Film Screening Series: Arab Cities
Curated by: Heba AlNajada, Ph.D. Candidate in Architecture
In collaboration with:
Laura Belik, Ph.D. Student in Architecture
Ahmad Diab, Assistant Professor of Arabic Literature in the Department of Near Eastern Studies
Stefania Pandolfo, Professor in the Department of Anthropology
As a continuation of the last year’s CED Diversity Platforms project ‘Screening Series: Urban Rights in Brazil’. This year, we are pleased to present a film series about Arab cities. Over the Fall semester, we will be presenting two films from Bilad Al-Sham (present-day Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon) and one from Al-Maghrib. By engaging in conversations about the architectural, political and historical experiences of this region, through accounts of lives, buildings, cities and their transfigurations, the films explore the destruction of the city of Homs, and everyday life under siege in the wake of the Syrian war (Talal Derki, 2013); young women working humiliating jobs in a shrimp conditioning workshop, in Tangier, Morocco, and ganging up in fast-paced incursions through the city, its male worlds, and its international border zones at night (Leila Kilani, 2011); and the chronicles of a Palestinian city, its remaining inhabitants, exiles, new settlers and returnees in the wake of the creation of Israel (Elia Suleiman, 2010). Each film screening will be followed by a faculty lead commentary, and in the case of ‘On the Edge’, by a conversation with the filmmaker, then opening to a discussion between the audience and student/faculty panel.
Film Screenings:
Film Screening: ‘Al-Awda ila Homs’ (The Return to Homs)
Director: Tarek Derki, 2013
Commentary by Ahmad Diab (Department of Near-Eastern Studies) and Ussama Makdisi (Department of History)
Tuesday, October 15th, 2019
5:30-8.30 pm
Wurster Hall, Room 172
Film Screening: ‘Sur la Planche’ (On the Edge), 2013
Conversation with film director: Leila Kilani
Interlocutor: Stefania Pandolfo (Department of Anthropology)
Wednesday, October 23rd, 2019
5:30-8.30 pm
Wurster Hall, Room 170
Film Screening: ‘Al-Zaman Al-Baqi’ (The Time that Remains), 2010
Director: Elia Suleiman, 2009
Presentation by: Ahmad Diab (Department of Near-Eastern Studies)
Tuesday, November 12th, 2019
5:30-8.30 pm
Wurster Hall, Room 172
These events are funded by the Arcus Endowment through the Diversity Platforms Committee of the College of Environmental Design.