Filmographies - films at UST by Country: Arabic Speaking Countries

"Buba is an auto repairman living in Niger with his brother Mukela, their village is mired in poverty, and given Buba's talent as a football player, they decide to travel to Spain, where they believe Buba might have a shot at playing as a professional. Unable to travel legally into Europe, Buba and Mukela pay a smuggler $1,000 each for passage in the back of a panel truck into Algeria, where the can easily pass into Spain. En route, Buba and Mukela meet Violeta, a teenage girl from Mali who is escaping an arranged marriage with a man she hates. During the trip into Algeria, the three begin to have doubts about the smugglers, and their fears become reality when they're dumped in the desert fourteen kilometers from their destination. Buba, Mukela and Violeta are told that they're only a four hour walk away from their destination, but without navigation tools they finds themselves lost in the sandy plains with no idea of how to make their way to civilization."

After two young Chadian boys discover their father has abandoned them, they embark on a desperate quest to bring him home. They spend their days trying to find him, skipping school, and already a handful for their overburdened mother, the boys are shipped off to a strict Koranic school for discipline.

Presents the true stories of three Iraqi people who endured life in a psychiatric hospital in Baghdad during the Iraq War and then were in the streets after their hospital is decimated. The film was shot in Baghdad in 2004. The Iraqi filmmaker had a camera in one hand and an AK-47 in the other. His crew was beaten and lined up to be shot by insurgents, the 14-year old boom boy was shot in the leg, and someone from the cast was kidnapped. Somehow the footage survived.

"Teeming with Palestinian illegal immigrants, Israeli Arabs, Christians and Jews, Ajami is a cloistered urban neighborhood...When a Bedouin extortionist is gunned down in self defense, a teenager is mistakenly killed in retribution, and an entire Arab family faces extinction. Under the same roof, a young Palestinian risks his life and freedom to pay for treatment that would save his dying mother. Out on the streets, a Jewish cop preys on the local drug trade by night while searching for his missing brother by day. Enemy, neighbor, or both, everyone in Ajami runs the same risk of death, arrest and heartbreak."

"When Rana is faced with an ultimatum--choose a husband from a list of eligible, respectable men or leave for Egypt--she goes searching for a lover of her own choosing. Moving across checkpoints to the West Bank, finding a wedding dress in a war zone, and settling family differences all in just ten hours, Rana finds ... in Jerusalem, love has many roadblocks."

Explores life among the Israeli Arab community from 1948 to the present day, shot largely in homes and places in which the director's family once lived. Inspired by his father's diaries, letters his mother sent to family members who had fled the Israeli occupation, and the director's own recollections, the film recounts the saga of the Suleiman's family in vignettes.

"Synopsis: Ali, Kwita, Omar, and Boubker are a group of street urchins living in the hard streets of Casablanca. Their everyday lives are filled with violence, begging, and indifference. In order to survive they create a bond of friendship and family between them. The bond is cut short when Ali is senselessly killed at the beginning of the film by a blow to the head; his life taken by a single act of a rival gang. Ali's friends decide not to report his death to the police, who would have the boy buried in a potter's field. Instead they decide to give him a worthy burial, to bury Ali on the private island he so often dreamed. Ali Zaoua captures the power of dreams and presence of hope in the harshest of circumstances."
"Architecture of assurance" weaves interviews into the story of a young girl who one afternoon goes exploring in a suburban California neighborhood, where she is utterly convinced that the people she spies on have happier lives than she does.

Muna Farah, a Palestinian single mom, struggles to maintain her optimistic spirit in the daily grind of intimidating West Bank checkpoints, the constant nagging of a controlling mother, and the haunting shadows of a failed marriage. Everything changes one day when she receives a letter informing her that her family has been granted a U.S. green card, and she moves with her teenage son to small town in Illinois.

As western culture gradually began to infiltrate the Judean desert, once the sole domain of the Bedouin tribes, the convergence of contemporary mores and ancient traditions was unavoidable. At the edge of modern Israel and the Bedouin way of life, three encounters between two very different societies set the stage for this film; the death of a Bedouin boy on the asphalt road cutting the desert in two; the marriage between a German woman and her Bedouin husband; and the forbidden love affair of a Bedouin maid and her Israeli employer.

Bab'Aziz (Bābā ʻAzīz), a very old blind dervish is on his way to a place unknown where a Sufi gathering is to take place. Guiding him across a sea of sand is his granddaughter Ishtar, a little girl, who loves her grandpa but who is afraid they might never reach their destination, all the more as the meeting is organized only once every thirty years. But Bab'Aziz is undeterred. He knows that if he "listens to the infinite silence of the desert with his heart" he will find the place. While making their way, they meet strange persons and Bab'Aziz tells Ishtar strange tales.

