The Feminine Mashriq
Exploring essential cinema by women and femme directors from the Arab world.
Week One: Wajiib & Palestine
Annemarie Jacir is an incredible filmmaker from Palestine. In 2003 she had the first Arab short film to be shown at Cannes (overcoming like 20 impossibles), became the first woman from Palestine to direct a feature in 2008 (Salt of the Sea), and was Palestine’s official nomination for the Academy Awards Best International film in 2012 (When I Saw You). In 2017, to rave reviews from audiences and critics alike, Jacir released Wajib.
Week Two: Caramel & Lebanon
This week’s film choice takes place in the incredible city of Beirut. Caramel is the directorial debut of Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki. For her first film, it was important to her to show Lebanon how it actually is, complex and full of life, and not just destitute and war-torn the way that it is portrayed in Western media.
Week Three: The Silences of the Palace & Tunisia
For the third installment of The Feminine Mashriq, we won’t be in the Mashriq at all. Instead, we head to the Maghreeb region to look at the film, The Silences of the Palace. Written and directed by Moufida Tlatli, Silences of the Palace debuted in 1994 and received numerous accolades including Cannes’ Golden Camera and Toronto International Film Festival’s Critics’ Award.
Week Four: Wadjda & Saudi Arabia
The final film in The Feminine Mashriq may be its most monumental. Wadjda is not only Haifaa al-Monsour’s first feature length film, it’s the first feature length film to have been entirely made in Saudi Arabia. For 35 years, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia banned movie theaters (publicly reopening them in 2018 with national screenings of Black Panther) meaning when Wadjda was released in 2012, the citizens had to wait until the film’s at-home distribution to even see it.
About the programmer:
Emily Basma is a southern filmmaker and photographer. Growing up in a space between Arab and white, she found herself clinging to films from the Arab world to get a better idea about culture from the region her Lebanese family lovingly referred to as “The Old Country.”