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New Releases - Goodbye Mubarak

New Releases - Goodbye Mubarak


FRAGMENTS OF A REVOLUTION

Directed by Anonymous
By Virginie Guibbaud & Gilles Padovani

Fragments of a Revolution goes beyond the headlines and the tweets to tell the story of the protests that swept Iran in the aftermath of the disputed 2009 presidential election.

Directed by an anonymous Iranian living in exile, the film brings together clandestinely sent emails, online videos and footage shot by protesters in the midst of demonstrations.

Fragments of a Revolution is, of necessity, a highly unconventional documentary - one in which the director relies on anonymous correspondents within Iran and on YouTube footage. The director feels as though he or she has been living in a "virtual Tehran" for eight months - watching distressing images from the homeland and trying to reconstruct the story of what happened.

This unusual process leads to a film with an astounding immediacy. We alternate between events in Tehran and the our anonymous director's attempts to make sense of them - until the two storylines converge in early 2010.

As the protest movement grows, we are privy to the immediate experiences of those on the ground: women picking up rocks to hand to protesters; people secretly filming police as they beat people, smash cars and target those in windows who are looking on; marchers coming under fire from rooftop snipers.

Finally, the protests die down, and the forced confessions and show trials begin. "My hopes have become ashes" says the film's director. But under those ashes, embers continue to glow.

Fragments of a Revolution is not the definitive, objective record of the powerful opposition movement that swept the country. But it is a remarkable and impressionistic inside view of the movement, through the images and words of those it most closely affected.

Award
  • LOUIS MARCORELLES PRIZE and Special mention YOUNG JURY PRIZE at the CINEMA DU REEL FESTIVAL - Paris - 2011

    Item no.: KD03210806
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 57 minutes
    Copyright: 2011
    Price: USD 348.00

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    GOODBYE MUBARAK!

    By Katia Jarjoura

    On January 25, 2011, the world was captivated as thousands of protesters flooded Tahrir Square in Cairo, demanding an end to the regime of President Hosni Mubarak.

    But the ground for the protests had been laid in the weeks and months preceding the mass outpouring of opposition. Goodbye Mubarak! takes us to Egypt during the fall of 2010, in the run-up to legislative elections. What we discover is a revolution-in-waiting already simmering under the surface of Egyptian society.

    Over several weeks, the documentary crew travels the country - from Cairo, to Alexandria, to the industrial city of El-Mahalla El-Kubra - introducing us to activists, politicians, and ordinary Egyptians. Activist Mahitab el Gilani walks through a market at night, urging people to sign a petition calling for the end of Egypt's draconian Emergency Law and for free elections. "If this conversation is broadcast on TV, we'll all be arrested," one woman tells her. Later, a man she approaches says he hopes she makes it out of the neighborhood alive.

    We also meet opposition candidates in the midst of their campaigns - feminist Gameela Ismail, liberal politician Ayman Nour (who was sentenced to five years in prison after winning election in 2005) and Muslim Brotherhood members Saad El Husseini and Hamdi Hassan. They may not agree on much, but all see endemic corruption, the repressive Emergency Law and the lack of political freedom as the key elements that must change if the Arab world's largest and most influential country is to move forward.

    And while young, web-savvy activists get much of the credit for the demonstrations, Goodbye Mubarak! Shows just how deep opposition to the regime ran in the months leading up to the revolution. "We only have corrupt and old leaders with nothing to offer" says one angry pensioner. Another adds that "The solution is in the hands of our 12 million jobless kids. They need to go out, demonstrate, and overthrow the regime."

    Within weeks, Mubarak's opponents - led by many of those we meet in this film - would be doing just that. Goodbye Mubarak! Is an invaluable portrait of a crucial moment in Egyptian society.

    Item no.: DK03400807
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 72 minutes
    Copyright: 2011
    Price: USD 348.00

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    NEITHER ALLAH, NOR MASTER!

    Directed by Nadia El Fani

    Winner of the International Secular Prize, Tunisian-Franco filmmaker Nadia El Fani, an avowed atheist, takes a personal approach to this cinematic exploration of secularism in the Muslim country of Tunisia before and after the deposition of Ben Ali. The film, which was made by at the height of the 2010-2011 revolutions in North Africa, has proven so controversial and explosive that it has made the director a target of extremist death threats.

    Item no.: WN03100820
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 71 minutes
    Copyright: 2011
    Price: USD 248.00

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    SYRIA: THE ASSADS' TWILIGHT

    By Vincent de Cointet & Christophe Ayad

    Syria: the Assads' Twilight is a history of the Assad regime, from its origins to its teetering, possibly final days in 2011.

    The Assads have been nothing if not survivors. In 1982, Hafez ruthlessly crushed an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood (the film shows us rare photos of property damage during the battles - the only record of an otherwise invisible massacre by security forces). In contrast, soon after coming to power in 2000, Bashar ushered in the Damascus Spring - a flowering of dissent and openness. But when it seemed to threaten his rule, he banned all opposition and tightened his family's grip on the reins of wealth and power.

    Syria: the Assads' Twilight, recounts the history of the regime and the region - including the tortured and troubled history of Syrian involvement in Lebanon. The film uses archival footage, as well as the testimony and analysis of members of the US and Israeli security establishment, key politicians, dissidents (among them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood) and political scientists.

    What emerges is a picture of a regime that has been at the centre of Middle East politics for two generations - but is now on the verge of being swept away, along with other corrupt dictatorships in the region.

    As exiled dissident Abdel Hamid Atassi says, "Bashar cannot repress dissent in the Internet era... Hafez could throw people in prison for 20 years, and nobody knew about it. That's impossible today."

    Item no.: WF03100817
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2011
    Price: USD 348.00

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    ALL RESTRICTIONS END

    By Reza Haeri

    In the early days of the Iranian revolution, anyone with press lines on his trousers would be dismissed from work. How can one say his prayers to Allah without breaking his trousers' press lines?" This and other reflections on Islam and clothing characterize the thought-provoking free-form documentary ALL RESTRICTIONS END.

    With clothing as the leitmotif, the filmmaker provides the history of Iran, the country of his birth, where beheadings and hangings are commonplace occurrences. It is an endless series of confrontations between groups that all want something different for their country. Clothing remains the point of departure in the stories about Iran, a land that has tottered for centuries between East and West, the present and the past, freedom and repression. In Baudelaire's words, fashion is the mirror of the times, and that makes it a great metaphor for what is going on in a country.

    The film is structured like a collage, interweaving archival footage from Iranian cinema, imagery from various stylistic epochs in the history of Persian painting, graphics from the period of the Islamic Revolution, and works provided by various artists.

    Item no.: BA03100561
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 35 minutes
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 348.00

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    KORAN, THE: BACK TO THE ORIGINS OF THE BOOK

    By Bruno Ulmer

    This enlightening documentary explores the origins of the Koran, which according to Muslim tradition, has remained static and unchanged since its revelation to the prophet Mohammed between 610 and 632 CE in Mecca and Medina. However, recent discoveries of Koranic manuscripts analyzed by scientists, dating from around 680-the oldest in the world-indicate that the Koran would appear to have a more complicated history. During the first century of Islam, different concurrent versions of the holy book of Islam are believed to have existed and a number of different readings are possible due to the rudimentary nature of the writing in its early stages.

    European scientists and Islamic scholars are now trying to trace the history of the Koran. From the mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia to that of the Umayyads in Damascus and Al- Azhar in Cairo , the film invites us on a fascinating journey into the heart of the origins of the book and Late Antiquity. THE KORAN: THE ORIGINS OF THE BOOK explores where Muslim tradition and scientific research converge.

    Reviews
  • "Admirable...Brilliant...As much for the beauty of the images as for its care of clarity." - Telerama

  • "This intriguing documentary, arranged chronologically, melds scientific research with Muslim teachings to explore the evolution of Islam..." -Booklist

  • "Essential viewing for Islamic scholars, this is likely to also be of interest to devout Muslims. Recommended." -Video Librarian

    Item no.: ZC03400649
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 348.00

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    WAR AND LOVE IN KABUL

    By Helga Reidemeister

    Hossein and Shaima, who have known and loved each other since childhood, were separated as teenagers by war in Afghanistan. Today, reunited in Kabul, they remain deeply in love, but their relationship is socially and religiously prohibited.

    Hossein, young and jobless in the late Nineties, was paid to fight with the Taliban and a war injury left his legs paralyzed. He is now handicapped, and unable to work. Shaima was sold in marriage to a man forty years her senior, by whom she had a child, but, since the dowry remained unpaid, her father brought her back home to live with her five-year-old child.

    WAR AND LOVE IN KABUL, a deliberately paced, observational documentary, reveals their dilemma through interviews with Hossein and Shaima, and members of their respective families, each representing a different ethnic group, who object to the relationship because of their loyalty to ancient tribal laws and family notions of honor and pride. Indeed, the lovers live under the threat of violent revenge by male members of both families.

    The film also discusses the prospects of marriage for Shaima's sisters within a culture in which daughters are virtually bought and sold, a tradition in which they are unable to pursue their own romantic desires but must submit to a marriage arranged by their father. WAR AND LOVE IN KABUL thus reveals the broader context of family life in a deeply traditional society, one in which the chances of personal happiness are very small.

    Review
  • "An incredible Romeo and Juliet drama that feels like fiction, a very intimate love story in a country that only knows war." - ScreenDaily.com

    Item no.: SD03400553
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 86 minutes
    Copyright: 2009
    Price: USD 398.00

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    BAGHDAD TWIST

    Directed by Joe Balass

    In this "visual memoir," filmmaker Joe Balass, born in Baghdad in 1966, blends a voice-over interview with his mother, Valentine, and an evocative flow of photos, archival footage and Super-8 home movies of his family's life in Iraq before their departure for a new home in Canada in 1970.

    In so doing, BAGHDAD TWIST provides a poignant portrait of Iraq's Jewish society, which had existed since Babylonian times as one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities, living harmoniously among their Arab neighbors. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, however, they began to experience persecution, and thousands of Iraqi Jews fled to Israel. The government-inspired persecution intensified after the 1967 war, when Iraqi Jews were suspected as "Israeli spies."

    As Balass poses questions to his mother, she reminisces about their life in Iraq beginning in the Fifties, from fond recollections of joyful family gatherings and weddings to more emotionally intense memories from the late '60s, in particular a growing sense of insecurity and fears for her husband-who was imprisoned three separate times-herself, and her children, as their phone lines were cut and they were forbidden, like other Jews, to leave Baghdad. She also movingly recounts the family's sudden and daring escape by car, leaving their home and belongings behind.

    Valentine's memories ranges from crystal-clear to somewhat vague and fragmentary but the overall portrait she shares is one of a vibrant multicultural society that increasingly became politically fragmented and, within a decade, led to the virtual disappearance of the Jewish community in Iraq. Present estimates are that approximately 100 Jews remain in the country, with only seven to eight living in Baghdad.

    Item no.: KM03400039
    Format: DVD (Color, Closed Captioned)
    Duration: 34 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 225.00

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    FINAL FITTING

    By Reza Haeri

    FINAL FITTING follows Mr. Arabpour, the master tailor and craftsman, and the proprietor of the most famous tailor shop in Qom (Iran's most important religious center). A spry octogenarian, for the last several decades he has been the official tailor to the most important religious leaders of the country, starting with the late Ayatollah Khomeini to the current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, as well as for the former president, Mohammad Khatami. His international clientele include such prominent figures as Imam Musa Sadr of Lebanon.

    He speaks to us of the different styles and the many variations on the traditional aba and ammameh (the turban and the robe). Mr. Arabpour shows us how he cuts and creates the garments and how he adapts them for different men with different needs. The newer styles, more sculpted, more tailored, with defined seams and pockets, are designed for a new kind of Ayatollah: the more reform-minded and democratic' ones of whom Khatami is the supreme example.

    FINAL FITTING showcases the changing cultural styles of Iran and its clerical elite through its portrait of one man and his time-honored craft.

    Review
  • "The beauty of FINAL FITTING lies in the intersection of the tailor's wit and Haeri's careful editing. A study of the interplay of modesty and vanity, the humanity at the core of theocracy." - The Daily Star

    Award
  • Winner Grand Prix Short Film, 2008 Iran International Documentary Film Festival

    Item no.: VJ03400597
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 31 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 348.00

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    ROAD TO MECCA, A: THE JOURNEY OF MUHAMMAD ASAD

    By Georg Misch

    In the early 1920s Leopold Weiss, a Viennese Jew, alienated by the materialism and spiritual emptiness of the West, travelled to the Middle East, visiting Jerusalem, Egypt, the Transjordan and Saudi Arabia. After studying the Koran, he left his Jewish roots behind, converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Asad.

    Asad (1900-1992) became one of the most important Muslims of the 20th century, spreading its message of peace and brotherhood as a journalist and author of books such as Islam at the Crossroads, The Principles of State and Government in Islam and his autobiography, The Road to Mecca. He served as an advisor to the royal court of Saudi Arabia and was a co-founder of Pakistan and its Ambassador to the UN.

    A ROAD TO MECCA traces his spiritual journey, from the Arabian desert to Ground Zero, visiting the places where Asad lived and travelled. Archival footage and photos and excerpts from Asad's writings are blended with contemporary interviews with writers, historians, scholars, and his friends and associates, revealing Asad's legacy as a modern theological thinker.

    In portraying the lifelong evolution of the philosophy of Muhammad Asad, who sought to be a mediator between East and West, A ROAD TO MECCA provides a portrait of contemporary Islam, challenging deeply rooted Western prejudices by revealing the distance between fundamentalist beliefs that support terrorism and the core beliefs of a profoundly humane religion.

    Reviews
  • "Fascinating... informative... a well-judged combo of travelogue and biopic... a fine piece of anthropology, worthy of the dedication it copies from Asad's translation of the Koran: 'For people who think.'" - Alissa Simon, Variety

  • "Lively, entertaining and very topical. A most astounding perspective on multicultural identities." - Der Falter

  • "A tactful and astute portrait." - Kleine Zeitung

  • "Utterly fascinating." - Canadian Jewish News

    Awards
  • Jury Award, 2008 FIDADOC Film Festival (Morocco)
  • Best Cinematography Award, 2008 Diagonale Festival of Austrian Films

    Item no.: LF03400410
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 92 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 440.00

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    SHADI

    By Maryam Khakipour

    Moved by the plight of the "Joy Makers" world-renowned French stage director, Ariane Mnouchkine invites the acting troupe to perform with her Parisian avant-garde improvisational stage ensemble, Theatre du Soleil.

    The documentary follows young comedic actress Shadi as she battles for her domineering husband's permission to travel outside Iran for the first time, and later finds herself caught between the differing artistic visions of her Iranian director and Mnouchkine while performing in Paris.

    Review
  • "...offers highlights of Iranian culture and potential problems of cross-cultural collaboration." -Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: PC03210671
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 398.00

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    SYRIA, CHESS MATCH AT THE BORDERS

    By Amal Hamelin des Essarts

    Syria, branded by the U.S. Government as a "state sponsor of terrorism," is a single-party dictatorship ruled since 1970 by Hafez al-Assad and, following his death in 2000, by his son Bashar. But this landlocked nation, bordered by Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan, despite the lack of any significant oil reserves, is both a strategic and a besieged country. Syria is simultaneously a player and a pawn in the geopolitical "chess match" that characterizes the Middle East today.

    SYRIA: CHESS MATCH AT THE BORDERS chronicles the historical background to this situation, focusing on the three Arab-Israeli wars-in 1948, 1967 and 1973-that have convulsed the region. The legacy of these wars for Syria, including an influx of Palestinian refugees, Israel's continued occupation of the Golan Heights, and the enmity of successive U.S. Administrations that support Israel, is shown to serve as a national rallying cry and an obstacle to diplomatic relations.

    The film also examines tensions on Syria's other borders, including the northern province of Iskenderum, annexed by Turkey in 1939, where disputes over water resources and Syria's support of Kurdish rebels inflame relations with Turkey. Syria's self-styled and controversial role as "protector" of Lebanon, through the deployment of army troops and its secret service, and its alleged assassination of independent Lebanese politicians to assure its continued political and economical control of that nation, is also critically examined.

    SYRIA also looks at the political instability created by the U.S. occupation of Iraq, with the influx of millions of Iraqi refugees into Syria, what it sees as the virtual creation of a "common border" with America, and Syria's collusion with Iran in the financing and arming of the resistance forces in Iraq.

    Visually enriched by archival footage and contemporary scenes, SYRIA: CHESS MATCH AT THE BORDERS features interviews with ordinary Syrian citizens as well as an impressive array of political leaders, journalists, economists, diplomats, and academics from throughout the region. Their informed and sometimes revelatory comments illuminate the high-stakes geopolitical maneuvers involving Syria in the contemporary Middle East.

    Review
  • "An excellent geopolitical lesson... this efficient educational documentary provides indispensable keys."-Telerama

    Item no.: KV03100468
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 390.00

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    THIS WAY UP

    By Georgi Lazarevski

    Just east of Jerusalem, the construction on the wall of separation continues a few meters from a senior citizen's home. Its unavoidable and spectacular progression gradually isolates the residents from the world of the living, as both visitors and staff face more obstacles with each passing day.

    A haunting soundtrack of bells and chimes accompanies elderly patients sleeping in wheelchairs, and silhouetted staff members walking down long hallways with glistening floors. In the gardens of Our Lady of Pains, certain individuals continue to protest the barrier wall construction due to feelings of rejection, anger or nostalgic longing for their lost freedom. One man shouts his political views at the television news broadcast in the common room while two women war with each other over songs. Another man savours the sensual momentary pleasures of cigarettes, coffee, and fruit, as he silently strolls through the home, the garden, and the surrounding area.

    While presenting the painful sense of despair that rises in the home, THIS WAY UP also captures a sense of levity and hope in its use of rich colours and portrayals of simple pleasures.

    Reviews
  • "THIS WAY UP is a good film...For those teaching courses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the film can provide an artistic portrait of Palestinian lives that is humanizing of the Palestinian condition." - Anthropology Review Database

  • "Poignant and profound." - Slant Magazine

  • "A superb documentary about the effects of politics on everyday lives." - Cynthia Fuchs, Pop Matters

    Awards
  • Grand Prix Documentary, 2009 Tetouan Mediterranean Film Festival (Morocco)
  • Don Quixote Award, 2008 Krakow Film Festival (Poland)
  • 2008 SILVERDOC: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival (Silver Spring, MD.)

    Item no.: ZP03100695
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 61 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 348.00

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    YOUNG FREUD IN GAZA

    By PeA Holmquist and Suzanne Khardalian

    Life has been difficult for Palestinians under Israeli Occupation in the Gaza Strip since the Six Day War in 1967. Since the January 2006 electoral victory of Hamas and the blockade of Gaza's border by Israel, with unemployment soaring to 60% and food, water and medicine in short supply, the psychological needs of its traumatized population have never been greater. Professional psychologists, however, are in desperately short supply.