In the midst of Algeria's fundamentalist fanaticism, two women set off in search of the younger woman's husband, who was kidnapped because of his courageous articles. Their journey, full of danger and discovery, will also allow the two friends to get to know each other better and accept their respective differences.

When Mariam, a young Tunisian woman, is raped by police officers after leaving a party, she is propelled into a harrowing night in which she must fight for her rights even though justice lies on the side of her tormentors.

"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."

Rallia, a young woman raised in Switzerland, travels to a barren Berber settlement in search of the family that gave her up for adoption shortly after her birth. Only her grandfather and aunt remain in the village, and she is told that her mother will soon arrive. When her mother does not got off the bus, Rallia leaves with her aunt on a road trip to the city. Through Rallia's eyes we see both the proud culture that calls itself Amazigh (the free men) and the everyday lives of women in Algeria.

The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel from Egypt for a cultural event. Once there, they find the expected delegation is not there to meet them. Arrangements to get to their destination of Petah Tiqva have not been taken care of either. They find their own ride and arrive instead at the remote town of Beit Hatikva. Stuck there until the next morning's bus, the band, lead by the repressed Tawfiq Zacharaya, gets help from the worldly lunch owner, Dina, who offers to put them up for the night. As the band settles in the best it can, each of the members attempts to get along with the natives in their own way. What follows is a special night of quiet happenings and confessions as the band makes its own impact on the town and the town on them.

A newspaper dealer, Kinawi, falls in love with Hanuma, a lemonade seller who only has eyes for Abu Sri'. Swept away by his desire, Kinawi kidnaps the object of his passion, with terrible consequences.

Strong-minded but naive Driss makes his living in Tangier doing odd jobs while dating a young European antiques dealer. His attention is increasingly drawn to Fouad, a reclusive cafe owner who excoriates his fellow Moroccans as lazy and lacking ambition. Driss pursues a friendship with Fouad despite his friends' efforts to dissuade him and becomes a victim of the man's underhanded, treacherous nature.

"Abu Raed is an old airport janitor who has always yearned to travel the world but has never been able to afford it. One day, he finds an old discarded pilot's hat, and discovers a calling: a group of children in his poor neighborhood assume he's an airline Captain, and beg him to share stories of the world outside of Amman, Jordan."

The film is divided into two sections. The first documents the paradoxical but sleepy existence in the Arab part of Nazareth. The second part takes a more political view of the city and in it, Suleiman takes a more active role. He has come to his former home in search of inspiration, but what he sees are many disturbing images of Arab people trapped in a cultural identity crisis, a point best illustrated by the plight of a young Arab woman who wants more independence than traditionally allowed in her part of town but cannot find it because of prejudiced residents on the Jewish side.

When successful writer, Selim, reports to the police that his car has been stolen, he runs into his old friend, Sergeant Fathy Abdel Ghafour, who is now a detective. Fathy encourages Selim to hire a live-in maid, but when Selim discovers that his new housekeeper's husband is a thief, his life becomes even more complicated.

Set during the Gulf War, it tells the story of Mohamad, a highly impressionable young man who embraces fundamentalist ideas as a way of dealing with the confusion of adolescence and sexual awakening. This powerful first feature by one of Egypt's most promising young directors tackles complex themes like oppression, jealousy, virtue, the love ideal and violence in an uncompromising way.

This feature film focuses on two young men caught up in the Civil War in Chad. It begins in the 1970s with the story of Koni and Djimi as the central government invades their village and insistes on buying the farmer's millet at below market and then browbeats the villagers into paying taxes to help fight the war. When they resist the government burns the village and massacres the inhabitants. Djimi, wounded, remains behind with the hard-liners, while Koni joins a faction which supports compromise with the government.

Hejaz Province, Arabia, 1916. While war rages in the Ottoman Empire, Hussein raises his younger brother Theeb ("Wolf") in a traditional Bedouin community that is isolated by the vast, unforgiving desert. The brothers' quiet existence is suddenly interrupted when a British Army officer and his guide ask Hussein to escort them to a water well located along the old pilgrimage route to Mecca. So as not to dishonor his recently deceased father, Hussein agrees to lead them on the long and treacherous journey riddled with mercenaries, revolutionaries, and outcast raiders.

A young student of the arts in Cairo, Dunia aspires to be a professional dancer and poet. Her artistic expression is inhibited, however, by her inability to experience and express desire. Dunia's reasoning that women should not move their bodies to evoke an act of love is challenged by Dr. Beshir. With his help, Dunia begins a search for ecstasy in poetry, dance and music--taking us into the world of women in a society that both fetishizes and oppresses female sexuality.

Filmed within the Palestinian West Bank "Green Line." Romia fights an unending legal battle with the Israeli authorities who have confiscated her ancestral land soon after the Israeli occupation in 1947. With her family scattered all over the globe, she works in an Israeli factory, maintaining a dignity, which for Romia is the difference between subsistence and survival. Sahar Khalifeh, a divorced novelist and young mother living in the West Bank, struggles to maintain a modern role for herself within her increasingly intolerant occupied community.

