing in a fashionable club and carrying on a love affair with its star belly dancer. Yasmina is having an affair with another man. But As they plot together to dupe their families, they can’t help but fall in love.
In Arabic w/English subtitles.
Synopsis: In 1985 in Jerusalem, two cab drivers were brutally murdered three days apart. The first was an Israeli Jew; the second was and a Palestinian, Khamis Totangi, the absent subject of this subtle and surprising documentary. With grace and a sure sense of plot, Eytan Harris weaves together the stories of the victim’s family, the murderer, the investigators and even a part-time poet, who adds a fascinating element of literary intrigue to this tale of lives forever linked by tragedy. In Hebew & Arabic w/English subtitles.
Synopsis: Director Raed Helou describes Ramallah during the tense winter before the US invasion of Iraq as “calm, like snow on graves, and angry as an old woman who has lost everything.” The curious monotony of life during an uprising is the subject of the peripatetic camera that roams the rain-slashed streets of Ramallah. In brief encounters with Ramallah’s street sweepers, bakers and hummus makers, anxiety simmers below the surface, but everyone seeks a bit of “normal” life in the early morning, before political realities take hold of the day. In Hebew & Arabic w/English subtitles.
Synopsis:In this elegant adaptation of three Kafka stories, Azari takes the characters from the a monotonous sales bureau to a palatial mansion that transmutes into a tomblike fort, from desert sun to the shabby imperialism of a colonial outpost. Shot in stark black and white, the film evokes the unease and bewilderment that dogs Kafka's K, exploring humanity’s deepest anxieties and fears in facing the modern world.
Synopsis: The latest box-office hit from Egypt, The Best Times marks the new wave of social drama in Egyptian cinema. Popular actress Hanan Turk is Salma, a young woman who struggles with an overwhelming sense of loneliness after the unexpected death of her mother, is forced to leave her stepfather’s house in a rich suburb of Cairo, she returns to Shobra, the popular neighborhood where she grew up. A series of anonymous letters and a cassette of her beloved singer Mohammed Mounir send her on a journey to rediscover her past and her relationship with her estranged stepfather. In Arabic w/English subtitles
Jours tranquilles en Palestine by Fouad Elkoury (France, 1998, 13 min, Beta SP) U.S. Premiere
Synopsis This film tells an often forgotten story of Palestine: that of a pre-Israeli society happily living on its land. Using old photographs found by the Arab Image Foundation and the voices of five women born in Palestine before 1948, the film recalls ordinary moments of life before the current history of violence and suffering.
In French w/English subtitles
Letters to Francine by Fouad Elkoury (France, 2002, 43 min, Beta SP) U.S. Premiere
Synopsis Through the filmmaker’s email correspondence with Francine and a two-year project photographing Turkey, this film uses a rich layering of sound and image to draw intimate contrasts between the way the photographer sees a landscape but cannot see his own body and illness. In French w/English subtitles
Moving Out by Fouad Elkoury (France, 2004, 26 min, Beta SP) U.S. Premiere
Synopsis A woman and her two children move out, leaving her husband alone in their home. As the film follows two days of packing and moving, it reveals a history of tension and lovelessness. In French w/English subtitles
Synopsis: In a rare cinematic vision of young urban Iran this sophisticated portrait of alienated youth (more than the title is a nod to Godard's Breathless), Kamran and Mansour spend their time "vagabonding" through Tehran, snatching cell phones, stealing cars, and driving aimlessly. After picking up a hitchhiker, a chatty student named Ayda, one man is consumed by the hope she gives him, the other yields to his overwhelming despair. Wry and bittersweet, Deep Breath is. In Farsi w/English subtitles
Synopsis: Raouf, a Tunisian filmmaker, appears to have it all--professional success and a beautiful family. But he is haunted by dreams that point to a failing marriage. For solace, he immerses himself in his current project, a film that transports him back to his youth in the small town of Kairouan where he grew up in fear of his strict traditionalist father, and in awe of his dashing uncle, a traveling movie projectionist whose influence led to a lifelong love of cinema. Sensual and beautifully photographed, this film provides a window into the complexities of life in the Maghreb. Compared by some critics to Cinema Paradiso, The Magic Box was Tunisia’s submission to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film. In French and Arabic w/English subtitles
Synopsis: After an apocalyptic explosion, a woman ventures into the streets and finds herself by the sea. There she meets a man who, much like her, wears a protective uniform. Incapable of sensing nature, or one another, they ponder the possibility of shedding their uniforms. In Arabic w/English subtitles
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