    YOUNG FREUD IN GAZA profiles Ayed, a young psychotherapist for the Palestinian Authority's Clinic for Mental Health, and shows his consultations with a variety of patients, both male and female, adults and children, in his office and during house calls, providing therapy or prescribing medication for depression, stress, anxiety attacks and suicidal tendencies.

    Filmed during 2006-2008, against the violent backdrop of armed clashes between Hamas and Fatah factions, Israeli missile attacks and the constant overhead presence of a surveillance dirigible, the film shows Ayed training young wives and mothers in deep-breathing exercises to calm anxiety, counseling maimed Hamas and Fatah militants in meditation techniques, and leading children in group therapy sessions in which they discuss their reaction to the death of siblings and draw pictures to cope with their emotions.

    YOUNG FREUD IN GAZA also shows Ayed at home, relating to his parents and other family members and friends, in the process revealing that this young mental-health doctor is struggling with some personal issues of his own, including serious doubts that he is able to help his patients. As he acknowledges, "Gaza needs a million psychologists."

    Reviews
  • "Arresting... a fair-minded, intimately probing documentary... there's no question that the very definition of psychotherapy means something different under occupation." - Ella Taylor, The Village Voice

  • "The filmmakers convey a very intimate portrait of the devastating impact of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict." - New York Jewish Film Festival

  • "Excellent... switches between laughter and grief." - www.Filmkommentaren.dk

    Item no.: WJ03400494
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 2008
    Price: USD 375.00

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    ENERGY WAR

    By Shuchen Tan, Ijsbrand van Veelen & Rudi Boon

    In a world in which the U.S. and Europe are addicted to oil and gas, and those increasingly scarce resources are controlled by authoritarian regimes in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria and Russia, the geopolitical ramifications have upset the traditional balance of power between nations. ENERGY WAR reveals precisely how the economic importance of fossil fuels affects international politics and becomes a powerful tool of foreign policy.

    The film profiles newly emergent "superpowers" such as Iran, a rogue regime that Western democracies must politically tolerate to assure access to its oil, and Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has nationalized the oil industry, which boasts the largest untapped oil field in the world. Through interviews with Russian and Georgian government officials, ENERGY WAR shows how oil was used as a political weapon in the struggle between an economically revitalized Russia and its former Soviet Republic.

    Thomas Friedman (author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization and The World is Flat) analyzes the political concept of "petro authoritarianism" and Kenneth Deffeyes (Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage and Beyond Oil) explains the "Peak Oil" phenomenon, the point at which the earth's supply of oil begins its terminal decline.

    ENERGY WAR concludes by investigating the search for alternatives to our dependency on oil, featuring interviews with economists, stock market traders, and new energy entrepreneurs who discuss the pros and cons of such possible substitutes as biofuels, hydropower, nuclear and solar energy. As China, Africa, Latin America and even Saudi Arabia are preparing for a "green" future, it's clear that a world of new energy sources will reshape the global balance of political power.

    Reviews
  • "Excellent... earnest and relentless... visually clever... In a time when grand amounts of attention are being paid to the environmental consequences of fossil fuel use, this documentary gives the viewer a much needed look into the worldwide daily consequences on the political level. Highly Recommended." -Michael J. Coffta, Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "Alerts viewers to a critical issue... recommended for public and academic libraries." -David Conn, Library Journal

  • "Contains the most significant material I have reviewed in more than 20 years... While intended as a plea for wise energy consumption and appropriate energy technology development, this film is a masterful demonstration of the more fundamental scientific principle of simple cause and effect." -Michele Bremer, Science Books & Films

    Item no.: HL03400781
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 78 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 398.00

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    MOROCCAN LABYRINTH, THE

    By Julio Sanchez Veiga

    In 1898, after losing Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the U.S., Spain focused its colonial aims on northern Morocco, establishing a Spanish Protectorate in 1912. From 1920 to 1926, Spanish military attempts to conquer the territory were resisted by the guerrilla forces of Rif leader Abd el-Krim. Thousands of Spanish soldiers died-including 15,000 during a two-week period in 1921 known as the Defeat of Annual-and the Spanish Army responded with aerial bombings, chemical weapons and widespread atrocities.

    THE MOROCCAN LABYRINTH reveals how this colonial conflict served as the prologue to the Spanish Civil War, with losses in the African war undermining the monarchy and politically emboldening the "African militarists," including generals such as Francisco Franco, who in 1936 launched a revolt against the Spanish Republic. Ironically, in order to escape famine and poverty, thousands of Moroccans enlisted in the Spanish Falangist movement and found themselves fighting for their former enemies in Spain against Republican forces.

    This documentary features rare archival footage, propaganda films of the era, contemporary interviews with elderly Moroccan combatants, their children and leading international historians, who discuss the Rif War, how the conflict influenced political developments in Spain, how Moroccan mercenaries were used as shock troops during the Spanish Civil War and then, despite financial promises, were immediately expelled from Spain after the Nationalist victory.

    THE MOROCCAN LABYRINTH plumbs the political complexities of this little-known Spanish colonial war as crucial historical background to the Civil War, showing how thousands of Moroccans, the traditional enemies of Spain, became allies with Franco's nationalist forces and were exploited, if not maimed or killed, in a conflict that was never their own.

    Reviews
  • "Through interviews with Spanish historians, soldiers, and Moroccan men who fought in or witnessed these battles, archival footage (including some shocking historical photographs), the filmmakers have pieced together an engrossing history of this period in European-Moroccan history." - Lalla Lydia

  • "Fascinating!" - Mark Harris, The Georgia Straight

    Item no.: NA03100313
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 90 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 440.00

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    RECYCLE

    By Mahmoud al Massad

    Zarqa, Jordan's second largest city, is an industrial center with more than one million residents. At a time of America's ongoing "Global War on Terrorism," the everyday conversations of its citizens revolve around not only the local economy or the lack of freedom of expression, but also on the need for pan-Arab unity, the rise of political Islam, and whether or not a faithful Muslim has a religious duty to engage in jihad.

    The latter debates are particularly topical since Zarqa is also the birthplace of Ahmad Fadeel, better known as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the notorious leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq until his death in a U.S. bombing in June 2006. Many in the city knew Zarqawi, his relatives still live there, and it remains a source of new recruits for the global jihad.

    RECYCLE is a portrait of the city as seen through the eyes of Abu Ammar, a forty-something Jordanian who served as a mujahid during the Afghan-Soviet War, and the former owner of a failed grocery store who now struggles to support his two wives and eight children by collecting discarded cardboard for sale to a recycling plant. A deeply religious man, he has also collected thousands of scraps of paper with Islamic sayings that he intends to use in a book on jihad, as soon as he can find a publisher.

    The film joins Abu Ammar on his daily work routine, in intimate family settings at home, at prayer, and after his arrest and four-month imprisonment on suspicion of involvement in the 2005 hotel bombings in Amman. His periodic, wide-ranging conversations with friends and neighbors include the inadvisability for Muslims of working or living in "infidel" countries, the 9/11 attacks in America, the rise of extremist violence, and the role of Muslim theologians.

    Reminiscences of Zarqawi are also related, with all agreeing that he was a very unremarkable man, uneducated, apolitical and not religious at all-indeed, his main concerns seemed to be pills, alcohol and women-but who suddenly became religious and surfaced as "the Prince of Al Qaeda in Iraq."

    Filmed over a period of two and a half years by a filmmaker who himself hails from Zarqa, RECYCLE, in its patient and gradual accretion of biographical and social details, portrays a man torn between his religious beliefs and ever-pressing economic problems and one who, as his situation deteriorates into bankruptcy, must make a difficult decision. In exposing this all-too-common environment of poverty, political humiliation, and Islamic fundamentalism, RECYCLE reveals the social environment that spawns both terrorists and economic emigrants.

    Reviews
  • "One of those subtle, taciturn, underplayed documentaries that forces its audience to work at teasing out meanings. It's Errol Morris, in other words, rather than Michael Moore." - Screen International

  • "A resonant tale about broken dreams and Middle Eastern poverty." - Variety

    Award
  • World Cinema Cinematography Award, 2008 Sundance Film Festival

    Item no.: TG03100390
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 77 minutes
    Copyright: 2007
    Price: USD 398.00

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    HOTHOUSE

    By Shimon Dotan

    Almost ten thousand Palestinians, designated by the Israeli government as "Security Prisoners," are incarcerated in Israel today. Most Israelis consider them murderers and criminals, but most Palestinians regard them as freedom fighters.

    Granted rare permission to film inside the country's highest security facilities, Israeli filmmaker Shimon Dotan shows everyday prison life, including biweekly family visits, internal elections, periodic security searches of cells, and relations between inmates and prison staff. HOTHOUSE also features interviews with many Palestinian prisoners, including those involved in suicide bombings. Although their political demands for an end to the occupation and full rights of citizenship are understandable, the bloodcurdling confessions of these proud, unrepentant and often smiling terrorists expose the moral disconnect required for such inhuman actions.

    HOTHOUSE also makes it clear that the Israeli criminal justice system uses imprisonment to stifle or control Palestinian democratic political life, revealing that 13 prisoners, who were not involved in terrorist or military actions, were political candidates in the 2006 Palestinian elections, which saw the rise to power of the militant Islamic party, Hamas. In this regard, the film shows how Israeli prisons have become incubators for political education and debate, which often influences Palestinian society at large.

    The Palestinian experience in Israeli prisons has become a national symbol in Palestine, and the prisons themselves have become virtual universities for Palestinian nationalism, shaping the prisoners' ideology, strengthening their political convictions, and, as was the case on South Africa's Robben Island or in the H-Blocks in Northern Ireland, enabling the development of future political leaders.

    Reviews
  • "A candid and provocative documentary... Enlightening but disquieting... a humanizing, deeply disturbing look at a detention process that affects nearly every Palestinian in the Occupied Territories, a documentary that leaves one in stunned silence at the end." - Rebecca Romani, Al Jadid: A Review and Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "Endlessly fascinating... a movie that undercuts viewers' preconceptions, invites them to make interpretations and forces them to question their sympathies-especially regarding the Middle East-deserves plaudits... This is the rare doc that leaves audiences confounded, and in a bit of a state. You likely won't change your position, but you won't be as dead certain of it as you were when the lights dimmed." - Michael Fox, Chicago Jewish Star

  • "An extraordinary, brilliantly shot and edited look at life for some of the nearly 10,000 Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons, men's and women's." - Howard Feinstein, indieWIRE

  • "Chilling... insightful...a disquieting portrait of a community that, despite or even because of its shackles, remains fervently committed to its cause." - Variety

  • "A candid and unflinching portrait... an excellent resource for teachers of politics and criminal justice... Highly recommended for academic and public libraries." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "HOTHOUSE presents glimmers of hope and... forebodings of despair. No doubt, both sides in this ongoing and tragic conflict will find things to both applaud and criticize." - Brumspeak: Advancing the Prospects for Peace and Security for Israel & the Middle East

  • "Shimon Dotan's penetrating camera offers no easy answers or single point of view, just a complex state of affairs that'll leave you stunned." - Now Magazine

  • "Remarkable, a coolly detached look at the potential next generation of Palestinian leaders...The fascination of HOTHOUSE derives in no small part from the ways that Dotan's interview subjects defy our expectations." - The Jewish Week

  • "Absorbing... full of remarkable interviews." - The New York Times

    Award
  • 2007 Special Jury Prize, World Cinema Documentary, Sundance Film Festival

    Item no.: PN03210188
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 89 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 398.00

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    INSIDE OUT

    By Zohreh Shayesteh

    Maria is a middle-aged single woman with three children. Saman is a newly married young man. Arash is an eighteen-year-old high-school dropout. The one thing they have in common is that all three are transsexuals living in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    INSIDE OUT features intimate conversations with Maria (a male-to-female transsexual), Saman (female-to-male) and Arash (female-to-male), allowing them to tell their stories, including the lifelong struggle to come to terms with their gender dysphoria, how this mind/body conflict has affected their everyday behavior, and the impact of hormone therapy and sex-change surgery on their lives.

    The film also includes revealing interviews with a Muslim cleric, who explains that the majority of Iran's religious leaders consider transsexuality to be a human rights issue and therefore support gender reassignment surgery; a psychiatrist, who explains the difference between homosexuality and transsexuality and how the condition cannot be cured psychologically; and a surgeon, who discusses the nature and the difficulties of the required surgery.

    INSIDE OUT also documents daily activities of the three individuals, showing how they are coming to terms with their new identities and the related emotional and physical transformations. These difficulties clearly pale compared to their former agony. As Maria, a 44-year-old father and former truck driver, states, "Only a person who has felt this pain can understand it." Thanks to this sensitive and insightful documentary, however, the rest of us can begin to understand the nature of this serious but still little-understood condition.

    Reviews
  • "Tells a remarkable and fascinating story...revealing and at times very poignant." - Leonardo Digital Reviews

  • "Will amaze and delight! A warm and personal portrait. [It] flies in the face of stereotypical views of Iranian religious and social attitudes and will serve to humanize Iranian society for many Western viewers. Fascinating!" - Professor William O. Beeman, Brown University, Author of The Great Satan vs. The Mad Mullahs

  • "[The film] focuses more on the shared humanity of the characters and handles a taboo subject with sensitivity and sympathy. The sense of entrapment permeating the film is especially poignant." - Jamsheed Akrami, Professor of Film, William Patterson University

  • "Recommended! Surprising and illuminating." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: TB03400213
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 39 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 298.00

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    IRAN: A CINEMATOGRAPHIC REVOLUTION

    By Nader Takmil Homayoun

    Today Iranian cinema is one of the most highly regarded national cinemas in the world, regularly winning festival awards and critical acclaim for films which combine remarkable artistry and social relevance. IRAN: A CINEMATOGRAPHIC REVOLUTION traces the development of this film industry, which has always been closely intertwined with the country's tumultuous political history, from the decades-long reign of Reza Shah Pahlevi and his son, the rise of Khomeini and the birth of the Islamic Republic, the seizure by militants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and the devastating war with Iraq.

    Very much in the tradition of Siegried Kracauer's classic historical study, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological Study of the German Film, IRAN: A CINEMATOGRAPHIC REVOLUTION chronicles how Iranian films reflected contemporaneous society and often presaged social change. It shows how mainstream commercial cinema served as a propaganda tool for both the monarchy and the fundamentalist religious regime, recounts the sporadic efforts of some filmmakers to reveal grimmer social realties, and the struggles against censorship and traditional cinematic formulas by such pioneers as Bahram Beyzai, Sohrab Shahid Saless and Parviz Kimiavi and pre- and post-Islamic revolutionary 'new wave' filmmakers such as Amir Naderi, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Dariush Mehrjui, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Jafar Panahi, Bahman Ghobadi and Abbas Kiarostami.

    The documentary explores this history through a compelling blend of archival footage, excerpts from representative and landmark Iranian films, and interviews with Iranian filmmakers, film critics, film historians, and government and film industry executives. In the process, IRAN: A CINEMATOGRAPHIC REVOLUTION reveals the changing social functions of Iranian cinema and the artistic struggle of its filmmakers.

    Reviews
  • "Insightful... a celebration of a cinema that fully deserves acclaim." - Johannes Bockwoldt, Afterimage

  • "Dazzling! Every country's cinema deserves a history as good as this." - Thom Powers, Toronto International Film Festival

  • "Remarkable... Drawing upon a wide catalogue of films and newsreel footage, the documentary offers an insight into the two revolutions-political and artistic-and their joint battle to produce, and consequently control, the national imago." - Lindsey Hair, Film & History

    Item no.: CP03100715
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 98 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 348.00

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    SAUDI SOLUTIONS

    By Bregtje van der Haak

    In Saudi Arabia, one of the most religiously conservative societies in the Middle East, women are not allowed to vote or to drive a car. Men and women are segregated in most public spaces and work environments. A strict dress code enforced by religious police mandates that women cover their heads and bodies in public, where they must always be accompanied by a husband or other male guardian.

    In SAUDI SOLUTIONS, filmmaker Bregtje van der Haak, the first Western filmmaker ever granted permission to film the lives of Saudi women, takes us inside this closed society where fewer than five percent of women work. She profiles several women with professional careers-including a journalist, a doctor, a photographer, a television newsreader, a university professor, and the nation's first female airplane pilot-and asks them to explain what it means to be a modern woman in a fundamentalist Islamic society.

    In an interview with Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, owner of Kingdom Holding Company and fifth richest man in the world, SAUDI SOLUTIONS finds an isolated enclave of progressive attitudes toward women. In his office building and private palace, half of the employees are women, who are unveiled and dressed in the latest fashions, although "the ladies" work, he emphasizes, in an "Islamically correct" environment.

    In discussing their everyday lives and concerns, the women are surprisingly defensive of Saudi social customs, arguing that, while they see the desirability of gradual social reform, they see no conflict between Islamic law and the rights of women. They are especially resistant to Western pressures to abandon their value system for one imposed on them from outside.

    In offering Western audiences a fascinating and often shocking look at the social status of women in Saudi Arabia, SAUDI SOLUTIONS also reveals that while Saudi society may be one in transition, involving a delicate balance between religious tradition and modernizing influences, the pace of change will be dictated by the Saudis themselves.

    Reviews
  • "Fascinating! Shows clearly the dance between religion and the hope of a secular existence." - Middle East Studies Association

  • "Succeeds in portraying the enormous struggle of women in Saudi Arabia, and in demonstrating how far they have to go to achieve a culturally acceptable form of equality." - Al Jadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "Tackles a timely and complex topic which will undoubtedly foster rich discussions among students." - School Library Journal

  • "Elegant... teases the eye and mind with disturbing paradoxes... Highly recommended for public, religious, high school, and college libraries." - Counterpoise

    Item no.: FN03210438
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 77 minutes
    Copyright: 2006
    Price: USD 398.00

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    ROAD TO KERBALA, THE

    By Katia Jarjoura

    In 2004, following a 30-year moratorium during Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, Iraq's Shiite Muslim population were free to commemorate Ashura, the most important holy day on the Shiite calendar. Shia adherents from throughout the Mideast made the pilgrimage to Kerbala, Iraq's Holy City, to visit the tomb of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas, heirs to the Prophet Muhammad who died as religious martyrs in 680 A.D.

    In THE ROAD TO KERBALA, filmmaker Katia Jarjoura joins the procession of religious celebrants on the 100-kilometer walk from Baghdad to Kerbala, a journey that offers rare insights into the political and religious turmoil of post-Saddam, U.S.-occupied Iraq. Hamid el Mokhtar, a poet and novelist imprisoned during Saddam's regime, accompanies the filmmaker and throughout the film offers a religious but open-minded-and occasionally sardonic-perspective on events.

    During the course of the 3-day trek, they receive food and lodging from coreligionists living along the route, encounter U.S. troops, a roadside bomb scare, and a reenactment of the historic Battle of Kerbala. They also witness expressions of religious fervor and political dissent, including denunciations of Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime, angry protests of the U.S. Occupation, support for the Mehdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and cries for the formation of an Islamic republic. THE ROAD TO KERBALA thus offers an unusually frank and revealing look at recent changes in Iraqi society, including an impassioned exercise of newfound freedoms of expression.