"Rebecca, an American living in Jerusalem who moments after breaking off her engagement, jumps into a cab driven by Hanna, a strong willed, charismatic Israeli woman. Hanna is on her way to Jordan, to an ungoverned economic free zone of shady business transactions bordered by Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Looking for a quick 'escape,' Rebecca convinces Hanna to take her along and the two set off to see 'the American,' a mysterious businessman that owes Hanna's husband money. But when Hanna and Rebecca reach his office, they are confronted by Leila, a Palestinian who tells Hanna that 'the American' and the money are missing. Determined not to leave the Free Zone without her husband's debt paid, Hanna forces Leila to join her -- with Rebecca tagging along -- and the three women begin their search. Soon the relationship between them turns into an emotional solidarity that will affect each of their lives forever."

Somewhere in Kurdistan, Bahar, commander of the 'Girls of the Sun' battalion, is preparing to liberate her hometown from the hands of extremists, hoping to find her son who is held hostage. A French journalist, Mathilde, comes to cover the attack and bear witness to the story of these exceptional warriors. Since their lives have been turned upside down, the Girls of the Sun find themselves fighting for women, life and liberty

Daratt: The government of Chad granted amnesty to war criminals in 2006, following forty years of civil strife. Atim, age 16, is given a revolver by his grandfather so that he may find and kill the man who killed his father. Atim quickly locates Nassara, now married and living as a baker in a nearby village. Pretending to be looking for work, Atim is hired as an apprentice baker. Despite his disgust, Atim gradually recognizes the father figure he has always needed. Nassara sees the teenager as a potential son and one day proposes adoption.
L'arche du desert : A Romeo and Juliet story of two young lovers whose families are bitter rivals, and who seek refuge in a cave amid extremist political violence.

Noura is an inquisitive 13-year-old whose eyes are opened to his own sexual desires when he visits the local Turkish bathhouse with his mother. Gazing upon the spectacular array of unclothed women and girls, Noura begins to experience his first pangs of longing. But just as Noura is awakening to the pleasures of the fair sex, he risks being wrestled from their tender, affectionate companionship and being thrust into the callow and rigid company of men.

Film about the "family reunion," the French government's euphemism for a 1974 law allowing Algerian wives to rejoin their husbands working in France. Strong-willed Zouina parts tearfully from her mother in the port of Algiers; once in France, she and her three small children are at the mercy of her mother-in-law and confused by the strange customs of their local grocer and garden-obsessed neighbor. The radio is her only window on life and on the women of this new country.

Trapped inside her house in a city under siege, Oum Yazan, mother of three, turned her flat into a safe harbor for her family and neighbors, trying to protect them from the war outside. When bombs threaten to destroy the building, when snipers turn the courtyards into deadly zones, and burglars break in to claim their dreadful bounties, maintaining the thin balance of routine inside the walls becomes a matter of life and death

18 year-old Yehia retreats from the poverty, death and suffering all around him in World War II Egypt and dreams of one day becoming a Hollywood filmmaker. But after he falls in love and discovers the harsh truths behind the European occupation of his country, Yehia reassesses his identity and allegiances.

In the northeast corner of contemporary Morocco, a young wife named Zeinab watches her husband leave the country to go underground the day after their wedding. Zeinab is expecting a child. While she is waiting for her husband to return she lulls the fetus to sleep. Time goes by and the husband does not come back.

"The emigrant tells the epic Biblical tale of Joseph, son of Jacob, from the Egyptian perspective. Ram, the Joseph character, is a dreamer and intellectual, bullied by his elder brothers. He dreams of leaving his family's nomadic life to study agriculture in Egypt, the hub of civilization. Sold into slavery by his brothers, Ram overcomes rough odds and manages to win the admiration of those around, but at a price."

Dramatizes the harrowing events of 1957, a key year in Algeria's struggle for independence from France. Recreates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in the 1950s. As violence escalates on both sides, the French torture prisoners for information and the Algerians resort to terrorism in their quest for independence. Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range, women plant bombs in cafés. The French win the battle, but ultimately lose the war as the Algerian people demonstrate that they will no longer be suppressed.

Set in the south of France. When the patriarch of a French-Arab family, Slimane, opens a portside restaurant specializing in his ex-wife's fish and couscous, his new endeavor comes in conflict with the rest of the family members.

In a Paris suburb nicknamed Little Jerusalem, a family of Sephardic Orthodox immigrants shares a low-income apartment. Beautiful, teenaged Laura distances herself from her family's religion and her own burgeoning desire by devoting every waking moment to intellectual discipline and secular philosophy. Mathilde, Laura's married older sister, worries that strict observance of the Torah's marital codes has driven her husband Ariel into the bed of another. When Laura falls under the spell of Djamel, a handsome Muslim journalist, and Mathilde discovers that her worst fears are true, the two very different sisters find themselves in very similar crises.

