Middle Eastern Films - Fall 2006

  • Mondays, 7:30 pm
  • 132 Rockefeller Hall (unless otherwise noted)

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August 28: The Battle of Algiers
*Special Screening, Cornell Cinema, 7:00pm*
Algeria 1965. Director Gillo Pontecorvo.
The Battle of Algiers [is] a starkly realistic re-enactment of events as they substantially occurred between 1954 and 1957 in the rebellion against the French in the capital of Algeria. So authentically and naturalistically were its historical reflections staged, with literally thousands of citizens participating, in the streets and buildings of Algiers that it looks beyond any question to be an original documentary film, put together from newsreel footage, complemented by staged dramatic scenes. [From Bosley Crowther review, New York Times, 21 Sept 1967] In black and white. Arabic and French with English subtitles, 117 min.
September 4: Omar Gatlato
Algeria 1976. Director Merzak Allouache.
A watershed film, Omar Gatlato held a mirror up to Algerian male culture and the mirror cracked. The title refers to the expression “gatlato al-rujula,” or, roughly, “machismo killed him” and the film’s mordant insights into male posturing and alienation in Algerian society animate this bit of folk wisdom. In mock documentary style, a young man recounts with wry commentary a typical day in his life in the Bab el-Oued quarter of Algiers, while the camera playfully shows a different story. [From www.arabfilm.com] Arabic with English subtitles, 90 min.
September 11: Alexandria, Why?
Egypt 1978. Director Yusuf Chahine.
The first film in Chahine’s autobiographical Alexandria trilogy, Alexandria, Why? was a (widely banned) revelation in Arab cinema for its use of first-person narrative and for testing boundaries of cultural identity. In 1942, as Rommel’s army nears Alexandria, some cheer the victors, Jews prepare to flee, and a vengeful aristocrat buys British soldiers to seduce and kill them--until he falls in love with one young captive. A young student (Chahine’s avatar) adores Shakespeare and Hollywood, dreaming of studying filmmaking in the USA, but as he discovers the lies of European occupation and Americanization, and experiences a sexual awakening, he profoundly reevaluates his identity and allegiances. [From www.arabfilm.com] Arabic with English subtitles, 133 min.
September 18: A Suspended Life
Lebanon 1984. Director Jocelyn Saab.
The first film shot in post-war Lebanon, A Suspended Life is set in Beirut ten years into the conflict. Hala, a child of the war, finds relief from the chaos around her through Egyptian movies she watches on television. Karim, an artist in retreat from life, remains in his apartment in war-torn West Beirut, confident that he is safe in his familiar neighborhood. An unlikely bond is formed between the two as they face the devastating civil war. [From www.arabfilm.com] Arabic with English subtitles, 90 min.
September 25 : Divine Intervention
Israel and Palestine 2002. Director Elia Suleiman.
In this darkly comic masterpiece, Palestinian director Elia Suleiman utilizes irreverence, wit, mysticism and insight to craft an intense, hallucinogenic and extremely adept exploration of the dreams and nightmares of Palestinians and Israelis living in uncertain times. Subtitled “A Chronicle of Love and Pain,” Divine Intervention follows ES, a character played by and clearly based upon the filmmaker himself. ES is burdened with a sick father, a stalled screenplay and an unrequited love affair with a beautiful Palestinian woman living in Ramallah. An Israeli checkpoint on the Nazareth-Ramallah road forces the couple to rendezvous in an adjacent parking lot. Their relationship and the absurd situations around them serve as metaphors for the lunacy of larger cultural problems. [From www.arabfilm.com] Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles, 92 min.
October 2: Bedwin Hacker
Tunisia 2003. Director Nadia El Fani.
From a remote mountain village in Tunisia, Kalt, a female hacker hijacks the airwaves in Northern Africa and France to broadcast political messages. When Julia, a French Intelligence officer, gets on the case, she flies in from France to infiltrate the hacker world and find out who is behind the interruptions. Things quickly turn into a cat-and-mouse game as Kalt and Julia play each other to get what they want. [From: www.cinemalibrestudio.com] Arabic and French with English subtitles, 98 min.
October 16: The House on Chelouche Street
Israel 1973. Director Moshe Mizrahi .
This drama provides a microcosm of the problems between the Jews and the Arabs in its story of a Jewish landowner and his Arab worker. The two strive toward a goal together, but when it is announced that the government is seizing Arab lands, the hot eastern wind fans the flames of distrust between them. [From www.rottentomatoes.com] Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles, 90 min.
October 23: Hamsin
Israel 1983. Director Daniel Wachsman.
This drama provides a microcosm of the problems between the Jews and the Arabs in its story of a Jewish landowner and his Arab worker. The two strive toward a goal together, but when it is announced that the government is seizing Arab lands, the hot eastern wind fans the flames of distrust between them. [From www.rottentomatoes.com] Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles, 90 min.
October 30: Or, My Treasure
*Special Screening, Cornell Cinema, see Flicksheet for time*
Israel 2004. Director Keren Yedaya .
Winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes, Keren Yedaya's unflinching first feature Or (My Treasure) is compiled entirely from motionless long shots meant to emphasize the agonizing daily grind of a teenage Israeli girl, Or, and her prostitute mother, Ruthie [From www.slantmagazine.com] Hebrew with English subtitles, 100 min.
November 6: The Cyclist
Iran 1987. Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
The cyclist of the title is Nassim, an Afghan refugee in need of money to pay his wife's medical expenses. With work difficult to come by, a sleazy promoter suggests he undertake a bicycle marathon. Touting him as the Afghani superman, the huckster wagers that Nassim will circle a small area on the outskirts of town, day and night, for a week. While he rides, a carnival of society's dispossessed grows alongside the desperate cyclist. Gamblers, bookies, buskers, food vendors, and leprous walkers watch from the sidelines, cynically using Nassim's suffering for their own purposes. [From www.iranianmovies.com] Persian with English subtitles, 95 min.
November 13: Taste of Cherry
Iran 1997. Director Abbas Kiarostami.
Winner of the top prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, Taste of Cherry is an existential fable of weight and clarity from director Abbas Kiarostami. An Iranian man, Mr. Badi, is determined to commit suicide at nightfall, but seeks a living assistant to check his hand-dug grave the following morning. If Badi is dead, the person will fill the grave with dirt; if not, he will help Badi out of the hole... [From www.iranianmovies.com] Persian with English subtitles, 95 min.
November 20...No Screening
November 27: Under the Skin of the City
Iran 2001. Director Rakhshan Bani-Etemad.
Set in Tehran against the backdrop of the 1996 parliamentary elections, in which reformists were likely to gain power (they did), this finely-honed film is in many ways a thriller, a dynamic enterprise unlike the more languorous Iranian works we see here... Tuba... is the focus. She is an asthmatic working-class mother who labors at a mechanized loom in a large factory to support her family. (The courtyard of her endangered home is the film's physical center.) A complex if nearly illiterate woman, she embodies many of the contradictions in Iranian society. [From Howard Feinstein review, www.indiewire.com] Persian with English subtitles, 93 min.