    Arriving in Kerbala, the film reveals the beautifully ornate designs of the city's buildings and religious shrines. Hamid, along with thousands of other Muslims, struggles through the thronging crowd to touch the tomb of the martyred Shiite Princes, while others express their religious devotion in often bloody rituals of self-punishment. In contemporary Iraq, however, as THE ROAD TO KERBALA makes clear, these fervent celebrations of Muslims who chose to die for a just cause have more than just ancient historic resonance.

    Reviews
  • "Highly Recommended! Excellent! A valuable addition for collections in Middle Eastern and Religious Studies." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "Reflects Iraq's complex state as the country emerges from its cave. Iraq's Shi'ites, after centuries of marginalization, have arrived, and Jarjoura's film shows them rising from their knees and taking their first tentative steps." - The Middle East Quarterly

    Item no.: PT03210405
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 53 minutes
    Copyright: 2005
    Price: USD 390.00

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    MUSTAPHA KEMAL ATATURK: THE BIRTH OF A REPUBLIC

    By Severine Labat

    Mustapha Kemal (1881-1938), called Ataturk ("the father of the Turks"), was the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first President. Both in Turkey and abroad, however, his actions continue to stir debate. Was he a visionary statesman or an enlightened despot?

    MUSTAPHA KEMAL ATATURK tells the story of this historic figure with archival footage, newsreels and photos, and discussions with Turkish and Western historians, sociologists and biographers. The film traces his early secular education and his political rise as an army officer, from the birth of the "Young Turks" movement in 1908, through WWI, the Turkish War of Independence, the dethroning of the Sultan and elimination of the Caliphate, and the establishment of the republic in 1923.

    Much of the film's debate focuses on Kemal's authoritarian rule, when he abolished the national parliament, outlawed opposition parties and labor unions, and forced through legislation that led to sweeping political, economic and social reforms.

    MUSTAPHA KEMAL ATATuRK makes clear that any consideration of Ataturk's historic role must recognize that, while he played a major role in modernizing the nation-including the establishment of a Civil Code to replace religious tribunals, decreeing equality between the sexes, abolishing polygamy and granting women the right to vote-his "democracy" was founded upon a single party dictatorship whose cult-of-personality leader engendered as much fear as respect.

    The rapid transformation of Turkey into the first secular Muslim republic, attempting to blend Western and Eastern influences, upset much of the country's population and laid the basis for tensions still at the center of Turkey's social and political life today..

    The recent rise of Political Islam has meant increasing challenges to the legacy of Kemalism. Turkey's democratic government has an increasingly Islamic character, while the military staunchly defends the secular basis of the regime. In its contemporary political tensions-Muslim vs. secular, religious vs. political-Turkey more than ever reflects not only its unique geopolitical position on the world map, but also the mixed legacy of the nation's national hero.

    Reviews
  • "A classic documentary, accurate without embellishment."-Telerama
  • "An impartial biography... [with] a nuanced manner."-Les Inrockuptibles
  • "Provides insight into the complexity of this personality."-L'Humanite

    Item no.: VU03210326
    Format: DVD (Color / Black and White)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2005
    Price: USD 390.00

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    ON THE OBJECTION FRONT

    By Shiri Tsur

    In early 2002, a group of reserve officers and soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces issued a public statement declaring that, although they were willing to serve in Israel's defense, they would no longer participate in the "War of the Settlements," which they felt aimed only to perpetuate Israel's control over the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories. Contending that the Occupation was corrupting Israeli society, they announced their refusal to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to "dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people."

    The "Combatants' Letter" sent political shock waves throughout Israel and intensified the national debate over the Occupation. ON THE OBJECTION FRONT features interviews with the six founding members of the Courage to Refuse organization, which today includes over 600 "refuseniks," who movingly recount their personal histories, their experience of brutality and torture in the Occupied Territories and at checkpoints, the often agonizing moral dilemmas that led them to their difficult decision, and how they see their refusal not so much as a political act, but as a stand for human rights and basic moral values.

    In a nation that is primarily dependent on two things-its military and moral strength-the actions of these members of armored corps, paratroops, and other elite IDF units were met with harsh government response, including jail sentences, and passionate public emotions. The film shows rallies in support of the Courage to Refuse members, which are countered by right-wing protests denouncing them as traitors and cowards. The stories of the Courage to Refuse members are supplemented by interviews with their wives, parents, and other family members.

    ON THE OBJECTION FRONT chronicles this explosive new controversy that goes to the very soul of contemporary Israeli society, and in-so-doing raises crucial questions - about civil disobedience; about personal ethics, morality, and patriotism - for all of us.

    Reviews
  • "Bold! The deeply personal nature of each soldier's story of their moral journey... make this by far one of the most riveting films of witness and testimony every made about the struggle of Israeli's to challenge the status quo." - Middle Eastern Studies Association Bulletin

  • "Highly Recommended!" - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "Fascinating!" - Utne

  • "The most powerful of the fifteen Israeli films in this year's [San Francisco Jewish Film Festival]! As a testimony against injustice by men of war, it's a surprisingly peaceful film.-East Bay Express

  • "The sincerity of these ex-soldiers... is impressive, and Tsur's film is compelling." - San Francisco Weekly

  • "Unflinching and moving!" - Time Out

  • "An important documentary... Through candid interviews... the films tells the story behind their life-altering decision to stand up and refuse to go back and complete their duty. It follows them and their families as they discuss the agonizing dilemma between wanting to serve their country and acting against their moral principles, the memories that haunt them, the anger of their families, the rejection they're facing, and their time in prison." - The International Herald Tribune

  • "Neither heavy-handed nor polemical... it acknowledges the real disagreement that exists even within the Left over the principle of refusing duty." - The Jerusalem Report
  • "Has resonance far beyond Israel." - Washington City Paper Award
  • Ecumenical Award, 2005 Berlin International Film Festival

    Item no.: RG03100472
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 63 minutes
    Copyright: 2005
    Price: USD 298.00

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    OUT OF PLACE: MEMORIES OF EDWARD SAID

    By Makoto Sato

    Borrowing its title from the author's 2000 memoir, OUT OF PLACE traces the life and work of Edward Said (1935-2003), the Palestinian-born intellectual who wrote widely on history, literature, music, philosophy and politics. Filmed in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, and the U.S., this feature-length documentary traces Said's childhood influences and celebrates his intellectual legacy, especially the importance of his work in literary criticism and postcolonial studies, his love of music, his role on the Palestinian National Council and his troubled relationship with Yasir Arafat.

    Visiting the sites of his birthplace in Jerusalem, his boyhood homes in Beirut and Cairo, and his New York City apartment, OUT OF PLACE explores Said's status as a refugee, his sense of always feeling "out of place"-personally, geographically and linguistically-a theme he developed in his memoir, explaining how everyone, in a sense, is comprised of "multiple identities."

    OUT OF PLACE imaginatively blends readings from Said's memoir and other key writings, family home movies dating back to 1947, and interviews with Arab, Israeli and American thinkers, including many of Said's colleagues, family and friends, who offer personal reminiscences as well as statements on the importance of his work. Among the notable educators, historians, novelists, politicians, and artists who appear in the film are Ilan Pappe, Elias Khoury, Azmi Bishara, Daniel Barenboim, Rashid Khalidi, Michel Warschawski, Noam Chomsky and Dan Rabinowitz, among many others.

    The themes of reconciliation and coexistence that Said fought for throughout his life are further illuminated by a visit with a Palestinian family in a refugee camp in Syria and a family of Mizrahim (Arabic Jews) in Israel, a memorial conference held at Bir Zeit University on the West Bank, and scenes at other sites in Israel and the West Bank. OUT OF PLACE is thus both a fascinating biographical film on one of the most acclaimed cultural critics of the postwar world as well as an engaging examination of many of the cultural and political issues to which he devoted his life.

    Reviews
  • "A beautifully made film...a moving tribute to Edward Said's life." -Leonardo Digital Reviews
  • "Fascinating! Allows the audience to see the concrete realization of abstract ideas about Israeli and Palestinian identity." -The Jewish Week
  • "Sufficiently thought provoking and compelling that it not only comprises a striking contemplation of Said's legacy, it may even come to comprise a small part thereof...powerful...highly recommended." -Educational Media Reviews Online
  • "Profound. The outreaching experiences of an extraordinary life." -Slant Magazine
  • "The serene, beautiful camera presses ever on through the landscape of Edward Said's absence. The many folds of the pain of Palestine and Israel are illumined. Said cuts across people's vibrant memories. And Said's hopes appear above us." -OE Kenzaburo, Nobel Prize Winner for Literature
  • "A bold and innovative film... The success of the film is due to the fact that Sato is not content to give us a standardized biography of Said, but wishes to engage with, challenge and test Said's ideas in the real-world." -Jonathan Hogg, H-Ideas

    Item no.: PC03210491
    Format: DVD (Color, Closed Captioned)
    Duration: 138 minutes
    Copyright: 2005
    Price: USD 490.00

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    PLAYING THE NEWS

    By Jeff Plunkett & Jigar Mehta

    In November 2004, media from around the world covered the U.S.-led attack on the Iraqi "terrorist stronghold" of Fallujah. So did the video game, Kuma War, whose realistic simulation of the event was designed as an "intense, boots-on-the-ground experience" for video gamers. Young people don't watch TV news or read newspapers, explains Kuma Reality Games CEO Keith Halper, but they play hour after hour of video games, so why not convey war reports to them through their recreational activities?

    PLAYING THE NEWS profiles the first video game company to consider itself a legitimate news organization, taking us from the company's Manhattan offices, equipped with satellite technology, to the frontlines of the war in Iraq. The documentary features interviews with Kuma executives and designers, a media studies professor, a New Technology writer for The Economist, a war correspondent, and several video gamers, who download new episodes monthly and who can play separately or link up online with others to play as a squad.

    Can such video games play a serious journalistic role or do they misconstrue the real nature of war for voyeuristic thrills? Do they represent the future of journalism or the dangerous blurring of news and entertainment? Can we look forward to an Abu Ghraib video game?

    PLAYING THE NEWS is a provocative examination of whether video games are a revolutionary new way to engage young people in current events or an unethical marketing gimmick that merely seeks to exploit war.

    Reviews
  • "Does a fine job of exploring the ability (and inability) of a game to help viewers to really experience the war." - David T. Z. Mindich, Journalism History

  • ""By presenting arguments for and against the game, filmmakers Plunkett and Mehta have created a documentary that would be a useful trigger for discussion about the nature of video games, the evolution of journalism and entertainment, and the ethics of turning an existing conflict into a vehicle for entertainment. This provocative film is recommended for public and academic libraries." - Library Journal

  • "A provocative, balanced, and thought-provoking film...raises critical questions." - Leonardo Digital Reviews

  • "An excellent teaching tool... Highly recommended for academic and public libraries." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Award
  • 2005 Currie Documentary Prize, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

    Item no.: YS03400373
    Format: DVD (Color, Closed Captioned)
    Duration: 20 minutes
    Copyright: 2005
    Price: USD 225.00

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    SHI'ISM: WAITING FOR THE HIDDEN IMAM

    By Said Bakhtaoui and Mohammad Ballout

    Adherents of Shi'ism comprise less than ten percent of the more than one billion Muslims in the world today, but ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, with its indelible images of blindfolded hostages seized at the American Embassy in Tehran, Shi'ism has been perceived by most Westerners as a religious sect characterized by violence and fanaticism. The American ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the continuing U.S. occupation of Iraq, which have led to a resurgence of Shia political activity after decades of oppression by Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime, has provided Shi'ism with newfound political influence as well as an opportunity to improve its image.

    SHI'ISM illuminates the historical roots of this branch of Islam, from its origins in a 7th-century dispute over the successor to the Prophet Mohammad and a political and theological war between Sunni and Shi'ite followers, through the sect's mythology of martyrdom established by the massacre in 662 at Karbala, followed by centuries of persecution and discrimination of Shi'ism as a minority faith, and outlines its basic tenets, including belief in the 'hidden' Imam, who will appear on the Last Day as the Mahdi.

    Filmed in Iran, Lebanon and Iraq, SHI'ISM blends both contemporary and historical footage and graphics with interviews with Muslim scholars, philosophers, writers, politicians and religious leaders, including Iran's Ayatollah Mussa Zein al-Abidin, Lebanon's Sheikh Mohammad Hassan al-Amin, and Islamic Encyclopedia Director Mohammad Kadhim Bujnurdi, among many others. The film also visits Shia holy sites, including the Tomb of Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq, and the Mausoleum of Imam Abdul Azim and the Tomb of Bibi Shahrbanoo in southern Tehran.

    SHI'ISM explores a wide range of historical and contemporary issues, from the basis of the original schism between Shia and Sunni followers, contemporary differences in legal and religious matters, the cultivation of martyrdom as the foundation of Shi'ite doctrine, the relative strength of Shi'ism in countries throughout the Middle East, the suicide bombings of the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and a political analysis of the Iranian Revolution's establishment of an Islamic Republic in which the clergy assumed political power, as contrasted with the belief of Iraq's Shia leader, Ayatollah Sistani, in a separation between religion and the state.

    SHI'ISM offers valuable insights into the complex and largely unknown history, at least for Western viewers, of this small branch of one of the world's largest faiths, which recent events have transformed into one of the most politically influential and controversial religious movements.

    Reviews
  • "Captivating, clear and informative." - Bridges Journal

  • "A fine portrayal of the origins, defining features, and contemporary impact of...Shi'ism. The film's major contribution is the collection of interviews with prominent Shi'ite religious scholars and intellectuals [who] powerfully convey the significance for Shi'ites of the imams. Deeply moving... thoroughly recommended!-The Middle East Quarterly

  • "Highly Recommended! If one wants to learn the history and current political significance of Shi'ism in less than an hour, it's hard to do better than this documentary. This film conveys a wealth of information-political, cultural, and religious-without getting sidetracked into anecdotes or losing coherence. There is nothing superfluous, nor is there anything missing that needs to be covered. That is a great accomplishment for a film presenting such a complex history in a short time." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "Remarkable! The film restores the richness of a fascinating history." - Temps Fort

  • "A valuable perspective." - Telerama

    Item no.: DD03210451
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 53 minutes
    Copyright: 2005
    Price: USD 390.00

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    DAILY BAGHDAD

    By Romain Goupil

    What is daily life in Baghdad like for the Iraqi people today, a year after the beginning of the war that ousted the oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein but replaced it with an occupation by U.S. troops? Veteran documentary filmmaker Romain Goupil chronicles, in cinema-verite fashion, the daily life of the family of Abbas ad Roubay, a former member of Saddam's Republican Guard who now struggles to make a living as a deliveryman, and his wife Yasmine and their four children.

    Made over a period of several weeks in February 2004, the film is divided into four 25-minute 'chapters,' which focus on Abbas, the father, and his brother, who was a political prisoner; on Yasmine, the mother, and her sisters; on Hilmi, a brother-in-law who works as a journalist; and on Abbas's father and the family's attendance at the wedding of a niece.

    While we witness the simple realities of their everyday life - following Abbas as he makes deliveries, watching the family share a lunchtime meal, visiting the homes of other family members, or shopping for daily necessities - we also learn, thanks to the country's newfound freedom of expression, their views about life before and after Saddam, the promises of the Americans, and the religious tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities, as well as their frustrations with electricity shortages and concerns about the lack of stability and security.

    Although U.S. military vehicles and troops are occasionally glimpsed in the background, the film avoids the gruesomely familiar scenes of bombings and gunfire we're used to seeing on American TV. Instead, DAILY BAGHDAD offers us a rarely-seen view of daily life in postwar Iraq, one which reveals the diverse views of average Iraqi citizens about the country's previous history, the war, their life today, and their vision of the future for themselves and their country.

    Reviews
  • "Through the spinning out of a story where the camera becomes discreet, contemporary Iraqi reality is revealed." - Le Monde

  • "Recommended! Creates a very personal feel. Sound, color, and video are professional and the subtitles are easy to read." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "[3 Stars!] An intimate, humanitarian look at daily life in war-torn Baghdad following the fall of Saddam Hussein and the rise of the American military presence. [The] cinema verite approach works well... allows the viewer to fully absorb the simple, day-to-day details of life in the Iraqi capital. The universal message is clear: this family is like any other, and we can all relate to their struggles; more to the point, we can even gain a new perspective on the Iraq war, from those who have suffered in its midst. Recommended!" - Video Librarian

    Item no.: TG03210131
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 100 minutes
    Copyright: 2004
    Price: USD 348.00

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    SHIRIN EBADI: A SIMPLE LAWYER

    By Bani Khoshnoudi

    This documentary profiles Iranian attorney Shirin Ebadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts for democracy and human rights, in particular the struggle for the rights of women and children. SHIRIN EBADI - A SIMPLE LAWYER features an in-depth interview with Ebadi conducted in her Tehran office, speeches at numerous international conferences, and a visit to the children's center she founded.

    Appointed the first female president of the Tehran City Court in 1975, Ebadi lost her position following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, when women were forbidden to serve as judges. She was readmitted to the bar in the early 1990's when, as an attorney, she began to challenge Iran's religious courts over a wide variety of issues-including human rights, freedom of expression, political prisoners, and democratic reform-demonstrating the need for an overall reform of the Iranian justice system.

    Indeed, Ebadi argues that the most serious problem in Iran today is the misuse of religion and that judges must be independent of the Islamic government. She points out, for example, that although women in Iran are taking a more active role in social life, including increased attendance at universities, the status of women has actually regressed since the Islamic Revolution.

    Despite her increased fame since receiving the Nobel Prize, Ebadi retains a sense of humility. She points out that Iran, of all countries, should be aware of the danger of personality cults, and that she has no desire to be a spokesperson or role model for Iran's 70 million citizens. As the film makes clear, however, although Shirin Ebadi may consider herself merely "a simple lawyer," her committed pursuit of peace, justice and human rights, despite recent death threats, has made her an international symbol of Iran's current struggle for democracy.

    Reviews
  • "While Muslim women continue to endure severe inequality, many are nonetheless making remarkable efforts to reshape their own lives as well as the societies that shackle them. [Ebadi] has special significance, because she is not a Westernized feminist advocating secular rule, but a devoted Muslim living under a repressive Islamic system who insists that women's rights are universal and compatible with Islamic teachings." - Time Magazine

  • "Highly Recommended!" - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "Whether she is giving a speech in Bogota, Paris or Geneva or confiding in the calm of her law office in Tehran, it is always with the same resolute and precise tone, a rhythm which characterizes this documentary... Besides this charismatic attorney, we see the faces of some of her companions, and, above all, those who share her struggle." - Arte Magazine

  • "Shows the exhausting journey of this indefatigable and charismatic angel of peace... A valuable recounting of the last thirty years of political history in Iran." - Les Inrockuptibles

    Item no.: LN03400456
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 48 minutes
    Copyright: 2004
    Price: USD 375.00

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    SIAH BAZI: THE JOY MAKERS

    By Maryan Khakipour

    Siah Bazi theater troupes similar to Commedia dell'arte, traditionally performed at weddings and parties, led by men and women in full harlequin garb, making impromptu skits peppered with subtle commentary on current events and politics.