Set in Nazi-occupied Tunis in 1942. Nour a 16 year-old Muslim eagerly awaits her wedding to a cousin. However, Nour's close friend Myriam, a French-Jew, is furiously resisting her betrothal to an older doctor. However, the doctor's money is needed to help Myriam's family pay fines imposed by the Nazis.

A story set in the ancient deserts and settlements of Tunisia. While studying Arabic calligraphy from a grand master, Hassan comes across a fragment of rare manuscript. He sets off in search of the missing pieces, believing that once he finds them, they will reveal all the secrets of love. Hassan meets Aziz, Princess of Samrakand, who aids him in his research. The two encounter wars, a battle between false prophets and face an ancient curse in their hunt for the missing manuscript.

When a disciple of 12th-century philosopher Averroes is burned at the stake for heresy, his young son Joseph journeys to Andalusia to study with his father's mentor. There he joins Averroes' disciples uniting against an evil sheik intent upon destroying the philosopher's work.

"A few weeks before his college entrance exams, Réda, a young man who lives in the south of France, finds himself obligated to drive his father to Mecca. The wide cultural and generational gap between the two is worsened by their lack of communication. Réda finds it hard to accommodate his father, who demands respect for himself and his pilgrimage. From France, through Italy, Serbia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan to Saudi Arabia, the two embark on a road trip that will change their lives."

"Khemir creates an exotic world with Wanderers of the Desert when a young teacher arrives to take over a village school isolated in the shimmering desert. Reminiscent of the best Iranian films of the 1970s in its use of color and setting, it also has something of the wit, cruelty and ambiguity of the Arabian Nights. Legendary figures materialize out of wells and the desert itself, groups of children hurry through a labyrinth of underground corridors, the teacher is whisked away to a mysterious rendezvous and never returns. Nothing is really explained; Khemir merely shows how legend, tradition and fate hang heavily over this community and he does so with a richly expressive visual style aided by superb use of color. Especially notable is the way the protagonists are always placed against sun-scorched landscapes in which nothing is quite what it seems, like the marvelous moment when everyone gathers around a ship that has mysteriously washed up in the desert sand."

After working for much of his life as a gardener in his Algerian village, Mounir dreams of improving his family's fortune and gaining a measure of respect by marrying off his narcoleptic sister, Rym, to a "real gentleman." However, Rym has other plans: she dreams of marrying Mounir's best friend, Khliffa, who has secretly courted her for years. When Mounir lashes out at village gossip with a fib that he has promised Rym to a wealthy outsider, she comes out of her sleepy stupor to embrace the rumor and press her real betrothed into action.

To all appearances, May Brennan has it all--intelligence, looks, the recipient of raves from her recently published book and set to marry her loving fiancée Ziad, a distinguished New York scholar. But immediately upon returning to her hometown of Amman, Jordan for the wedding, the cracks in her seemingly perfect life begin to show. May's headstrong, born-again Christian mother Nadine disapproves of Ziad's Muslim faith and is firm in her decision to not attend the ceremony.

The film is set in 7th century in Mecca, where powerful leaders are in conflict with the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) who attacks their way of life and the injustice it produces. After seeing a vision of the Angel Gabriel, the Messenger calls the people of Mecca to cast aside the 300 idols of the Kaaba and worship only one God. Despite bitter opposition from the leaders of Mecca, the Prophet and his faithful followers meet secretly to listen to the revelations of the word of God. The leaders respond with persecution, forcing the Muslims to leave Mecca and take sanctuary in Medina.

Soraya, born in Brooklyn in a working class community of Palestinian refugees, discovers that her grandfather's savings were frozen in a bank account in Jaffa when they were exiled in 1948. Determined to reclaim what is hers, she returns to Palestine. Tired of the constraints that dictate their lives, they know in order to be free, they must take things into their own hands, even if it's illegal.

In June 1964, following one of the most significant political trials of the 20th century, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki (father of former President Thabo Mbeki) and four others were sentenced to life imprisonment for planning the overthrow of the apartheid government by military means. This feature documentary recounts the untold story of the Rivonia Trial.

Young Tariq is about to marry Bilquis, eldest daughter of a prominent and powerful judge. But as he wanders the ancient city of Sana'a late one night, he spots a beautiful young woman dancing in the street and falls madly in love with her. Before long, the young groom must choose between following his heart and protecting his family's honor.

Cairo, 2011, just weeks before the revolution. Police Detective Noredin, working in the infamous Kasr el-Nil Police Station, is handed the case of a murdered singer. He soon realizes that the investigation concerns the very power elite, close to the president's inner circle.

The elder of a Palestinian village under Israeli military rule, wants permission to hold a traditional wedding for his son that will go past the imposed curfew. The Army commander agrees on the condition that he and his officers be invited as guests of honor at the cermony.