    When Tehran's troupe faces the closing of their 400-year-old theater due to changing cultural shifts, the performers face uncertain futures as truck drivers and tea-servers.

    SIAH BAZI: THE JOY MAKERS offers a look at how folkloric entertainment is challenged by modern political and economic changes in Tehran.

    Review
  • "...offers highlights of Iranian culture and potential problems of cross-cultural collaboration." -Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: PT03400677
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 45 minutes
    Copyright: 2004
    Price: USD 398.00

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    20 YEARS OLD IN THE MIDDLE EAST

    By Amal Moghaizel

    "I worry I'll never get married or have a family. We all fear, war, death and destruction. We all have the same fear of tomorrow." - Dina, an Egyptian student in Beirut

    Filmed after the fall of Saddam Hussein, 20 YEARS OLD IN THE MIDDLE-EAST traverses the region - from Jordan to Syria, Iran, and Lebanon - to take the pulse of Arab and Iranian youth.

    The film offers an opportunity for Western college students to truly understand the lives and attitudes of their Middle Eastern counterparts: how they're different, and how they're the same.

    Hyam Pourla, an Iranian theology student and aspiring mullah who clandestinely sings in a heavy metal band, says, "There are big games being played in the region. Great strategies decided for the Middle East... We are powerless. All people can do is suffer."

    It's a feeling echoed by many, including Abbud, a Jerusalem-born Palestinian studying in Jordan: "We are reduced to silence," he says. "We can't speak freely here."

    "We're now lacking ideals," says Kamal, who studies at the American University in Beirut. "The Arab myth is fading. We don't know where to look for references. We're lost."

    And Badder, who dreams of being a BBC announcer, laments, "We're ashamed to say we're Arabs and proud of it."

    Although wary of the future, this generation craves freedom, and wants to feel pride in themselves and their cultures. For many, dreams and hopes co-exist with hopelessness and despair.

    As America becomes more deeply embroiled in the region, 20 YEARS OLD IN THE MIDDLE-EAST offers an indispensable snapshot of the attitudes of a generation that desires liberty over extremism, but at the same time fears that American policies will lead them into ever more warfare, and which - above all - simply wants to pursue their dreams.

    Reviews
  • "This film should be required viewing for leaders and citizens alike in the Middle East because it not only captures - often with great sadness - the frustration and despair of the Middle East's youth but it also offers solutions to these problems, if we would only listen. It is significant that of all the young people interviewed in the film, it is a young woman who is the most passionate about implementing change. It is not so much an issue of whether she will realize this dream or not. More importantly, she has passion for that dream and she believes she can bring about change." - Arabic Women's eNews

  • "Recommended. Culled from interviews conducted just two months after the fall of Baghdad in May 2003, TWENTY YEARS OLD... offers a newsworthy picture of a youthful Middle East not all that familiar to Western audiences - and a shame it isn't. More moving than anything is the universal call for more freedom, greater freedom. Thus the effects of oppressive government weigh heavily on the idealistic young; all the more reason to make the film available to often complacent American undergraduates." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: BN03100004
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 390.00

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    ALGERIA'S BLOODY YEARS

    By Malek Bensmail, Patrice Barrat and Thierry Leclere

    ALGERIA'S BLOODY YEARS chronicles the country's struggle for peace, stability and democracy since independence from France. The documentary combines recent and archival interviews, newsreel footage, and recently filmed footage from Algeria to trace the origins of the violence that has left as many as 200,000 dead since 1988.

    ALGERIA'S BLOODY YEARS begins with a brief historical survey of events in Algeria since independence in 1962, and moves on to focus on the democratization process set in motion after the October 1988 riots, the success of Islamist groups in elections, the subsequent cancellation of these elections by the military, and the country's descent into violence, up to the present day. The film provides an excellent overview of recent events and asks tough questions about their causes, and humanizes a conflict that was all too often reported deep inside the newspaper with little more than "score cards" of the numbers killed.

    Not a simple catalog of atrocities, ALGERIA'S BLOODY YEARS uses contemporary testimony from people on all sides of the conflicy - from former Algerian generals to French government officials, from Algerian journalists to Islamist leaders - to unravel the mysterious machinations that have killed thousands of innocent Algerians.

    Reviews
  • "Rarely has the history of the Algerian conflict been presented with such clarity, or such force. [The film's] real strength lies in its mix of shockingly honest interviews ... brutally graphic scenes ... and archival footage of such crucial points in the nation's history. This triple-pronged approach allows director Malek Bensmail to recount Algeria's complex recent history quickly and powerfully." - International Journal of African Historical Studies

  • "Recommended! Well-researched, balanced... A clear, coherent account." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "(5 stars!) Extraordinary! Brilliantly details the extended civil war which has virtually destroyed the North African republic since 1991... One cannot come away from the film without shuddering in horror that Algeria's nightmare could easily become a prelude for Iraq's future. And that makes ALGERIA'S BLOODY YEARS scarier than any Hollywood monster movie could ever aspire to become." - Film Threat

    Item no.: PY03210023
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 59 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 390.00

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    GENERATION X-SADDAM

    By Shelley Saywell

    On the eve of the 2003 U.S. invasion, filmmaker Shelley Saywell traveled to Iraq to film the lives of ordinary people - especially young Iraqis - who were caught between Saddam's tyranny and a devastated economy (for which they blamed the West).

    Now, Saywell returns to find the people she met and interviewed before the war. What happened to them? Have they survived? Have their feelings about Saddam and the U.S. changed, or remained the same?

    Traveling from Baghdad to Basra, across the severely damaged country, Saywell visits the ruined university campus, the back streets of Baghdad on night patrol, the blood soaked cells of Abu Graib prison, and the mass graves where mothers search for a scrap of familiar clothing.

    Surprisingly, Saywell finds all her protagonists. There are surprises, some ironies, and we hear some things that could not be told while Saddam was in power.

    But many anti-American feelings remain. Most pervasive is the sense of desperate confusion, the constant worry about what lies ahead in the dangerous, chaotic life under occupation.

    Reviews
  • "HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for its courageous journey into the mind of the young generation of Iraq. It reveals the feelings of the Iraqi people who dealt with mass killings under Hussein and now live under US-imposed curfews and checkpoints, demonstrating that the Iraqis have always been fighting and dealing with negative presences, and argues that the next generation have no vision left in this continuous vacuum." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "Engaging... offers an important corrective to the story on Iraq given to us by the Bush Administration and an often all-too-compliant corporate media." - Cineaste

    Item no.: MD03100241
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 45 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 298.00

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    JUNCTION, THE

    By Ilan Ziv

    Although they may have had little in common in life, Fahmi Abou Ammouneh and David Biri are linked in death, their fates tied to Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip, a crossroads between the Israeli settlement of Netzarim and the Palestinian refugee camp of Nusseirat. It became a strategic location during the Oslo peace process, which left Nezarim isolated in Palestinian lands.

    It was there that David and Fahmi died - the first Israeli soldier and the first resident of Nusseirat to lose their lives in conflict that has since seen nearly 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians killed. Using home videos and memories of family and friends, THE JUNCTION shows the ripple effects on their loved ones and their communities.

    David's sister remains angry at the meaninglessness of his death. His parents have left his room untouched, except for changing the sheets once a week. His dearest friend, El'ad, committed suicide. And David's surviving army buddies are disillusioned.

    For Fahmi's family, his death is a personal tragedy and one more injustice perpetrated by the Israeli occupiers. His mother's family was forced out of their village when she was a baby, and his uncle decries the misery that follows them from generation to generation.

    Once a busy intersection and a teeming neighborhood, the area is now a militarized desert.The Palestinian homes, orange groves, and greenhouses that surrounded the crossroads have been reduced to rubble and sand; a metaphor for the trap that has imprisoned both Palestinians and Israelis. Nothing remains except the Israeli settlement that David's unit was tasked to protect.

    The narrative spine of THE JUNCTION is confined in space and time, yet reaches far into the social fabric of both societies to explore the culture of death that feeds the political impasse, and the violent convolutions that are currently consuming both Israelis and Palestinians.

    Reviews
  • "lan Ziv is one of the most insightful and inventive documentary directors to emerge from Israel, and THE JUNCTION is one of his most expertly crafted films to date, a complex interweaving of multiple narrative lines... One does not think of documentaries as suspense films, but THE JUNCTION is so deftly organized that it merits that encomium... Elegantly structured... A powerful reminder that the smallest skirmishes exact a grim toll in blood and tears." - George Robinson, Jewish Week

  • "An intelligent and sensitive contribution to the discussion of settlements. Rather than reiterate the tired monologues of both sides, THE JUNCTION courageously pierces through the rhetoric in its penetrating juxtaposition of the stories of these two young men and the aftermath for the surviving loved ones. Interchanging interviews and scenic shots give the viewer a provocative vision of the personal panorama, touching the viewer emotionally while underscoring the need for a political solution." - Al Jadid, A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "(Three Stars!). Moving!" - V.A. Musetto, New York Post

  • "Making documentaries about the Middle East, where political realities shift instantaneously, can be a tricky business. But [the] wrenching JUNCTION (conceived with Lebanese author Elias Khoury) looks beyond the current wave of violence, to its roots in a culture of tragedy and denial." - The Village Voice

  • "What is so beautiful about Ilan Ziv's film is its will to never contrast the pain of one family with the pain of another; to never privilege the intensity of one at the expense of the other." - Telestars (France)

  • "An intersection like so many, one street crossing another. Nothing more banal, except that this crossing is in the Gaza Strip. The film reconstructs the facts...delving into the painful ravages of the destroyed families [and] the underlying mechanisms of two peoples dragged into the vicious circle of aggression, attacks, and counterattacks..." - Le Monde (France)

  • "Very moving... A powerful metaphor for the futility of our conflict with the Palestinians." - Jury of 2003 Haifa Film Festival

    Award
  • Best Documentary, 2003 Haifa Film Festival

    Item no.: SR03210344
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 390.00

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    LOBBY, THE

    By Benny Brunner

    How powerful is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)? The new documentary film THE LOBBY is a balanced examination of this controversial subject.

    Considering the pro-Israeli attitude of every recent U.S. administration, it is often suggested that the Jewish lobby dictates Washington's Middle East policy. AIPAC does make and break the careers of politicians, like the NRA and the former Christian Coalition. But does this organization really have a major influence on U.S. foreign policy?

    In THE LOBBY people from varying backgrounds, with diverse political attitudes give their opinion on this matter. Some of those interviewed include:

  • Steven Grossman - former president of AIPAC

  • Malcolm Hoenlein - Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations representative

  • Denise Majette - Georgia congresswoman

  • J.J. Goldberg - Jewish weekly Forward editor

  • Janet McMahon - Washington Report editor

  • Noam Chomsky - MIT professor

    The opinions of these and the other interviewees form a rounded, rational and unemotional conversation about an often-avoided subject.

    Review
  • "RECOMMENDED. THE LOBBY provides an evaluation of one of the more successful interest groups in American politics, and also addresses the foreign policy influence of the broader Jewish community. In addition, the film demonstrates the importance of money within the U.S. political process... Several interviewees compare the AIPAC with the National Rifle Association, placing the film's critique in the broader context of the power and influence exerted by single-issue interest groups. THE LOBBY is a balanced critique of the U.S.'s pro-Israeli stance, and a useful in-class discussion tool." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: FE03400396
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 25 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 225.00

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    WE LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH

    Directed by Jack Janssen

    For half a century, the Lebanese singer Fairuz has been a living legend in the Arab world. Her home is Beirut, once a thriving seaport known as "the Paris of the Middle East," and a haven for those fleeing religious or ethnic persecution. In 1975, however, a civil war that was to rage for fifteen years disrupted this idyllic situation. Throughout the civil war Fairuz remained in Beirut, and everyone - whether Christian, Muslim, left-wing or right-wing, people from all the groups that were murdering each other - continued to love this singer with the nightingale voice.

    WE LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH portrays the love of diverse Beirut inhabitants for this diva. Through the music, and the myths that grew around Fairuz, they tell their life stories, and narrate the tragic, stirring history of their city. Their reminiscences, combined with Fairuz' songs and her story, provide a moving commentary on Lebanon's tumultuous history, traces of which are still visible in Beirut's devastated cityscape and bullet-scared building.

    Today Fairuz is a cultural phenomenon whose appeal has spread far beyond the Arab world. Offering viewers a revealing and captivating introduction to this singer, and her place in Lebanese history and culture, WE LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH also powerfully shows how music and the emotions it stirs can transcend political and religious differences.

    Review
  • "Highly Recommended! Just as great writing does, all great filmmaking transcends its subject. WE LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH is supposed to be about the legendary Arab singer Fairuz, but is so much more. Intimate and poignant... documentary filmmaking at its finest." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: TT03400726
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 80 minutes
    Copyright: 2003
    Price: USD 298.00

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    AGAINST MY WILL

    Directed by Ayfer Ergun

    "I wouldn't dream of trusting my family." - Anita

    In Pakistan, many women who decide to leave abusive marriages are signing their own death warrants. They risk being disfigured or murdered by men who believe it is the only way to restore honor to the family.

    Authorities in Pakistan rarely respond to reports of honor killing. The Human Rights Commission Pakistan and the Women Action Forum estimate that 1000 women are murdered each year, with little or no response from the government.

    At the Dastak women's shelter in Lahore, women accused of tarnishing the family honor find a safe haven. Here, in this tidy building with a well-kept lawn, they live in safety, receiving both counseling and legal advice.

    Kubra is one such woman. After enduring repeated beatings, the 28-year-old fled to Dastak. We meet Kubra - armed guard in tow - on her way to a meeting with members of her family. They entreat her to return. Eventually, she agrees. Three weeks later, she is murdered, shot to death in her sleep.

    Through Kubra's story, and the stories of other women at Dastak, the film creates a portrait of one institution that is protecting Pakistani women, at least the women who can make it there.

    Reviews
  • "A heartbreaking documentary about honor killings in Pakistan." - www.indiewire.com

  • "Outspoken and poignant. The film does an excellent job of conveying the horror and humanity of the lives of these women. The combination of footage from the shelter, the legal office and scenes and interviews from Kubra's village and family make AGAINST MY WILL a very powerful statement against 'honor killings.'" - Al Jadid, A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "Recommended." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: PP03100016
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 50 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 375.00

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    AL JAZEERA: VOICE OF ARABIA

    By Tewfik Hakem

    Founded in 1996, Al Jazeera ("The Island" in Arabic) was the first 24-hour news channel in the Arab world. Little known in the U.S. until September 11th, the notoriety of this "Arab CNN" has exploded since then, and has grown during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    Shot on location in Doha, Qatar, AL JAZEERA takes us behind the scenes of the Arab world's independent satellite TV channel. With a multi-national staff of seventy journalists and numerous international correspondents, Al Jazeera embodies the idea of a unified Pan-Arab world.

    The film explores the paradoxes that emerge between the apparent orthodoxy of Arab societies, and the journalistic freedom flaunted by Al Jazeera. The station's philosophy of open debate is not easily embraced in what Faycal Al-Quassam, the host of The Opposite Direction, calls "a dictatorial, single-party culture which does not know the meaning of dialogue." An excerpt from his program in which a former Algerian Prime Minister storms off the set, condemning Al Jazeera as, "a place of folklore and lies", illustrates the conflict.

    Al Jazeera's impact extends far beyond the Arab world. In Afghanistan when Al Jazeera correspondent Youssef Al-Chouli's exclusive stories from Kandahar show the impact of U.S. bombing on Afghani civilians, Washington correspondent Hafez Al-Mirazi questions Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about them. He interviews National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, who states her support for Al Jazeera - but one month later, when their Kabul office is bombed, some journalists can only respond with suspicion.

    Combining news footage, excepts from various Al Jazeera programs, and interviews with executives, anchors, and journalists (from Yousri Fouda, trying to uncover stories on the Guantanamo detention camp, to the first Arab female sports reporter, Leila Smati), AL JAZEERA is an invaluable look at the challenges faced and issues raised by the most important television channel in the Arab world.

    Reviews
  • "Brilliant! It is clear that Al Jazeera has sparked a revolution in the world of Arab media, and [this documentary] has brilliantly shown us how." - Al Jadid, A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "Covers same of the same issues but delves into topics that 'Control Room' never bothers to raise...doles out fascinating details about staffers' cultural backgrounds, unveils surprisingly 'Western' pressures on anchorwomen to dress and act like starlets, and addresses the tricky negotiations involved in keeping Islamic religious interests at bay." - Cineaste

  • "Recommended... a rare view of one of the most popular and often controversial satellite television organizations in the Middle East [and] a valuable resource for a Western world eager to learn more about Middle Eastern ideas." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "Watchable and informative... Hakem's low-key but eye opening documentary rewards the viewer with perhaps more insight into the forces and mindsets shaping the Muslim world than any number of retreaded policy papers. Al Jazeera is arguably the most important media outlet in the Arab world, and it is well worth any hour of any TV viewer's time to learn about it from Hakem." - Bridges, An Interdisciplinary Journal

    Award
  • Viewer's Choice, 2003 Middle East Studies Association Film Festival

    Item no.: HU03100022
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 390.00

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    BEN BARKA: THE MOROCCAN EQUATION

    Directed by Simone Bitton

    Ben Barka was abducted on a Paris street in October 1965 and later murdered; his body was never found, nor were the culprits positively identified. By documenting the life and significant accomplishments of Ben Barka - his dedication to his country and people - this compelling documentary answers the question, "Who wanted him dead?"

    Barka's extraordinary career began as a gifted child from the slums of the Medina who earned Morocco's first degree in mathematics. As a member of the Istiqlal (freedom) Party, he was a leader in the movement to oust the French from Morocco. But his dreams of a free and open state after independence in 1956 were soon frustrated. King Mohammed V and his successor, Hassan II, sought to hold all the powers of government in the framework of an absolute monarchy under French tutelage. Barka's radical politics, and his economic development programs, caused conflict with the ruling monarch. The ensuing power struggle extended through the three centers of power in post-independence Morocco: the royal family and its governing mechanisms, the Istiqlal Party, and the opposition movement of Ben Barka.

    At a time when Morocco is trying to exorcise its past, BEN BARKA unearths the story of Morocco's greatest and most controversial political figures. His abduction and murder sparked the infamous "Ben Barka affair" of the 1960s. Yet this film is not another enquiry about the "Affair." Rather, it is about his life, because, his disappearance may have prevented him from taking his rightful place in history.

    Reviews
  • "A story of colonialism, independence and post-colonial internal power struggles between different political entities in the country, but also.... A moral story of Morocco. [The film] unearths the memories of Ben Barka's supporters and opponents. Rare historical documents... [bring] a sense of immediacy. A valuable resource for the academic audience interested in the post-independence of modern nation states that experienced colonization." - Professor Aomar Boum, University of Arizona, for the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin

  • "Highly Recommended! This film well represents Ben Barka's life, as well as the political situation in Morocco in the last several decades. Its picture and sound qualities are good, and it moves at a crisp pace that will engage the viewer." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "This superb portrait of the anti-colonial militant Ben Barka serves to remind us of what the Morocco of today owes him. Reveals much... through interviews of his friends and rare, archival images." - Les Inrockuptibles (France)

    Item no.: HT03400051
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 84 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 440.00

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    CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE: ARAB-AMERICANS IN WARTIME

    Directed by David Van Taylor & Brad Lichtenstein

    Before September 11 2001, New York City's Arab population was one among many immigrant groups making their way in the city: politically diverse; assimilated and separatist; Muslim, Christian, and fundamentalist; wealthy and working class; struggling and successful. But when two planes hijacked by Islamic extremists destroyed the World Trade Center, the lives of this immigrant group changed within hours.

    Now, Arab-Americans are caught in the crossfire of President Bush's War on Terrorism, and are finding out how cold the welcome can be when you belong to the wrong immigrant group at the wrong time.

    Centered in New York City, CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE puts viewers in the shoes of three individuals, each of whom has had a particularly tricky road to navigate in recent months.

    Raghida Dergham is a high-level diplomatic correspondent for the leading independent Arabic newspaper and a regular pundit on CNN. While America has given her the opportunity to be an independent, successful woman, this cosmopolitan insider sometimes feels like a woman without a country. She can't return to Lebanon, her homeland, where she is under indictment for treason, and her reporting of Middle East perspectives regularly earns her hate mail from Americans as well.

    Khader El-Yateem is an outsider among outsiders - an Arab Christian. But since September 11th, his Salam Arabic Lutheran Church has become a haven for Brooklyn Arabs, Christian and Muslim alike. All the while, the minister is carrying his own burden. Each day he phones home to Palestine to talk to his family as he watches Israeli forces bombard their village on TV.

    As a child in Yemen, Ahmed Nasser watched American cop shows and decided he wanted to be "one of the good guys." He was stationed at Ground Zero in the days after 9/11 and felt the full impact of terrorism on New York. But in the same period, he also saw his fellow officers ignore or minimize calls for help from harassed Arab-Americans in his precinct.

    Like many immigrants, Arab-Americans are torn between their adopted country and their homeland, between modern American culture and ancient traditions. Now, as they wrestle with their place in wartime America, CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE gives voice to a three people whose stories we need to hear.

    Reviews
  • "In its acute eye and ear for quotidian detail, and in its compassion for innocents, the film proves undeniably affecting." - New York Times

  • "A rare glimpse into a previously invisible - and often in question - community. - Newsweek

  • "Recommended. [The] mosaic of episodes... carry considerable punch, effectively capturing the tension between devotion to one's native culture and loyalty to the adopted country... The film's starkness adds to its power, while its timeliness - as America continues to align itself against predominantly Arab nations- cannot be overstated." - Video Librarian

  • "Brilliant... no one who watches will be able to see Arab or American identity in simple black-and-white terms [again]. Officer Nasser's final words in the film are among the most eloquent and resonant in all the [9/11 anniversary] programs." - Baltimore Sun

  • "Invites us to see Arab and Muslim immigrants in the U.S. as individuals, not as a fifth column of Al Queda sympathizers. Its human interest story bursts the stereotype of the dangerous Arab in our midst." - Al Jadid, A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "Recommended! Through straightforward film footage and interviews we are able to gain profound insight into the struggles of Arab-Americans. The film clippings intelligently and creatively alternate among the three characters. As long as we continue to reel from the events of September 11, [this film] will be a priority acquisition and a first choice for initiating sensible discussion on the topic." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: DW03100085
    Format: DVD (Color, Closed Captioned)
    Duration: 54 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 298.00

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    CLOSE, CLOSED, CLOSURE

    By Ram Loevy

    A prison with one million inmates... that's how the people of the Gaza Strip regard their land.

    Gaza is an area of 288 square kilometers surrounded by an electric fence. Lacking natural resources and being one of the poorest places on earth - Gaza is dependent on its ties with Israel - its enemy.

    Made by an Israeli and Palestinian crew, CLOSE, CLOSED, CLOSURE shows the nerve-racking process of getting people in and out, and the growing frustration and deprivation of the local population, amongst the reasons for the "second intifada" and the present-day blood bath.

    The film also presents the different Israeli standpoints - right wingers who consider the occupation legitimate, and doves who are willing to give up the occupied territories as part of a peace treaty.

    Questions raised by the director are interspersed with comments from Palestinians and confrontations between settlers and Israeli pacifists.

    The film asks: In this never ending conflict, where the spilled blood makes every stone a symbol - where every image is fraught with meaning - is it possible to see and hear things as they are?

    Reviews
  • "This short but powerful documentary sheds light on life in and around the Gaza Strip, the densely populated zone of Palestinian poverty and despair." - Library Journal

  • "The film presents a wide range of views on the [Palestinian and Israeli conflict] via a panorama that presents life near the Erez Crossing from Israel into Gaza, and the daily litany of obstacles faced. Both the filmmaker and the Palestinian participants question the value of a film as a catalyst for change under such dire circumstances. Nevertheless, the further deterioration of life in Gaza...stresses the importance of reminding the world that the Palestinians are not merely casualties in the newspaper headlines, but human beings with dreams, emotions, and a persevering sense of humor. The film contributes to our understanding of the average Palestinian family." - Al Jadid, A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "Plunges you into Gaza's world of terror and want... tries to fight [the] stifled horror by showing the reality. The director takes you into the intimacy of a Gazan family and lets you see the exasperation." - Le Monde Diplomatique

  • "An excellent window into the mind of someone who hopes to create peace and justice and is unsure of how exactly to do that, (...) captur(ing) the uncertainty and disillusionment that can happen. In the end... it puts forth questions that may be uncomfortable for those of us working for peace." - Online Journal for Peace and Conflict Resolution

    Award
  • International Independence Award, 2002 North-South Media Festival (Geneva)

    Item no.: SL03400108
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 53 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 390.00

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    HUMAN WEAPON

    Directed by Ilan Ziv

    For those unsatisfied with sensational television coverage featuring "terrorism experts," HUMAN WEAPON provides the first sober, in-depth examination of the complexities of the suicide bombing phenomenon.

    Filmed in Iran, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Israel, Palestine, Europe and the United States, HUMAN WEAPON weaves dramatic, previously unseen footage together with interviews of key militants whose organizations use suicide bombing as part of their strategy. It supplements these scenes with powerful human stories.

  • In Iran, the film looks at the "prototype" for the human weapon - the Basiji - young volunteers who were recruited to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield during Iran's long war with Iraq.

  • In Lebanon, the film combines interviews with key leaders of Hizbollah (the Party of God) and a former CIA agent with rare archival material and footage of a haunting visit to the family of a martyr. It also explores the very first suicide bombings - attacks directed at the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in 1983.

  • In Sri Lanka, the films examines the Tamil Tiger separatist movement, which took suicide bombings to the next level by launching hundreds of suicidal attacks against both military and political targets.

  • In Israel and the Palestinian territories, the film interviews failed suicide bombers, key leaders of Hamas and other militant organizations, Israeli doctors, and Palestinian psychiatrists. The film draws an intimate portrait of a recent suicide bomber and his community on the West Bank, to trace the recent phase in the evolution of suicide bombing: the ultimate weapon of terror, the political strategy of targeting civilians.

  • Finally, in the United States, HUMAN WEAPON explores, with the help of well-known author Robert Jay Lifton, some of the far-reaching historical ramifications of suicide bombing.

    HUMAN WEAPON is not primarily concerned with suicide bombing as a local phenomenon in a particular conflict. Rather, it strives to understand the recent history, and how the introduction of this new weapon has unleashed a different kind of warfare, whose impact we are yet to grasp.

    Reviews
  • "(4 Stars!). Chilling and instructive." - David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor

  • "A gripping and important documentary." - Stephen Holden, New York Times

  • "HUMAN WEAPON provides an in-depth view into the global trend of suicide bombing and contextualizes resistence groups in their appropriate place in history." - Middle East Studies Association Bulletin

  • "The film debunks many of the stereotypes about suicide bombers. Truly disturbing. ...some scenes will stay with me for weeks."- Janus Head

  • "Powerfully analytical." - Bob Campbell, Star-Ledger (NJ)

  • "Highly Recommended... this is an excellent introduction to this currently prevalent form of warfare." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Award
  • 2002 Prix Europa, Special Commendation (2nd Prize)

    Item no.: AE03210293
    Format: DVD (Color, Closed Captioned)
    Duration: 55 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 390.00

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    IRAN, VEILED APPEARANCES

    By Thierry Michel

    Iran has been presented for years as one of the cradles of Muslim fundamentalists, and more recently as a radical Muslim country on the brink of developing nuclear weapons. Iran intrigues the West on more than one account.

    A college dormitory, a cemetery, a military academy, a drama class, a mosque... such are the places IRAN, VEILED APPEARANCES takes us. Iranians in their every-day life: soldiers, religious figures, young people, former soldiers, but also members of reforming movements, students, artists, or intellectuals who often pay a heavy price in their fight for freedom.

    The film shows a culturally and socially fractured society, shows the country from many angles and created a multifaceted film, in image of a country where the religious fervour of some contrasts with the desire for freedom of others.

    Revolution, violence and religious fanaticism; such are the images Iran has shown to the world for over two decades. Yet with all of today's sufferings, how could it be forgotten that Iran is one of the oldest nations in history?

    Twenty-three years after the Islamic revolution, this country, once again prey to the turbulence of history, is taking the road towards modernity. Faced with a radical Islam advocated by religious orthodoxy, Iranian youth - eyes turned towards the West and exposed to the winds of globalisation - can no longer find its place in the religious revolution of its elders. Is the chador today nothing more than the last act of a theocracy threatened by the trend of globalisation? Is Islamic fundamentalism soluble in neo-liberalism?

    IRAN, VEILED APPEARANCES looks equally at those convinced of a radical Islam and at those who aspire to more freedom. The Iranians, having confirmed their desire for change during the presidential elections, have been conned of their meagre conquests by the power of the most conservative Islamic fundamentalists. It is they who have firm control of the army, the courts and the media and who haven't hesitated to resort to political assassination and to shut off any freedom of speech.

    The struggle has begun, and it is impossible today to predict how this desire for change, as expressed democratically by a large part of the Iranian population, will take a concrete form. The power of the Mullahs as well as the field of operation of the Islamic fundamentalist groups is considerable. Oppression of the reforming factions, under the mask of the cult of martyrs of the revolution, does exist.

    Students, journalists, intellectuals, artists and even close associates of the reforming president Mohammed Khatami are subjected to political assassination, imprisonment, and psychological and physical torture. A true battle for freedom of expression is shaking the Iranian capital but it is impossible to predict the price that will have to be paid...

    Reviews
  • "A revelatory examination... Michel's access is remarkable, his insights pointed. The film, of course, couldn't be more timely." - Newsday

  • "Ventur[es] into dangerous territory, looking for a reality that has little to do with the images to be found in the international press... What emerges is a film that gives a brief glimpse of the complexity of the social fabric in modern Iran, where a desire for modernism chafes against the bedrock of fundamentalism. A courageous film... careful to ground its observations on a realistic human scale." - The Bulletin

  • "Compelling! Recommended! The testimony of the proponents of democratic reform who have suffered for their beliefs is poignant, and the scenes of their opponents preparing for further retaliatory action carry an ominous power." - Video Librarian

    Awards
  • Grand Prize, 2002 Creation Documentary Festival (France)
  • 2002 Joseph Plateau Prize for Best Belgian Documentary

    Item no.: WG03210320
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 390.00

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    VIRGIN DIARIES, THE

    By Jessica Woodworth

    It all begins with a controversial kiss of the hand... Fatiha is on the verge of marrying the man her grandfather chose for her long ago. But her fiance's disturbing views (he claims that, in the eyes of Islam, even a kiss of the hand is forbidden before marriage) shock her.

    So Fatiha and her friend Jessica, an American researching Moroccan family law reforms, decide to embark on a journey through Morocco in search of answers to her questions about virginity, sex and Islam.

    THE VIRGIN DIARIES is the story of their travels and their investigation, from ancient Islamic schools to the Saharan camel markets, from the offices of city doctors (the most common minor surgery in Morocco is the repair of the hymen) to beachside resorts.

    Inevitably, this defiant quest produces few answers and lots of trouble. And things definitively skid out of control when Fatiha does the unthinkable and falls in love for the first time. Fatiha's random (or predestined?) encounter with a charming stranger suddenly pits duty against desire.

    Review
  • "Highly Recommended! An important movie for understanding contemporary Islam and traditional Middle Eastern cultures. This informative video would be useful in both women's studies and religious studies classes. The color and picture quality are excellent. The sound is clear and the soundtrack's ethnic music is both unobtrusive and appropriate." - Educational Media Reviews Online.

    Item no.: TT03400711
    Format: DVD (Color, Closed Captioned)
    Duration: 57 minutes
    Copyright: 2002
    Price: USD 390.00

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    ARAB DIARIES: BIRTH

    By Suheir Farraj (Palestine), Abbas Hashim (Iraq), and Abeer Esber (Syria) By Deborah Davies, Daoud Kuttab & Ilan Zi


    Three powerful stories are told in this film: the story of an unwanted baby, the story of a baby whose future is in jeopardy, and the story of an absent baby.

    The story that opens and closes the episode takes place in Palestine. Fatima is caught up in a cycle of pregnancies because of the social pressure to produce a male child. Her current pregnancy is her sixth. Fatima's determination to give birth to yet another child is motivated primarily by her fear that her husband will marry another woman, if she cannot give him a son.

    In Baghdad, Daoud is a sick baby born under the international sanctions against Iraq. Providing basic nourishment and vaccinations is an uphill struggle. His parents discuss their fears about the fate of children born in Iraq today.

    Roza lives in a Syrian village. After many years of childless marriage, she has learned that her husband has the fertility problem, not her. This is a revealing and moving saga of a woman caught between yearning to have a child and trying to assert herself within the traditional codes and expectations of her society.

    Review
  • "[ARAB DIARIES] presents a rare critical insight into contemporary life in the Arab world. The quality of sound and cinematography of this series is superb. The films contain a rich source of information on a culture that is often guarded from the west. It dares to bring up strong issues without imposing judgment on the values discussed. The series is a good example of how much more we have to learn about the Middle East ¡V the films managed to raise an eyebrow once or twice, even though I spent almost 20 years in that region. Highly recommended to all kinds of libraries, especially academic libraries with undergraduate studies related to culture, anthropology, or Middle Eastern studies, as well as libraries with internship programs in the Middle East." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: GR03210056
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 225.00

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    ARAB DIARIES: HOME, OR MAIDS IN MY FAMILY

    By Yto Barrada

    This film is devoted to one extraordinary Moroccan woman's story. In it she confronts her family and their servants about the relationships between them, and what these relationships may reveal about Moroccan society, and her own life.

    Yto was raised in a liberal bourgeois Moroccan family. They saw nothing wrong with expressing left-wing views at the dinner table while being waited on by servants, cooks and maids. This contradiction troubled Yto as she became older. The narrative spine of the films becomes Yto's search for one of the maids who declared her independence to marry and left the family home.

    Review
  • "[ARAB DIARIES] presents a rare critical insight into contemporary life in the Arab world. The quality of sound and cinematography of this series is superb. The films contain a rich source of information on a culture that is often guarded from the west. It dares to bring up strong issues without imposing judgment on the values discussed. The series is a good example of how much more we have to learn about the Middle East ¡V the films managed to raise an eyebrow once or twice, even though I spent almost 20 years in that region. Highly recommended to all kinds of libraries, especially academic libraries with undergraduate studies related to culture, anthropology, or Middle Eastern studies, as well as libraries with internship programs in the Middle East." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: KC03400285
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 225.00

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    ARAB DIARIES: LOVE AND MARRIAGE

    By Samia Chala (Algeria), and Muriel Aboulrouss (Lebanon)

    In Lebanon, a single, middle-aged woman deals with the effect societal opposition to interfaith marriage has had on her life, while a young couple vows to sustain their love in the face of this opposition.

    Lama and Fouad are very much in love. He is Christian and she is Muslim. Will their love survive in a society that will not allow them to marry across the religious divide?

    Marita, a woman in her mid-forties, has never forgotten her first and only true love - a forbidden love that blossomed during the Lebanese civil war.

    In Algeria, a hair salon becomes a haven for women constrained by the societal traditions they are forced to live by. The Beauty Salon is one of the few social spheres in Algeria where women can discuss their lives freely. Here we meet Lila, who was prevented from marrying the man she loved because his mother disapproved of her smoking, of her western dress, and of the fact that Lila had visited Paris. LOVE AND MARRIAGE traces the customers' (and hair dressers') lives; lives that have been embroiled by tradition and rebellion.

    Review
  • "[ARAB DIARIES] presents a rare critical insight into contemporary life in the Arab world. The quality of sound and cinematography of this series is superb. The films contain a rich source of information on a culture that is often guarded from the west. It dares to bring up strong issues without imposing judgment on the values discussed. The series is a good example of how much more we have to learn about the Middle East ¡V the films managed to raise an eyebrow once or twice, even though I spent almost 20 years in that region. Highly recommended to all kinds of libraries, especially academic libraries with undergraduate studies related to culture, anthropology, or Middle Eastern studies, as well as libraries with internship programs in the Middle East." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: JH03210398
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 225.00

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    ARAB DIARIES: WORK

    By Ghalia Sheikh & Lubna Haddad (Syria), Abbas Hashim (Iraq), and Raed Helou (Palestine)

    This film explores the hopes and aspirations of Arab men and women as embodied in the dreams and realities of flying.

    Captain Hatem's childhood dream was realized when he became a pilot for Iraqi Airlines. But now because of the sanctions against Iraq, the airline doesn't fly, nor does he. So Captain Hatem has started a small business trying to make do as best he can, and dreams of being able to get back into the sky.

    In Gaza, Miral is an illegal resident in her own country. Without papers she can't travel between the West Bank and Gaza strip. Her only way out of Gaza is by working as an airline stewardess on short flights around the Middle East.

    Like so many Syrian young people, Ammar believes that he has no future in his country. We follow him through his final weeks in Damascus as he says goodbye to friends and family to take a job in Dubai working for Gulf Air.

    Review
  • "[ARAB DIARIES] presents a rare critical insight into contemporary life in the Arab world. The quality of sound and cinematography of this series is superb. The films contain a rich source of information on a culture that is often guarded from the west. It dares to bring up strong issues without imposing judgment on the values discussed. The series is a good example of how much more we have to learn about the Middle East ¡V the films managed to raise an eyebrow once or twice, even though I spent almost 20 years in that region. Highly recommended to all kinds of libraries, especially academic libraries with undergraduate studies related to culture, anthropology, or Middle Eastern studies, as well as libraries with internship programs in the Middle East." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: NW03100748
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 225.00

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    ARAB DIARIES: YOUTH

    By Ali Bilail (Egypt), Samia Chala (Algeria) and Muriel Aboulrouss (Lebanon)

    Nancy is not supposed to move out of her mother's home until she is married. She desperately desires independence, but is confronted with barriers inherent in traditional Lebanese society. The story develops as her older sisters join their mother in a quarrel with Nancy, where they tell her she must accept tradition and respect the wishes of her mother. But Nancy is not convinced...