Omar is accustomed to dodging surveillance bullets to cross the separation wall to visit his secret love Nadia. But occupied Palestine knows neither simple love nor clear-cut war. When Omar is captured after a deadly act of resistance, he falls into a cat-and-mouse game with the military police. Suspicion and betrayal jeopardize his longtime trust with his childhood friends, but it's soon evident that everything he does is for his love of Nadia.

"An eye-catching construction, the Yacoubian building in Cairo was long regarded as the last word in comfort and elegance. Nowadays the veneer has cracked and the shine has dulled to reveal the truth underneath the façade. Through interwoven stories of a number of the residents, the film paints a portrait of corruption, fundamentalism, prostitution, homosexuality, and drugs in central Cairo and creates a vibrant but socially critical picture of contemporary Egypt." - Container
We meet the residents of the Yacoubian building and through them learn something about the city of Cairo, albeit the more disturbing side of corruption, fundamentalism, prostitution, sexuality, and drugs.

Tells a suspenseful, poignant, and humorous story through the eyes of two rebellious young women from two troubled families that tangle in the most unexpected ways in Jerusalem. As the character's warring personal convictions and intimate anxieties clash, the secular and religious world views they hold dear also come to embody the struggle for identity reflecting present-day Israel.

The story of what may be the last 48 hours in the lives of two Palestinian men who have been recruited as suicide bombers. When they are intercepted at the Israeli border, a young woman who discovers their plan causes them to reconsider their actions.

Mohammad, his wife and their five children live in a large, isolated house located mid-way between a Palestinian village and an Israeli settlement. Viewed as a strategic lookout point, the house is forcefully taken over by Israeli soldiers, who confine Mohammad and his family to a few downstairs rooms in daytime and a single room at night.

Rachida lives and teaches in an old neighbourhood in Algeria. Like most of the people in Algeria, she thinks she is far removed from the bloody conflict the country is in, until one day she is attacked by a terrorist group. The terrorists ask her to plant a bomb in her school. After refusing, they shoot her in cold blood. Miraculously, she is saved and seeks refuge in a neighbouring village and must overcome succumbing to her anger and hate and be the schoolteacher she was born to be.

Raja is a nineteen year old orphan literally and figuratively scarred by life. Fred is an emotionally bankrupt westerner living amid his plush gardens and palm trees. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Marrakech, Raja is a cross-cultural drama about a wealthy middle-aged Frenchman's complex relationship with local youth. Fred's attempts to seduce Raja, and their mutual attempt at manipulation, are fractured by their gross disparity of income, age and cultural sophistication.

Five Moroccans from different social and religious strata are pushed to the fringe by their extremist government. Spanning three decades and several storylines, director Nabil Ayouch weaves an intricate tale of lost loves, forbidden desires, and fragile dreams in modern day Morocco.

Meseganio Tadela, 74, immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia 28 years ago with his family. He has chosen to zealously retain his culture, talks very little, and hardly speaks Hebrew. After losing his wife, Meseganio sets out on a journey that leads him through his children's homes. He comes to realize that he belongs to a rapidly disappearing class that believes in retaining Ethiopian culture. As this harsh reality begins to hit him, he struggles to survive according to his own rules

"Like any groom, Hachemi is anxious about his approaching marriage, but not for the usual reasons. Anonymous alleyway graffiti challenging the manliness of his best friend, Farfat, overshadow the upcoming ceremony. Hachemi's concern is for himself as well as his friend, because he and Farfat share a childhood secret: as apprentices they were both molested by Ameur, the carpenter who trained them. While Farfat makes plans to run away to Tunis, a nervous Hachemi makes a more personal journey of self-discovery."

Sabah is an unmarried 40-year-old Arab woman who lives in Toronto, Canada. One day, she meets and falls in love with Stephen a non-Muslim. As Sabah tries to keep Stephen a secret from her traditional family, Sabah and Stephen's opposite cultures begin to collide.

A Tunisian widow embarks on a journey of self-discovery when she investigates a suspected liaison between her headstrong teenaged daughter and a cabaret musician, and is drawn to the world of cabaret belly dancers and nocturnal pleasure-seekers.

A slice of life portrait of various people who live near or travel on the Sud Express train that runs between Paris and Lisbon. Sud Express is an intersection of lives. Six stories about anonymous people interwine during a train journey from Paris to Lisbon. The protagonists of this trip across southwestern Europe explore their similarities and the great differences that still exist among them at this critical moment for the Old Continent.

In a Lebanese beauty shop, Caramel, a stunning stylist, Layale, is in love with a family man. Little does she realize bashful beat cop Youssef, who issues Layale a stream of traffic citations, feels the same way about her. Parlor regulars include Muslim bride-to-be Nisrine, ambiguous assistant Rima, age-obsessed actress Jamale, and lonely seamstress Rose. The inclusion of neighbors, Youssef and Rose, who spends most of her time caring for a delusional sister, confirms Caramel's true subject as the city of Beirut. Aside from their reduced circumstances--Layale lives at home and shares a room with her brother. Before the bittersweet conclusion, each woman experiences a revelation of sorts.
A Beirut beauty salon becomes a treasured meeting place for several generations of women who meet there daily. The women come from various walks of life, to talk, seek advice and confide in one another. Each has their own quirks and problems that they must deal with.

Mona's wedding day may be the saddest day of her life. Once she crosses the border between Israel and Syria to get married, she will never be allowed back to her family in the Golan Heights.

As Alia, the daughter of a beautiful servant, Khedija, grows up in the king's palace at the end of the French colonial rule in Tunisia, she realizes the sexual favors required of her mother and other servants, as she, herself, is misused by those in power around her. Women had to live in silence, a silence so profound, they may come to doubt their own past -- even their own existence -- yet they survived these political realities with courage, fellowship, and the resources of their bodies.

Made in the days following the Hebron Massacre and before the arrival of the Palestinian Authority, the film tells the story of twelve-year-old Yusef, who escapes from the chaos of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict by looking for birds in the tranquil countryside. One day his hunt is interrupted by Aida, a ravishing gypsy girl from a nearby neighborhood. Yusef is immediately smitten, but when he declares his intention of making Aida his bride, she says he must first find the three jewels missing from a necklace that was brought from South America by her grandfather. Yusef quickly formulates a plan to cross the sea in order to fulfill Aida's request and win her love.

"Antoine has held a torch for his first love Cecile for 30 years. Traveling to Tangiers, he hopes to rekindle their romance but is discouraged to learn that is now married to a Moroccan doctor several years her junior. Determined to have her fall in love with him again, Antoine ignores her protests and continues his pursuits..."

Under the Bombs: "During a cease-fire in the Lebanon-Israel conflict of 2006, a Christian taxi driver brings an untraditional Shiite woman from Beirut to the heart of the conflict in the country's south. While they scour the rubble of local towns for her son, who was sent to live with her traditional family while she was staying with her husband in Dubai, they discover that despite their very different backgrounds they have much in common. And during their trip through the desolate countryside, the two travelers develop a deep bond as a response to the death striking all around them."--Container.
Porn: "Mirek lives in a block of flats and hangs out with his friends. When the sexually precocious Violetta moves into the building, she starts to bombard him with verbal come-ons. He's curious, but sceptical too. His friends scoff and call him a hopeless romantic. And his mother, who's got a new boyfriend, is getting on his nerves, too."

Youssef is a Muslim, Jojo is Jewish and Giuseppe is an Italian Catholic, and they are best of friends until each of their daughters swears to lose their virginity by a certain date. To make matters worse, each daughter sets her sights on a boy of a different religion, thus challenging an inviolable taboo and causing a rift between their fathers. As the families resolve their differences, the Six Day War breaks out in the Middle East, which will divide Jews and Arabs the world over.

Souad is a prostitute whose best friend is Kenza, a traffic cop. Kamel is a contract killer who receives his orders via the internet; he is also Souad's favorite customer. When Kenza falls in love with Kamel, the two begin a bizarre courtship doomed by their disparate lines of work and a persistent cybersnooping hacker who stumbles upon the site where Kamel receives his murderous contracts.

Using vignettes, Elia Suleiman's critically-acclaimed satire chronicles the absurdities of life and love on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli border. At the center of the Middle East conflict: a young Palestinian woman defies Israeli soldiers and struts through a check-point, Santa Claus is chased up the hills of Nazareth by a gang of knife-wielding school kids, Israeli police use a blindfolded prisoner to provide directions to tourists in Jerusalem, a Palestinian collaborator casually extinguishes his firebombed house on a daily basis, and a female ninja descends from the sky, holding the map of Palestine as her battle shield.

Claudia and her son, Malek, wake up to a typical morning in Beirut, which quickly turns sour when the topic of conversation turns to the family's patriarch. Claudia's husband has been missing since the Lebanese Civil war, and the two debate whether to have him declared legally dead. Once the decision is made, the two move on with their lives in different ways.

Liz, a successful Israeli author, arrives at a beach in the Sinai Desert in search of her runaway daughter, Rachel. She meets a Bedouin storyteller, who reveals to her the tragic love story of Leila, an Israeli tourist, and the son of a Bedouin Sheik named Najim. Najim decides to bring Leila into his Muslim tribe where Leila is exposed to a traumatic procedure.

This documentary tells of the impact the Arab Israeli conflict has had on the individual lives and families of two Palestinian women. The film documents the story of Hagar and her family as they struggle to reconcile after years of estrangement resulting from Hagar's 11 year battle to return to their property in Ramallah. In a parallel story, the film documents Ra'eda's struggle to connect with memories of her father who was killed by Israeli soldiers during his participation in the hijacking of a Sabena flight in 1975. The title of the film, 3 CM Less, comes from projections that Palestinian children today will grow up an average three centimeters shorter than their parents, due to the deprivations of the occupation.