    Sara is a 16 year-old soccer athlete playing a game traditionally reserved for men. In the culminating scene we learn that despite her injured leg she wins the Women's Egypt Cup for her team by scoring the winning goal.

    Shahra and Linda perform in an Algerian Female Rap group called The Messengers. Famous for improvising lyrics that contain social and political critiques, The Messengers' politicized singing has become a unique expression of dissent, in the face of a conservative society and Islamic violence. It is especially poignant as it comes from two young female artists.

    Review
  • "[ARAB DIARIES] presents a rare critical insight into contemporary life in the Arab world. The quality of sound and cinematography of this series is superb. The films contain a rich source of information on a culture that is often guarded from the west. It dares to bring up strong issues without imposing judgment on the values discussed. The series is a good example of how much more we have to learn about the Middle East ¡V the films managed to raise an eyebrow once or twice, even though I spent almost 20 years in that region. Highly recommended to all kinds of libraries, especially academic libraries with undergraduate studies related to culture, anthropology, or Middle Eastern studies, as well as libraries with internship programs in the Middle East." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: WN03400765
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 225.00

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    BETHLEHEM DIARY

    By Antonia Caccia

    It's Christmas in Bethlehem. In the final year of the 20th Century, the town was expecting 5 million visitors to celebrate the end of the millennium, but the streets are deserted, the hotels are shut, and shops are empty. The Israeli army has closed off Bethlehem since the 2nd Intifada began the previous September. Areas of the town have been heavily shelled and ruins are everywhere.

    BETHLEHEM DIARY focuses on two Palestinian families and an Israeli human rights lawyer during this tumultuous period. We witness their lives amidst extraordinary events - moments of despair, confusion and anger - and the ubiquitous presence of the Israeli army. The intimate, surreal, and humorous stories they tell help us to understand how violence and uncertainty affect both their public and private family lives.

    Marwan is an academic who is trying to run a peace education program for Palestinians and Israelis, but most days he can't get to work. War gets in the way. Rifat directs the YMCA in East Jerusalem, a twenty-minute drive from home. But between him and his office is the Middle East's most powerful army.

    Both men's families have difficulties as well; getting the kids to school, shopping, or visiting the doctor are trying experiences. The army has bulldozed many roads around and in the town of Bethlehem. Movement means trouble, a struggle over rubble.

    And then there is Tamar, an Israeli, Tel Aviv based attorney. She has plenty of work, because she is a human rights specialist with many Palestinian clients.

    As the local tourist economy collapses around them, we see former shopkeepers sitting, playing cards and backgammon. Their businesses are ruined; ordinary life is on hold.

    Six months later, July 2001. Bethlehem is buckling under the pressure. As high-rise Israeli settlements go up a few hundred yards away, the heightening tension and violence are forcing these families to consider the painful decision of leaving their homes.

    Today, as Israeli troops roll over the West Bank, the quality of life in Bethlehem continues to deteriorate, such that life itself is constantly threatened. This is Caccia's fourth and most personal film about the region. Going beyond the newscasts, sound bites and government press releases, BETHLEHEM DIARY brings Palestine into focus, personalizing experiences that are being repeated throughout the region at this very moment.

    Reviews
  • "Impassioned filmmaking and measured analysis... a revealing account of what life is like for two middle-class Palestinian families living under the Israeli military. What makes this film powerful is its intimate view of ordinary people trying to cope with the most trying of circumstances." - The Big Issue (London)

  • "A very earthy production showing real people and real events, this film stands in contrast to what one is accustomed to seeing... Very thought provoking... [and] very timely." - Catholic Library World

    Item no.: NC03100052
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 60 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 390.00

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    CHILD'S CENTURY OF WAR, A

    By Shelley Saywell
    Narrated by Christopher Plummer

    A CHILD'S CENTURY OF WAR takes the viewer on a journey through the past century, the bloodiest in history, from the perspective of children. It is an examination of the way in which modern wars have increasingly threatened and targeted children.

    We hear their stories in their voices. Establishing parallels between past and present conflicts, the film intercuts the accounts of children currently in danger, with diaries and voices of children in the past. By looking at the way today's wars indoctrinate children, it is also an eye to the future.

    Three contemporary conflicts are the heart of the film. Orphans of the two recent Chechen wars, children growing up on Martyr Street in Hebron (the most dangerous street in the West Bank), and the abducted, raped and amputated children of Sierra Leone. As we listen to the children, their unflinching stories throw a disturbing light on the human condition at the beginning of our new century.

    Reviews
  • "Highly Recommended. This is a strong and powerful film." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "You must not miss this documentary, as tough as it is to watch... A genius work of staggering heartbreak." - Antonia Zerbisias, The Toronto Star

    Item no.: CD03210095
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 90 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 248.00

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    CITIZEN BISHARA

    By Simone Bitton

    One in every five Israelis is a Palestinian. Israeli Arab: is there a more "impossible" notion of citizenship? CITIZEN BISHARA, which began shooting in the final weeks of Binyamin Netanyahu's "reign" and wrapped with Ariel Sharon's electoral victory, introduces us to the most emblematic of Israel's Palestinian citizens, the MP Azmi Bishara.

    A sociologist by training, the brilliant and provocative Bishara fights for the equality of Israel's Palestinian citizens and their recognition as a national minority. The film follows him in his parliamentary work, his election campaign and records his thoughts on citizenship, national minorities and democracy.

    In 1999, Bishara was the first Palestinian citizen to make a bid for the post of Israeli prime minister. At the 2001 elections, he was the main force in the call for boycott that was followed by 85% of Israel's Arab voters.

    Bishara's erudition, energy and his predilection for provocation make him an outstanding guide through the turbulent wings of Israeli political life, and a lucid, caustic observer of events in the Middle East.

    Review
  • "Highly Recommended! This outstanding documentary outlines the career, viewpoints and obstacles in the life of Azmi Bishara, a Palestinian Member of Parliament in the Jewish state of Israel. An excellent film which offers a dynamic point of view on a host of political and ethical issues." - Educational Media Reviews Online

    Item no.: WN03400105
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 390.00

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    LIVING WITH THE PAST: HISTORIC CAIRO

    Directed by Maysoon Pachachi

    Cairo is one of the few medieval cities in the world that remains relatively intact. LIVING WITH THE PAST is a filmic portrait of Darb al-Ahmar, a neighborhood in the heart of the old city now facing a process of radical change.

    Produced by Elizabeth Fernea (producer of the Women in the Middle East Series) this film documents a unique approach to historic preservation, one that combines social and economic development with monument restoration.

    LIVING WITH THE PAST follows several restoration projects in progress in Darb al-Ahmar, including: the Great Gate of Bab Zuwayla (1092 A.D.), the Mosque of Emir Qijmas al-Ishaqi (1481 A.D.), the Church of the Virgin (600 A.D.), the Walls of Saladin (11th & 12th centuries A.D.). These projects have been incorporated into a mammoth social, cultural and economic neighborhood improvement scheme.

    Across the globe monument preservation often means that people are displaced, and surrounding neighborhoods are demolished. Not so in Cairo, where efforts are underway to not only rescue endangered monuments but to improve the standard of living of the affected communities, in this case the people of Darb al-Ahmar.

    Reviews
  • "RECOMMENDED... Interviews with architects, construction workers, development officials, and shopkeepers illustrate how the vitality of the neighborhood is being preserved." - Library Journal

  • "LIVING WITH THE PAST documents ongoing restoration efforts in [Cairo's historic district of] Darb al-Ahmar ... and does an excellent job of conveying the neighborhood's spirit and the dedication of those involved in the restoration." - Archaeology Magazine

    Item no.: JJ03100394
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 56 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 390.00

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    SOUHA: SURVIVING HELL

    By Randa Chahal Sabbag

    In 1989, at the age of twenty-one, the young Lebanese woman Souha Bechara attempted to assassinate General Antoine Lahad, who was collaborating with the Israeli Army in the South of Lebanon.

    Lahad survived, but Souha, a devoted communist, was quickly arrested and thrown in the Khiam prison where she spent the next ten years, six in solitary confinement. Totally isolated in a tiny cell and tortured repeatedly, Souha's refusal to collaborate with her jailers made her a legend. She was freed in 1998 after an international campaign.

    After her release, Souha arrived at the Paris home of filmmaker Randa Sabbag. From that day on, Sabbag filmed Souha, who began to pour out all of the words that had been forbidden during her captivity. It seemed as if this liberation of her speech would externalize her suffering.

    When Souha returned to Lebanon for the first time (after the May 2000 Israeli withdrawal and collapse of General Lahad's militia) Sabbag accompanied her. SOUHA follows her emotional homecoming in the village of Deir Mimas, her return to the spot of the attempted assassination, her visit to Khiam prison, and her meetings with fellow former prisoners, men and women, secularists and Islamists alike.

    Despite all her suffering, Souha is a survivor who shares her story with a sense of hope for the future - both her own and that of Lebanon.

    Reviews
  • "Moving... The undoubted star of this year's Human Rights Watch Film Festival is Souha Bechara... This is a Lebanon no journalist has shown us." - The Guardian (UK)
  • "The film succeeds in shattering images of female confinement to private, domestic roles and political passiveness. Like their Algerian and Palestinian counterparts, Lebanese women were active in the national struggles and political resistance to Israeli occupation. (T)here is an unmistakable triumph in Souha's story, an inner strength well-documented." - Al Jadid, A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts
  • "The film is a testament of female power in extenuating circumstances... [Souha's] drive to correct injustice at whatever cost." - Middle East Studies Association Bulletin

    Item no.: WA03100625
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 57 minutes
    Copyright: 2001
    Price: USD 390.00

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    FEMALE CABBY IN SIDI BEL-ABBES, A

    Directed by Belkacem Hadjadj

    When her husband died Soumicha, mother of three, had to earn a living. She became the only woman taxi driver in Sidi Bel-Abbes, Algeria. This film accompanies Soumicha around a city where religious and political violence rages, and records her experiences in a job normally reserved for men.

    Soumicha's interactions with her fares introduce us to contradictory aspects of Algerian society: men who frown on working women are happy to have a cabby with whom they can trust their wives and daughters; other men are supportive, and critical of Algeria's treatment of women, despite the constant threat of the violent Islamic movement.

    In the course of her travels Soumicha meets many women, who offer her encouragement (tempered with warnings to be careful), and wave hello when she drives by. Some of the women she meets are actively struggling for more liberties in the face of the militant Islamic movement.

    As A FEMALE CABBY IN SIDI BEL-ABBES comes to a close a rumor that Soumicha has been murdered by extremists spreads through her city. Men who were critical of her are now openly worried and gather for the latest news, until someone spots her yellow Renault 4. The rumor was a warning for Soumicha, and all Algerian women. But she will be out the next morning, still looking for fares, and showing that Algerian women continue to stand up for themselves in the face of violence.

    Reviews
  • "A valuable glimpse into a class of people and some very courageous individuals - seldom seen in public. As Soumicha drives her passengers around, we witness the support of women and the ambivalence of men about her very public work.... The picture for working women darkens, however, when we travel to nearby towns with Soumicha and some of her friends. These visits help to establish the context within which Soumicha is working, making her actions all the more courageous." - Al Jadid, A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "Through [Soumicha's] experiences... [the audience] discovers the living conditions of women in a country where Islamic law wreaks havoc on them." - L'Officiel (France)

  • "Between tears and songs, 52 minutes of emotional force." - Le Ligueur (France)

    Awards
  • Special Jury Prize, 2000 Biennale des Cinemas Arabes (Paris)
  • Best Documentary, 2001 Zanzibar International Film Festival

    Item no.: AA03400207
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2000
    Price: USD 390.00

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    PERFUMED GARDEN, THE

    By Yamina Benguigui

    THE PERFUMED GARDEN is an exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos and of erotic literature. Through interviews with men and women of all ages, classes, and sexual orientation, the film lifts a corner of the veil that usually shrouds discussion of this subject in the Arab world.

    Made by an Algerian-French woman director, the film begins by looking at the record of a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. It examines the personal issues raised by the desire for pleasure, amidst societal pressures for chastity and virginity.

    The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, private vs. public spaces, social taboos (and the desire to break them), and issues of language.

    THE PERFUMED GARDEN also demonstrates how the rich legacy of fantasy in "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights" permeates contemporary Arab culture, and shows that this world of pleasure and proscription survives as a form of survival and resistance to this day.

    Review
  • "Looks unblinkingly at the political issues of racism and xenophobia that Muslim immigrants experience as well as at the tensions between religious practices and customs and the contemporary expressions of sexuality and female and male relationships [and] provides the viewer with first hand accounts of the repression and injustice that Muslim women live with. This film would be useful with high school, college, and general audiences to facilitate discussion about women's issues, cross- cultural and religious attitudes toward women and sexual relationships." - Gale H. Golden, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, for the Archives of Sexual Behavior

    Awards
  • Best Documentary, 2001 Turin Women's Film Festival (Italy)
  • Best Documentary, 2001 Vues d'Afrique Film Festival (Montreal)

    Item no.: WA03210512
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2000
    Price: USD 390.00

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    SOS IN TEHRAN

    By Sou Abadi

    What is on the minds of contemporary Iranians? To answer this question Sou Abadi spent five months in Tehran, documenting what happens in the city's social service and psychological institutions, which have never been filmed by Iranian filmmakers. We visit:

  • The Voice of Assistance is a psychology telephone hotline,

  • The Committee of the Imam, a charity created by the Ayatollah Khomeini for the poor,

  • The mandatory pre-marital sex education courses of the Health Ministry,

  • The group psychotherapy sessions of Dr. Majd, psychoanalyst of Tehran's elite,

  • and The Marriage Foundation, an ultra-Islamic matrimonial agency.

    By taking the camera into places where people come to confide, SOS IN TEHRAN shows us the unseen life in of the rich and poor, the educated and the illiterate, the religious and the atheistic, the married and the adolescent.

    Review
  • "A compassionate observation of Iranians' private pain. Remarkable." - Al Jadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

    Awards
  • 2001 Prize of the Jan Vrijman Foundation (Amsterdam)
  • 2001 SCAM Prize, "Brouillon d'un reve," French Documentary Directors Guild
  • Best Documentary, 2001 Brussels International Independent Film Festival

    Item no.: ZH03210623
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 2000
    Price: USD 390.00

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    WOMEN OF HEZBOLLAH, THE

    By Maher Abi-Samra

    Filmmaker Maher Abi-Samra returns to the neighborhood of his youth, Ramel el Ali, in Beirut's southern suburb. Settled in the 1950's by the mostly Shiite community from the villages of southern Lebanon and the Beka Valley, this community grew on the rubble of the civil war. By the early 1980's it had become one of the strongholds of the Islamic Party of God, the Hezbollah.

    WOMEN OF HEZBOLLAH is a portrait of two women, Zeinab and Khadjie, activists in the Hezbollah, and an examination of the personal, social and political factors of their commitment.

    Reviews
  • "A stimulating and complex picture of Islamism, gender relations, feminism, and nationalism. The film helps reconceptualize the framework of female Islamic militancy in the Middle East." - Al Jadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "A revelation... an understanding document [that goes] beyond appearances. Discover[s] hidden reasons for the Islamic fundamentalism in the Shiite community of Lebanon." - Le Monde

  • "[Provides] a historical perspective from which the viewer can distill a clearer picture of the nature of the Islamic Party of God, the Hezbollah... thus putting a face of human emotion to a topic often foreign to Western, non-Muslim audiences. A very well balanced look at the various factors of their commitment and an excellent historical primer on the social and political conditions contributing to this culture. Highly recommended for Academic areas revolving around Political Science, Middle-Eastern Studies and History, Women's Studies, and certainly for non-academic areas as it is culturally enlightening." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "THE WOMEN OF HEZBOLLAH...ventures into a rarely seen world... The attitude of the film neither endorses nor condemns Hezbollah itself, but it does look on in wonderment that mothers would accept, and even encourage, their sons' martyrdom in suicide attacks." - The Memphis Flyer

    Item no.: PV03400744
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 49 minutes
    Copyright: 2000
    Price: USD 375.00

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    ZINAT, ONE SPECIAL DAY

    By Ebrahim Mokhtari

    To work as a nurse, Zinat became the first woman from the Island of Qeshm in the south of Iran to remove the traditional veil (Boregheh). A health care worker for 13 years, she eventually got involved in social and political activities. Now Zinat, along with her husband Ahmad, is running for office in the first local elections held in Iran since the revolution.

    Because it is forbidden to film in public the day of the elections, filmmaker Ebrahim Mokhtari shoots inside Zinat's house. Amidst election day rumors and intrigue, Zinat engages in friendly banter with Ahmad over which of them will get the most votes. She trades spirited jibes with a man who tells her, "a woman should be like a domesticated animal," and her visitors debate the place of women in Iranian society.

    The following day, with the elections over, Mokhtari shows the village and the daily life of its inhabitants, while Zinat presents her intentions, as a newly elected representative, to improve the living conditions of her fellow villagers.

    Review
  • "The film celebrates the empowerment of women, not abstractly, but in direct life situations, without sentimentality or manipulation of scenes or dialogue... The film captures Zinat at home with her family, children, and relatives as she runs for election in the village council. Her great social service to the village seems to undermine patriarchal resistance to her. Zinat's unique qualities, alongside her wit and charm, are no small influence in paving the way for new roles for rural [Iranian] women." - Al Jadid - A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

    Item no.: LJ03400768
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 54 minutes
    Copyright: 2000
    Price: USD 390.00

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    BOMBING, THE

    By Simone Bitton

    On September 4, 1997, three Palestinian youths blew themselves up on Ben Yehuda street in crowded central Jerusalem. Among the victims were three 14 year - old Israeli girls - Sivann Zarka, Yael Botwin and Smadar Elhanan. The suicide bombers, Tawfiq Yassine, Bashar Sawalha and Youssef Shouli, were young Palestinians from the same Israeli-occupied West Bank village - ranging in age from 22 to 25 years old.

    THE BOMBING documents the search for answers in the aftermath of this tragedy. Through interviews with the families of both the victims' and the bombers', the film attempts to offer insight into the psychology and ideology that perpetuates such violence in the Middle East.

    For the family of Smadar Elhanan, whose grandfather, General Mati Peled was the pioneer of Israeli/Palestinian dialogue, the death marks another senseless tragedy in the ongoing conflict. Smadar's mother, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, no longer lives in Israel. She, like some (but not all) of the other parents, places the blame for her daughter's death on the Israeli Government and it's oppression of the Palestinian people.