"A group of young Palestinian men work illegally as construction laborers in the Israeli city of Modi'in. Caught between Israeli security laws and a Palestinian Authority they see as having failed them, they work for Israeli contractors by day while hiding from police by night. Like youths everywhere, they pass their idle hours talking about love, marriage and future hopes. Israeli filmmaker Ido Haar has crafted a powerful verite film that illuminates the plight of young men questioning their own culture while struggling to survive in the midst of bitter conflict."

In July 2003 Sinan Antoon, an exiled Iraqi writer and poet, returned to Baghdad to see what has become of his city after wars, sanctions, decades of oppression and violence, and now occupation. Antoon takes us on a journey exploring what Iraqis think and feel about the post-war situation and the complex relationship between the US and Iraq.

"Up until now the perilous situation in Sudan has been seen only from outside the country. All About Darfur offers an opportunity to hear it explained by eloquent, diverse, even contradictory voices from within Sudan. The director talks to ordinary Sudanese in outdoor tea shops, markets, refugee camps and living rooms about how deeply rooted prejudices could suddenly burst into a wild fire of ethnic violence."

Arna Mer Khamis spent her life campaigning for human rights. In the Jenin refugee camp, Arna opened a theater where she taught children to express themselves through art. When Arna died of cancer in 1995, the theater ultimately did not survive. Five years later her son, Juliano, returns to discover what happened to "Arna's children".

"When the residents of Budrus learn that the Israeli army plans to build the Separation Barrier through their town, cutting them off from neighboring Palestinian villages and uprooting their precious olive groves, they decide to organize. Under the leadership of Ayed Morrar, Palestinian men of all political factions come together to wave an unarmed struggle to preserve their lands. Victory seems unlikely until Ayed's 15-year-old daughter steps in to organize a female contingent that brings the women of Budrus to the front lines in a tense stand-off with the military. As word of the nonviolent protest spreads, Israeli citizens, international activists and Palestinians from other villages join the people of Budrus to demand that the Barrier be moved. Struggling side by side. father and daughter unleash an inspiring, yet little-known movement that is still gaining ground today."

Over three million Palestinians live in The West Bank and Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli military authority since 1967. This documents the impact of the enforced boundaries know as "checkpoints" on the Israeli border, the border guards drafted to monitor them and the Palistinian citizens who must pass through them daily.

"Like many Palestinian families, the Amers live surrounded by the infamous West Bank Wall. Their daily lives are dominated by electrified fences, locked gates, and a constant swarm of armed soldiers. Through [the filmmaker's] lens, we discover the private world of all eight members of the family. As their dramas unfold, we catch a glimpse of their constant struggles, and the small, endearing details that sustain them, including olive trees, two small donkeys and their many friendships."

A chronicle providing a rare window into international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab World's most popular news outlet.

Encompassing fairy tales, romances, legends, fables, parables, and anecdotes, "The thousand and one nights" is a composite of popular oral stories that developed over several centuries, mainly during the Empire of the Caliphate. This program scrutinizes the wonderfully audacious tale of Scheherezade and what it tells the attentive reader about the dreams of Arab men and women during the empire's golden age. Recurring themes such as hunger for adventure and a desire to be free from tradition are explored, as well as a conception of power that glorifies self-control and disparages violence.

"...Follows the story of six people who are determined to end the sufferings in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur. The six -- an American activist, an international prosecutor, a Sudanese rebel, a sheikh, a leader of the World Food Program, and an internationally known actor - demonstrate the power of how one individual can create extraordinary changes."

Dr. Pamela Nice received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach in Morocco for 2004-05, which she chose because of its unique positioning between the West and the Middle East, geographically and culturally. Americans know little about the Muslim world, and with news programs showing terrorist attacks daily, they tend to see Morocco as a "breeding ground for terrorism." Dr. Nice interviewed over 60 Moroccans between the ages of 18 and 30, of different social backgrounds, ethnic groups, levels of religious observance, and parts of the country, who speak directly to Americans about their daily lives, struggles, and most importantly, their dreams for the future.

Director Tahani Rached follows a group of teenage girls living on the streets of Cairo. Rached presents their daily activities amidst poverty and abuse in a Muslim society. The girls encounter rape, drug addiction, prostitution, pregnancy and motherhood on the streets of Cairo. Amidst all of this the girls are still shown as being courageous and faithful to one another.

Created by a Palestinian, Israeli, North and South American team, this film tells the story of an Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk their safety and public standing to press for an end to the conflict. They are at the vanguard of a movement to push Palestinian and Israeli societies to a tipping point, forging a new consensus for nonviolence and peace. Perhaps years from now, their actions will be recognized as a catalyst for constructive change in the region.