    Smadar is buried next to her grandfather in Jerusalem. Her funeral was attended by leaders of the Labor Party, including then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres, as well as delegates from the Palestinian Authority.

    In Assira al-Shamaliya, the home of the Palestinian youths, we hear from the families of the attackers. In tearful, arduous interviews, they say that they knew nothing of their sons' plans, and condemn their actions as sacrilegious. Walking through the town, they describe the tactics employed by the Israeli Army in the aftermath of the bombing. Amineh, Youssef Shouli's father tells how Israeli soldiers demolished his family home. Yasser, Bashar Sawalha's brother recounts his arrest and 12 days and nights of torture in an Israeli jail. Both are common forms of collective punishment carried out against the family of a suicide bomber.

    Emotionally gripping, THE BOMBING is a meditative and composed documentary on the phenomenon of suicide bombings, the psychology of extremism, and the larger issue of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Its ending sequence, including an encounter between an Israeli and Palestinian family, is a poignant reminder of the need for dialogue between the two sides, even in the face of the most horrendous violence.

    Reviews
  • "Highly Recommended! Exposes viewers to the psychological trauma of everyday existence in Israel and provides intimate portraits of this country's inhabitants who live under constant fear and disillusionment. ...skillful interviews with Palestinian and Israeli parents and siblings of the bombers and victims transcend the stories of personal tragedy and loss to reveal the broken psyche of a country torn apart by years of war and irreconcilable differences." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "Would succeed simply as a description of the events leading up to the bombing and the bombing itself, but exceeds expectations by addressing sensitively the aftermath of such actions... Bitton lets the participants (or more accurately, their families) tell their stories with a minimum of narrative intervention. As a result, THE BOMBING presents a very human perspective on an event many would characterize as inhuman." - Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution

  • "Deconstructs the bombing through interviews, eye-witness accounts and even a Palestinian psychiatrist's analysis of the young bomber's motivations.... [It] succeeds in establishing a different, universal context within which to understand the current Intifida." - Al Jadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

    Item no.: EK03100067
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 59 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 390.00

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    MOKARRAMEH, MEMORIES AND DREAMS

    By Ebrahim Mokhtari

    Mokarrameh, a widow in a rural Iran, once owned a beloved cow. She had to seek grass on a long and tiring walk to feed the animal. One day her children sold the beast without telling her. Overcome by sorrow, she began to paint.

    Mokarrameh made her first painting (a portrait of the cow) with mud and cow dung on a rock as a means to find consolation for its death. She painted on the walls of her house, on pumpkins, on whatever surfaces she could find until one of her sons, on his monthly visit from Tehran, brought her paper and paint. From that day Mokarrameh has painted tirelessly. Now her home overflows with her colorful work, in which local life, legends and memories are vividly depicted.

    All of Mokarrameh's paintings tell a story. Some tell the story of her life, the stories of other wives of her husband, or of other women in the village. Interwoven are bittersweet tales; bickering between wives about their husband-in-common, and Mokarrameh's confrontation with her uncle about why she was sold into marriage at such a young age.

    Mokarrameh's paintings represent a mingling of reality and her imagination, providing rare insight into the lives of women in Iran.

    Review
  • "Offers dynamic and credible images of unique Iranian women in rural contexts. Defiance, humiliation, and pain are interwoven with a celebration of the simple pleasures in life and nature. The process which transformed Mokarrameh into a fully-fledged artist has awakened acute human and feminist sensitivities about herself and her own worth. Mokarrameh's conversations bring out the complex and contradictory character of women... and their accommodation of and resistance to patriarchal control." - Al Jadid, A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

    Award
  • First Prize, 2000 Festival Traces de Vies (France)
  • Grand Prize, 2000 Festival of Zanzibar
  • Golden Gate Award, 2000 San Francisco International Film Festival

    Item no.: HB03210437
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 48 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 375.00

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    NAGUIB MAHFOUZ: THE PASSAGE OF THE CENTURY

    By Francka Mouloudi

    In 1988, Naguib Mahfouz, "who, through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind," was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was the first and is still the only Arab Nobel Laureate for Literature.

    At the end of the 20th Century Mahfouz granted Francka Mouloudi rare access to make this revealing documentary with and about him. At the age of 88, half-blind, hard of hearing, and crippled by a recent assassination attempt, Mahfouz is remarkably lively, witty and lucid.

    Author of the acclaimed "Cairo Trilogy," "The Harafish," "Arabian Nights and Days" and many other novels and collections of short stories, Naguib Mahfouz weaves the threads of his life together with his view of society, his childhood, his discovery of literature (Egyptian and Western), the city of Cairo (which he left only three times in his life), Islamic fundamentalism, the evolution of Egypt, the role of women, and the future of civilization.

    Reviews
  • "[Mahfouz] is not only a Hugo and a Dickens, but also a Galsworthy, a Mann, a Zola and a Jules Romains." - Edward Said, London Review of Books
  • "More than just a portrait, [the film] intelligently crystallizes the doubts and developments of the Egyptian society today." - Telerama
  • "A very beautiful portrait of Naguib Mahfouz." - Le Figaro

    Item no.: CH03400447
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 49 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 375.00

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    NAJI AL-ALI: AN ARTIST WITH VISION

    Directed by Kasim Abid

    "During the 30 years since I started drawing, I feel I have been through every Arab prison and I ask myself: What is there to come after all this? I was prepared to die defending just one drawing, because every drawing is like a drop of water which makes its way through the minds of people." - Naji Al Ali

    Throughout history artists have faced the threat of violence when their work offended the state or the political elite. The late Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al-Ali produced thousands of cartoons satirizing the powers that be in the Middle East, and paid the ultimate price for his 'offensive' expression. On July 22, 1987 he was shot in the face, at point blank range, as he left the London offices of the Al Qabbas newspaper. He died after laying in a coma for 5 weeks.

    Emerging from humble beginnings in the refugee camps, for over 30 years he was an uncompromising critic of a regressive Arab political culture and of Western intervention in Arab affairs. Interviews with leading Arab journalists and poets, former jail mates, his wife and others give us insight to his unrelenting commitment to his people, and into his subtly satirical cartoons that stirred the hearts of millions of refugees. NAJI AL-ALI, AN ARTIST WITH VISION examines the forces that shaped Naji as an artist, as a human being, and shows how his experiences mirror those of other exiled Palestinians.

    Known as the Palestinian Malcolm X, Naji is still the most popular artist in the Arab world, loved for his defense of the ordinary people, and for his criticism of repression and despotism. Paradoxically, strict censorship and widespread illiteracy in the Arab world helped Naji to achieve his remarkable success. His unrelenting cartoons exposed the brutality of the Israeli army and the hypocrisy of the PLO, earning him many powerful enemies. The turning point in Naji's story was the publication of his cartoon satirizing Egyptian journalist Rashida Muhran, Yasser Arafat's official biographer. Arafat was furious and Naji was forced to leave for London.

    Despite some arrests by Scotland Yard and an investigation by MI5, the assassin's identity has never been revealed. Who murdered Naji, the Mossad or the PLO?

    Reviews
  • "Highly Recommended! Especially appropriate for college and university libraries that support programs in politics, Middle Eastern studies and the arts. Commemorates the life of a man who lived according to his ideals and never forgot his people, even when he was among the highest paid journalists in the Arab world. Naji lives on through his cartoons, and the video makes it possible to share this controversial artwork with a new audience, despite persistent attempts at censure." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "This valuable film... goes a long way toward preserving the memory of Naji al-Ali, allowing future generations to draw inspiration from this remarkable individual. Does an outstanding job of introducing not only the personality of al-Ali, but also the most important events shaping his work... Includes an excellent cross-section of the thousands of political drawings Al-Ali published in his lifetime." - Al Jadid: A Review & Record of Arab Culture and Arts

  • "NAJI AL-ALI, AN ARTIST WITH VISION offers a valuable and vital primer into an extraordinary life, lived in extraordinary times in an unfortunate land. Al-Ali's cartoons illuminate the [film] ...and offer a wonderful visual documentation of the pain of Palestine. The history of the Palestinian struggle can never be recorded without some reference to the trenchant cartoons of Naji al-Ali." - Politics and Culture

    Awards
  • Audience Award for Best Documentary, 1999 Arab Screen Independent Film Festival (London)
  • Journalist's Choice Award, 2000 Basic Trust International Human Rights Film Festival (Ramallah & Tel Aviv)

    Item no.: WK03100448
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 1999
    Price: USD 390.00

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    CRIMES OF HONOUR

    Directed by Shelley Saywell

    Across the Islamic world, hundreds of women are shot, stabbed, strangled or burned to death each year by their male relatives, because they are thought to have dishonored their families by engaging in unacceptable relationships. Filmed in Jordan and on the West Bank, CRIMES OF HONOUR documents the terrible reality of femicide - the killing of sisters or daughters suspected of losing their virginity, for having refused an arranged marriage or having left a husband. Even if a woman is raped, abused, or is the victim of gossip, she may pay the terrible price.

    Rania Arafat fled from her home after falling in love with a man her family did not approve of. Afraid of violence, she lived in hiding. Eventually, after promises of forgiveness and a new beginning, believing in the words of her mother and father, Rania agreed to return - though only after meeting at a police station, where one of her brothers signed a document promising not to harm her. But instead of a joyous reunion, Rania was murdered, shot in the head by another brother while on the way home. She was still a virgin.

    CRIMES OF HONOUR tells the stories of women like Rania, hiding from their families, fearing for their lives, as well as the men who commit femicide. One such man, interviewed in prison, discusses his reasons for murdering his sister.

    Femicide, although having no basis in Islamic teachings, is on the rise in some countries. CRIMES OF HONOUR delves into class and religious issues that infuse the debate, as well as the possible origins of femicide.

    But some women are fighting for change. CRIMES OF HONOUR profiles three women committed to human rights, who attempt to provide protection and assistance to those in danger. Rana Husseini, an award winning reporter for the Jordan Times, investigates the crimes, documents and reports on the stories of terrified young women. Jordanian Human Rights Lawyer Asma Khader fights in the courts to protect threatened women, and for longer prison sentences for those guilty of femicide (Judges often hand down sentences as short as a year). And, Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kervorkian founded the Women's Work Center for Legal Aid and Counseling in the West Bank. Here she provides aid and counseling to frightened women with no place to turn.

    This wrenching new film captures the horrific tragedy of this practice, personal reactions to it, and examines the wider societal response. From the courthouses to the jails to the hiding places of terrified young women, the film puts before the viewer the horrific facts, and the accounts of three women fighting to end CRIMES OF HONOUR.

    Reviews
  • "Serious and memorable... A well researched documentary. The stories recorded are chilling." - Feminist Collections Quarterly

  • "Shelley Saywell takes her piercing vision to Jordan and Israel's West Bank for a harrowing perspective on how many women have no rights and no protection." - Toronto Star

  • "A powerful exploration of crimes in the name of Islamic family honor that reveals the destructive cultural undertow of a segment of the lower socio-economic classes in Jordan and the West Bank.... This stirring cultural snapshot on the eve of change is highly recommended as it will promote discussion in a variety of areas associated with Women's Studies and Cultural Studies, as well as Anthropology and Sociology." - Educational Media Reviews Online
  • "A scorcher... a heartscalding expose of blithe murder." - Critical List

    Item no.: TJ03400126
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 44 minutes
    Copyright: 1998
    Price: USD 375.00

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    STORIES OF HONOR AND SHAME

    By Antonia Caccia

    The Gaza Strip endured 27 years of Israeli occupation and a prolonged Palestinian uprising. It is now partially administered by the Palestinian National Authority. This film takes us behind the scenes and reveals for the first time the hidden lives of the Palestinian women who live there.

    Through a series of remarkable personal accounts, fifteen women reveal their roles in a patriarchal Islamic society where men dictate most aspects of life. The film shows the resilience and courage of women who, despite very difficult circumstances, all speak with enormous dignity and grace. Together they give an in depth picture of the complexity and pathos of women's lives in this very restrictive traditional society.

    Review
  • "A beautifully crafted work. It's wonderfully shot, and edited to a rhythm that perfectly matches the subject matter. The faces of those extraordinary women still haunt me; their dignity and bravery preserved forever, their voices and incredible stories keep surfacing to my consciousness." - Mike Hodges (Croupier)

    Item no.: HL03210641
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 1996
    Price: USD 390.00

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    ON THE EDGE OF PEACE

    Directed by Ilan Ziv

    On the Edge of Peace has the distinction of being the first Israeli-Palestinian co-production ever.

    This groundbreaking documentary chronicles the first year of the implementation of the Israeli-Palestinian accords as experienced by both Palestinians and Israelis from all walks of life. Three Palestinians and three Israelis were given video cameras to document their lives and the lives of their communities over a six month period during this turbulent and dramatic time.

    The result is an emotional, personal portrait of this moment of historic change: The signing of the peace accords in Washington, the delay of the withdrawal from Gaza, the Hebron massacre, and finally Arafat's arrival in Gaza.

    The diarists stories are juxtaposed with news footage, offering a multiplicity of viewpoints of these momentous events.

    Reviews
  • "This myriad of gripping portraits reveals the everyday lofe of Palestinians and Israelis, recording their dreams, frustrations, and fears" - Abdeen Jabara, Cineaste

  • "Each of these stories is absorbing in its own right. The most celebrated filmmaker in the world could learn something from the fresh and varied perspectives brought to light by this group of unknown beginners." - Adina Hoffman,The Jerusalem Post

    Item no.: ZD03400471
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 103 minutes
    Copyright: 1995
    Price: USD 274.00

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    ROAD TO PEACE, THE: ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS

    By Elizabeth Fernea and Yaron Shemer

    Filmed after the Cairo Peace Accord and the implementation of the first stage of Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and Jericho, THE ROAD TO PEACE explores the implications of this historic crossroads in Israeli-Palestinian relations - a process now in great jeopardy.

    While most media concentrate on the peaks and crises in the negotiation process, THE ROAD TO PEACE demonstrates how peace plays at the ground level: how it is perceived and lived not by politicians or statesmen, but by ordinary people - workers, farmers, doctors, industrialists, artists, teachers, and children.

    Constructed in three parts, the film's first section establishes the context and the framework of the peace accord. Although widely supported initially, Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip make radically opposed objections to the plan. The film then looks at education and the economy, areas most likely to benefit from the peace accords. Both employers and workers, Palestinian and Israeli, feel that freer movement among each other would be beneficial. The final section profiles groups which exemplify the potential for Israeli-Palestinian cooperation, including Physicians for Human Rights, an association which provides medical services in rural Palestinian villages where no clinics exist.

    THE ROAD TO PEACE concludes at a meeting between two young girls, one an Israeli, the other Palestinian. Separate film crews follow each girl in the hours before they meet in Nablus, revealing their expectations, fears and hopes, as they prepare for their own historic encounter.

    Reviews
  • "An excellent educational instrument made even more relevant byrecent events in the Middle East. Fernea's film reveals the situation on the ground, and the tremendous stake that Israelis and Palestinians havein bringing peace to the region." - Professor Clement Henry, Departmentof Political Science, University of Texas

  • "An even handed exploration of the difficulties and concerns bothIsraelis and Palestinians have as they work to further their march towardpeace. The film provides excellent data on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,the Middle East today, and on conflict resolution generally." - ProfessorDonna Lee Bowen, Department of Political Science, Brigham Young University

  • "A very important presentation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.An invaluable documentary that can be used in courses on the Arab-Israeliconflict, or in any other class on the contemporary Middle East." -Dr. Benjamin Hary, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Arabic, Emory University

    Item no.: KL03210563
    Format: DVD (Color, With Study Guide)
    Duration: 58 minutes
    Copyright: 1995
    Price: USD 390.00

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    DROWNING BY BULLETS

    Directed by Philip Brooks and Alan Hayling

    On the evening of October 17, 1961 about 30,000 Algerians, ostensibly French citizens, descended upon the boulevards of central Paris to protest an 8:30 curfew, imposed by the French authorities in response to repeated terrorist attacks by Algerian nationalists in Paris and other French cities.

    At that time France, led President Charles de Gaulle, was in trouble. The war in Algeria, marked by bloody atrocities committed by all sides, had been grinding on for nearly seven years. The country was constantly disrupted by strikes and protests by farmers and workers, as well as by terrorist acts by the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN - representing the Algerian nationalist independence movement), and the Organisation Armee Secrete (OAS - a group of disaffected soldiers, politicians and others committed to keeping Algeria French).

    Terrorism had claimed the lives of dozens of policemen, provoking what Interior Minister Roger Frey called the "just anger" of the police. Thus, on October 17, Algerian demonstrators were met by a massive police force. Demonstrators were beaten, shot, even drowned in the Seine. Thousands were rounded up and taken to detention centers around the city, where there were more beatings and killings. Although no one seems to know for sure how many Algerians died that day, their number is estimated around 200.

    DROWNING BY BULLETS exposes the massacre and the cover-up of what was undoubtedly one of the darkest nights in the history of France. Policemen, demonstrators, former officials, and journalists who witnessed the events speak on camera for the first time. These harrowing personal accounts are juxtaposed with clips from the French press, which supported the official lie that only a few people had died in the demonstration. Footage taken from state-owned French television shows how images of police brutality were replaced by those of Algerians being shipped out of France after the demonstration.

    DROWNING BY BULLETS reveals a story that quickly died, suppressed by the French government and a complicit press, and then drowned by the events that later shocked Europe.

    Reviews
  • "Extraordinary... This moving film provoked animated discussion among the audience and was the highlight of our [French Colonial History Society] meeting. The film illuminated for us an event, a time, and a mentality about which we had heretofore known too little. In light of both the historical memory it creates and what is going on right now in the United States, we hope the film will have the broad distribution that it so richly deserves." - Robert S. DuPlessis, President of the French Colonial History Society

  • "Extremely powerful... Compelling... could not be more timely. This important documentary [is an] exposition of many horrific events associated with the Algerian War that had been excised from the official memory [and] the suppression of memory and thus of accountability, drowned out by decades by the French state, a complicit press, and a more or less indifferent public. The fundamental question that the film raises is how could this happen in the middle of a huge city, in a democratic nation? The questions it raises represent serious dilemmas for America today. I intend to show this film to all of my classes." - Professor Julia Clancy-Smith, University of Arizona, for the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin

  • "A chilling documentary, especially in view of the growing influence of the extreme Right in modern France." - Daily Mail

    Awards
  • 1993 Amnesty International Award
  • Best Documentary, 1993 San Francisco Film Festival
  • Best Documentary, 1993 Angers Film Festival

    Item no.: MW03400165
    Format: DVD (Color / Black & White)
    Duration: 52 minutes
    Copyright: 1992
    Price: USD 390.00

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    PALESTINE: STORY OF A LAND

    By Simone Bitton

    Using only rare archival and newsreel footage, this film tells the story of Palestine from the nineteenth century through current times.

    In 1948, the foundation of the state of Israel split the land between Israelis and Palestinians, turning the region into a volatile linchpin in global efforts to keep the world at peace.

    PALESTINE: STORY OF A LAND asks whether negotiations can lead to a harmonious coexistence on this troubled land.

    Item no.: JC03400495
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 120 minutes
    Copyright: 1992
    Price: USD 490.00

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    STRUGGLE FOR PEACE, THE: ISRAELIS & PALESTINIANS

    Directed by Steven Talley

    THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE introduces grassroots organizations with very different perspectives on how to bring about a peaceful settlement to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

    As the video introduces such groups as "Women in Black," made up of Palestinians and Israelis who held weekly vigils in twenty locations to protest Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, one of the many Israeli soldiers who risked imprisonment by refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories states that "The purpose of the Israeli Defense Forces is supposed to be to defend our nation, not to oppress others."

    As Israelis and Palestinians warily begin their new coexistence, THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE reveals a land which had long been working for peace.

    Reviews
  • "Informative, accurate, and provocative of discussion. Highly recommended." - Middle East Studies Association Bulletin

  • "A major breakthrough in presenting a humane and reasoned perspective on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict..." - Middle East Report

    Award
  • Honorable Mention, 1993 American Film & Video Festival

    Item no.: AL03100643
    Format: DVD (Color, With Study Guide)
    Duration: 57 minutes
    Copyright: 1991
    Price: USD 390.00

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    FOR THOSE WHO SAIL TO HEAVEN

    By Elizabeth Wickett

    At the climax of the annual Opet festival in ancient Luxor, the barques of ancient Theban gods were pulled from Karnak to Luxor and then sailed back on the "waters of inundation." Today, the descendants of Luxor's patron saint, Sheikh Sidi Abu'l Hajjaj, continue this ancient ritual.

    In FOR THOSE WHO SAIL TO HEAVEN, the families which pull the sheikh's boat describe the many Sufi rites captured in the film, including "zikr," the whirling to flutes and drums to achieve the ecstatic state called "malbus," and "mirmah," equestrian games which rekindle the spirit of battles fought long ago. In their eyes, these rites constitute an ancient legacy which they are bound to preserve.

    Through them, FOR THOSE WHO SAIL TO HEAVEN provides a glimpse of a unique living history.

    Review
  • "Wickett has carefully portrayed the intertwining of ancient and modern so important in Egyptian life but often missing in Western portrayals of Egypt. We have the voices of the local participants as well as the voice of producer Wickett who narrates the film and provides a scholar's analysis. The result is a rich film with many levels of meaning." - Middle East Studies Association Bulletin

    Item no.: ZF03210224
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 48 minutes
    Copyright: 1990
    Price: USD 375.00

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    PEOPLE POWER

    By Ilan Ziv

    PEOPLE POWER is the first comprehensive exploration of the use of active non-violence as a means to achieve social reforms.

    By focusing primarily on the fall of Pinochet in Chile, the Palestinian intifada, and Cory Aquino's "People Power" revolution in the Philippines, the film demonstrates how Filipinos jogged to gain political momentum, or how a small concession by Pinochet - 15 minutes on government television - became the vehicle to rally a nation around a simple slogan: the word "no."

    With insight from Gene Sharp, a leading expert on non-violent struggles, PEOPLE POWER weaves together personal and intellectual odysseys into a dramatic and thought provoking program.

    Reviews
  • "[4 Stars - Highly Recommended] A compassionate and literate look at people trying to escape fear and mobilize for their rights... Ziv reminds viewers that there are no easy answers to complex issues, and that is why his highly personal program is commendable." - James E. Reppert, Video Rating Guide for Libraries

  • "An earnest effort... The use of interviews with the participants in the events is excellent. Recommended for all libraries." - M. Whichard, Choice

  • "Highly recommended." - Landers Film & Video Reviews

  • "Ziv's film is an intriguing mixture of programmatic political essay and filmmaker's diary... hopscotching across the globe analyzing the fortunes of unarmed popular movements." - William Boddy, Film Comment

  • "A noteworthy piece... to show how peacable tactics can topple even the most heavily militarized dictatorships." - The Independent (London)

    Award
  • Maeda Prize Winner, 1989 Japan Prize Competition

    Item no.: PN03210509
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 53 minutes
    Copyright: 1989
    Price: USD 390.00

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    VOICES FROM GAZA

    By Antonia Caccia & Maysoon Pachachi

    VOICES FROM GAZA is the first full length documentary produced after the start of the Palestinian intifada. With minimal commentary, it allows the people of Gaza - 70% of whom are refugees - to tell their seldom heard story.

    In VOICES FROM GAZA, Palestinian men, women, and children speak frankly about the effect of Israel's occupation on their lives: curfews have been imposed, arrests are routine, and Israeli army patrols are ever present. But they also reveal the work of local "popular committees," through which they provide each other with alternative education, health care, and welfare services, even under these most daunting conditions.

    Highlighting the means by which ordinary Palestinians are fighting Israel's occupation, VOICES FROM GAZA makes clear a vital element of the wider Middle East conflict.

    Review
  • "The camera roams beneath a bright Mediterranean sun, revealing 40 years of poverty, deprivation, and oppression... This is a riveting view of one side of the Middle Eastern conflict." - Booklist.

    Award
  • Red Ribbon Winner, 1990 American Film & Video Festival

    Item no.: HP03210713
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 51 minutes
    Copyright: 1989
    Price: USD 390.00

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    BACK TO ARARAT

    By Pea Holmquist

    The first genocide of this century occurred during the first World War, when 1.5 million Armenians were killed, and an entire nation was driven from its land. BACK TO ARARAT is the first film to examine this tragic episode in depth.

    Traveling from the old ruins to new Armenian communities around the world, the film presents a people united in its dream of returning to its homeland. But no one will listen to their arguments. In fact, Turkish representatives in the film argue the genocide never took place.

    BACK TO ARARAT is a powerful reminder of a global injustice which has gone unaddressed.

    Reviews
  • "The film contains much of value for ethnologists and students of Armenian culture... Of interest to special collections in public libraries and useful for undergraduates in Middle East history and folklore." - Choice"**** [Four Stars]... There are no other documentaries available on this subject. Any library that wishes to offer a complete world history cannot ignore this video." - Video Rating Guide for Libraries** Ho"The film contains much of value for ethnologists and students of Armenian culture... Of interest to special collections in public libraries and useful for undergraduates in Middle East history and folklore." - Choice

  • " [Four Stars]... There are no other documentaries available on this subject. Any library that wishes to offer a complete world history cannot ignore this video." - Video Rating Guide for Libraries

    Award
  • Honorable Mention, 1989 American Film & Video Festival

    Item no.: GB03210044
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 100 minutes
    Copyright: 1988
    Price: USD 325.00

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    IRAN: ADRIFT IN A SEA OF BLOOD

    By Ron Hallis

    In the context of the war with Iraq, this documentary looks at the manifestations of Islamic fundamentalism on Iran.

    To many in the west, the Iranian struggle is irrational and tragic, even perverse. This film allows Iranian peasants, clergy, and government officials to explain their uncompromising adherence to Islam. They justify martyrdom and the sacrifice of youth in the name of God and politics as being part of the unavoidable defense of their religion and spiritual dignity.

    IRAN: ADRIFT IN A SEA OF BLOOD presents the Iranian people's vision - one not readily seen in the west - clearly, precisely, and compellingly.

    Review
  • "Highly recommended for student and adult groups desiring a better understanding of modern Iran." - Library Journal

    Item no.: CL03400321
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 27 minutes
    Copyright: 1986
    Price: USD 225.00

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    SHRINE UNDER SIEGE

    By Ilan Ziv

    SHRINE UNDER SIEGE describes the coalition formed by Fundamentalist U.S. Christians and militant Israeli Jews to destroy the Dome of the Rock, Islam's third holiest shrine, and to build a new Jewish temple in its place.

    The documentary explores the theological background to this unusual coalition and places it within the context of the increased political power of fundamentalism in the U.S., and the rise of extremist religious parties in Israel, as demonstrated by the election of Rabbi Meir Kahane to Parliament.

    Item no.: AN03400609
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 42 minutes
    Copyright: 1985
    Price: USD 350.00

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    HUNDRED YEARS' WAR, THE: PERSONAL NOTES

    Directed by Ilan Ziv

    THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR is a sweeping picture of history, changing lives, occupations and displacements on the West Bank, and political division within the Israeli Jewish community.

    PART I begins with the invasion of Lebanon and then turns to the West Bank, where it documents Israeli land and labor policies, and the ongoing displacement of Palestinians.

    PART II analyzes the impact of Israel's actions in the West Bank on the development of Israeli society, with emphasis on the Gush Emunim and the rise of annexationalist forces.

    Review
  • "A thought-provoking and informative consideration of a complex maze of interrelated issues ... amazingly spellbiding, a rare perspective on a troubled area." - Booklist

    Award
  • Honorable Mention, 1984 Global Village Video Festival

    Item no.: KV03400294
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 120 minutes
    Copyright: 1983
    Price: USD 390.00

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    WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST: A VEILED REVOLUTION

    Directed by Marilyn Gaunt

    Egyptian women were the first Arab women to march in political demonstrations (1919), the first to take off their veils publicly (1923), and the first to receive free secular education (1924).

    But today the educated granddaughters of those early Arab feminists are returning to Islamic dress, complete with full face veil and gloves. A VEILED REVOLUTION considers possible reasons for this turn back to tradition - the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism, the rejection of western values - as Egyptian women speak out.

    Reviews
  • "This excellent film deals with the phenomenon of young, educated women who are returning to variously restrictive forms of what they refer to as 'Islamic dress'." - Science Books & Films

  • "An excellent basis for discussion." - EFLA Evaluations

    Award
  • Finalist, 1983 American Film Festival

    Item no.: SM03400708
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 1982
    Price: USD 280.00

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    WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST: THE PRICE OF CHANGE

    Directed by Marilyn Gaunt

    For 60 years, Egyptian women have been gradually entering all sectors of the public work force. Work outside the home, once considered shameful, has today become a necessity. Today, nearly 40% of Egyptian women contribute in some way to providing the family income.

    THE PRICE OF CHANGE examines the effect of working on five women, including a factory worker, a doctor, and an opposition member of Egypt's Parliament, to present a picture of changing attitudes toward work, family, sex, and the woman's place in society.

    Reviews
  • "Provides glimpses into the lives of a variety of contemporary Egyptian women... [and] sets their difficulties in the context of changes that pose problems for the entire nation." - Psychology of Women Quarterly

  • "[THE PRICE OF CHANGE] Illuminates the lives of rural and urban women in Egypt today." - Science Books and Films

    Item no.: NJ03210524
    Format: DVD (Color, With Study Guide)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 1982
    Price: USD 280.00

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    WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST: WOMEN UNDER SIEGE

    Directed by Marilyn Gaunt

    Rashadiyah, Lebanon, is six miles from Israel. In 1964, 14,000 Palestinian refugees transformed this then peaceful agrarian village overnight into a primary target for repeated Israeli military attacks.

    WOMEN UNDER SIEGE introduces six women who play crucial roles in this besieged Palestinian community. As mothers, teachers, organizers, laborers, and sometimes as fighters, the women of Rashadiyah provided the foundation for their people's ongoing revolution.

    Until in June, 1982, shortly after the completion of this film, heavy Israeli bombing reduced the town to rubble, forcing its residents to flee again.

    Review
  • "Sensitive, accurate, exciting, educational... a well-done production." - American Anthropologist

    Item no.: BG03210746
    Format: DVD (Color, With Study Guide)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 1982
    Price: USD 280.00

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    ON OUR LAND

    By Antonia Caccia

    After the creation of Israel in 1948, Palestinians who chose to remain on their land were banded into farming communities.

    But most of this land has since been lost to Israeli kibbutz and moshav settlements. The Palestinians, who number one in six Israeli citizens, now must commute to work in Israeli cities, or farm land that is no longer theirs. They also must contend with discriminatory practices in housing, employment, and education, even though they are Israeli citizens. Centering on Umm el-Fahm, the largest Arab village in Israel, ON OUR LAND tells the story of an ill treated segment of Israel's population which has largely been ignored.

    Reviews
  • ON OUR LAND can be strongly recommended as an instructional tool in undergraduate and graduate classes examining colonialism and its impact on indigenous populations, the process of underdevelopment, class formation and ethnicity, and the specific situation of the Palestinians in Israel."-American Anthropologist

  • "An excellent film... guaranteed to set off fierce reactions."-Cineaste

    Award
  • Finalist, 1983 American Film Festival

    Item no.: VN03100469
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 55 minutes
    Copyright: 1981
    Price: USD 390.00

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    PALESTINIAN PEOPLE DO HAVE RIGHTS, THE

    This introduction to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict covers the history of the region in an effective and clearly understandable manner, shorn of polemic and prejudice.

    The film traces the roots of the conflict to early Jewish settlement in Palestine during Ottoman rule; with it came the first opposition from the Palestinian population. The film continues with a survey of Palestine through the time of the British mandate, the establishment of the State of Israel, and the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973.

    Concluding with an analysis of the situation in 1979, THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE DO HAVE RIGHTS remains the best overall picture of the region, its history, and its problems.

    Review
  • "The best introduction on film [to] the question of Palestine." - Film Library Quarterly

    Award
  • Red Ribbon, 1980 American Film Festival

    Item no.: CH03100496
    Format: DVD (Color)
    Duration: 48 minutes
    Copyright: 1979
    Price: USD 375.00

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    WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST: SAINTS AND SPIRITS

    Directed by Melissa Llewelyn-Davies

    Through Aisha bint Muhammad, SAINTS AND SPIRITS explores the personal dimensions of Islam during three religious events in Morocco: the festive annual renewal of contact with spirits in Marrakech; the pilgrimage to the shrine of Sidi Chamharouch, high in the Atlas Mountains; and the veneration of a new saint's shrine.

    Reviews
  • "An aspect of Islam that few outsiders see, viewers in high school and college classes and public libraries intensively studying Islam andMorocco will find this ethnographic documentary a rare record of the beliefsof one group of Moroccan Muslims." - Booklist

  • "[SAINTS AND SPIRITS] is a visual experience, recommended for a greater understanding of Islam and Muslim culture." - Landers Film Reviews

  • "Well-shot and well-edited... especially valuable for its focus on women in Muslim society" - EFLA Evaluations

    Item no.: LE03400576
    Format: DVD (Color, With Study Guide)
    Duration: 26 minutes
    Copyright: 1979
    Price: USD 280.00

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    BIBLE UNEARTHED, THE: THE MAKING OF A RELIGION

    Directed by Thierry Ragobert
    Written by Isy Moregenztern & Thierry Ragobert
    Based on the Bestseller The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein & Neil Silberman

    The Bible is both a religious and historical work, but how much is myth and how much is history? When and why was the Old Testament written, and by whom? What do contemporary archaeologists know about the Patriarchs? The Exodus? The Conquest of Canaan? Kings David and Solomon? Where do the people of Israel originally come from? Why were the historical accounts of the Bible written down, thus establishing the first pillars of a future religion, Judaism?

    THE BIBLE UNEARTHED is a four-part series based on the best-selling book The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein (Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University) and Neil Silberman (Director of the Ename Centre for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation).

    An archaeological and biblical investigation, the film visits digs in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, including Megiddo, the cradle of biblical archaeology, where 25 strata recording 7,000 years of history have been excavated. This fascinating exploration of biblical history uses archival footage of previous archaeological excavations, maps, biblical illustrations and computer animation, revealing ancient architecture, cuneiform tablets and other rare artifacts.

    THE BIBLE UNEARTHED features interviews with archaeological specialists from the Levant (the area in the Middle East south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and by the northern Arabian Desert and Upper Mesopotamia to the east) as well as biblical scholars from France, Canada, Switzerland, and the U.S., from the greatest museums, including the Louvre, the Museum of Cairo, the Museum of Jerusalem, and the British Museum.

    Episode 1: The Patriarchs

    Dawn breaks on the land of Canaan. A land in which, according to the Bible, the Patriarchs lived: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In Megiddo and other archeological sites of the Levant, the investigation begins. How has archaeology dealt with the great biblical accounts in the past? What does it tell us today about Abraham, his son, and his grandson? Did they really exist? In what period? Why did the authors of this account as recorded in Genesis tell their tale in this way? The film ends with the destiny of the Bible's patriarchal figures: offering the people who wrote these texts a family, a genealogy. The first "pillar" of what was to become Judaism.

    Episode 2: The Exodus

    The archeological and historical investigation continues in Egypt where, according to the Bible, the descendants of Abraham, including Joseph and Moses, once settled. Moses set the Hebrews free from slavery before leading them on an Exodus to the Promised Land. Did this episode of the Old Testament actually happen? When and why was it written? What do we know of the kingdom of Juda and King Josias? What part did Josias play in the writing of the Book of the Covenant and of these Laws which were to become the second "pillar" of Judaism?

    Episode 3: The Kings

    This episode brings back to life the history of the Israelite nation in Canaan as told in the Bible: Moses entrusted the conquest of Canaan to Joshua. During a lightning war, a confederation of Israelite tribes took possession of Canaan and settled there. The archeological investigation is at variance with this account. This episode then takes a closer look at Kings David and Solomon. What do we actually know about them? And what of the two Israelite kingdoms situated on the territory of Canaan: Israel to the north, rich and powerful, and Juda, to the south, small and poor. What role will the antagonism between these two 'friendly' kingdoms play in the writing of the Bible? What is the King of Juda, Josias's ambition after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel to the north? How does the death of Josias, a descendant of King David, bring about the emergence of the third "pillar" of Judaism: the Messianic idea?

    Episode 4: The Book

    The investigation now turns to the people who put the biblical texts down on paper. Who were the original Israelites? How did they appear in the region? What part did the sudden emergence in the Levant of the Peoples of the Sea play in the birth of the Israelite nation? What can we find out about what characterized the original Israelites, their customs and beliefs; the reform which led to the writing of the Bible's fifth Book, Deuteronomy; the place of the writing in the birth, for the first time in these societies, of an authoritative text, the Bible; and the fall of Juda and the Israelites' Exile in Babylon?

    THE BIBLE UNEARTHED shows how the efforts of contemporary archaeologists are helping us to understand the stories of the Bible in their political, geographical, historical and cultural contexts. This four-part series thus does something which has never been done before. It reveals a still-unraveling revolution of what we know of the society, the history, and the men who wrote the Bible.

    Reviews
  • "Excellent... A sense of industriousness permeates the film, and even the 'talking head' segments are exciting... The photography is first-class... an excellent series." - Educational Media Reviews Online

  • "A genuine work of scholarship as well as film art...These 4 episodes are excellent...It is the best done of all its genre that I have yet seen." - Dr. Jim West, Biblical Studies Resources

  • "The boldest and most exhilarating synthesis of the Bible and archaeology in fifty years." - Baruch Halpern, Author of The First Historians: The Hebrew Bible and History

    Item no.: CA03210774
    Format: 4 DVDs (Color)
    Duration: 208 minutes
    Copyright:
    Price: USD 490.00

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