"Bader Ben Hirsi, a British-born Yemeni man living in London after his parents' exile, returns to Yemen to re-discover his country, its people and traditions. Under the guiding hand of Englishman Tim Makintosh-Smith, who has been living as a Yemeni in the ancient city of Sana'a for the past 16 years, Ben Hirsi travels throughout his ancestral homeland."

The story of two Palestinian girls whose grandparents were forced to flee Palestine in 1948. The young teenage girls, Mona and Manar, live in refugee camps, one in Beirut and one in Bethlehem. The video gives an idea of their everyday lives, and also shows more unusual occasions, such as a trip to the village from which one girl's grandparents fled, and the girls' meeting, after having corresponded for some time, at the Lebanese/Israeli border, where they hold hands through the barbed wire fence.

"The Gaza Strip is home to a million Palestinians, most of whom are refugees whose parents and grandparents came here in 1948 after Israel moved in. Since the second Palestinian uprising began in September 2000, Gaza is a virtual prison. No one is allowed in or out without permission. Thousands of Palestinians who once traveled through Erez checkpoint to work in Israeli industries are now shut out, unable to work or provide for their families... This program asks why the United Nations shies away from its responsibilities and fails to criticize Israel's aggression and the denial of the Palestinians' rights...

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.

Examines the cultural tradition that makes women the talisman of family honor and the practice of atoning for "dishonor" with their blood. Provides an in-depth analysis of Middle East culture that is slowly changing as it overcomes centuries of tradition.

This documentary explores individual journeys of lesbian and gay people of Middle Eastern cultures living in the United States, including the cultural and religious challenges that many endure.

"Just months before the second Intifada (uprising) began in 2001, Israeli director Ra'anan Alexandrowicz (with his Israeli and Palestinian co-producers) filmed a group of West Bank Palestinians on a three-day bus tour to Israel, where many of the passengers once lived. Their weekend trip becomes an extremely charged journey of deep emotional distances and contradicting realities as the travelers interact with ordinary Israelis and visit places that they feel simultaneously rooted to and alienated from..."

The pomegranate is the fruit of the land, a symbol of rejuvenation and rebirth. It is also a euphemism for a hand grenade. ... [A] documentary centered on a group of young people born into a violent, on-going war. They are young Palestinians and Israelis, caught in the duality of the pomegranate: will they embrace rebirth and each other's humanity, or will they pull the pin on the grenade?

Documentary about Iraqi families trying to carry on with daily life despite the constant violence, black outs, and lack of basic necessities during the war in Bagdad. The film presents interviews with nine year old Mustafa, eleven year old Mauy, twelve year old Zin al Abidin, 24 year old Nagham, forty three year old Mayed and sixty year old Rabiha, all victims of the war, who present their personal stories of the coldest winter in Bagdad.

"An opus in three parts. Iraq in Frangemnts offers a series of intimate, passionately-felt portraits: A fatherless 11-year-old is apprenticed to the domineering owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the U.S. presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. American director James Longley spent more than two years filming in Iraq to create this documentary of the war-torn country as seen through the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds."

While visiting Beirut to attend a glamorous gala, iconic French actress Catherine Deneuve insists :Je veux voir" ("I want to see"), referring to the carnage wrought against innocent Lebanese civilians during Israel's attack on Lebanon in the summer of 2006. "I feel it's impossible to stay on the fringe," she adds, and she means it. Filmmakers Khalil Joreige and Joana Hadjithomas know first-hand the devastation Deneuve and chauffeur-actor Rabih Mroué will witness. They arrange a meeting between the two actors-captured on camera-before they embark together on a surprisingly gorgeous two-hour drive to southern Lebanon, returning in time for her appointed engagement. The simplicity of the plot is in stark contrast with the ravaged landscape seen through the car window. I Want to See is not the usual Hollywood scenario of a self-aggrandizing movie star meeting with a facilitator to find the right charity for his or her marketing image. Instead, with a mix of scripted drama and spontaneous travelogue, this mesmerizing and innovative film resonates with sincerity and curiosity and takes the viewer through a stunning landscape torn apart by decades of war.

"The War of 33 is an intimate, personal and powerful telling of the story of the 2006 war in Lebanon. A series of letters written by Hanady Salman--a mother living through the war in Beirut--carve a narrative arc through the intense and haunting images of conflict. She tells the stories of her family and the people she lives the war with--the refugees, the wounded, and the everyday Lebanese, struggling to maintain their sanity and their humanity during a time of war."

"In this documentary, Egyptians give their perspectives on America and Americans, especially since September 11, touching on such topics as terrorism, Islam, globalization and the image of the U.S. in their culture. The documentary includes interviews with such notables from the Arab world as filmakers Ateyyat al Abnoudy and Mohamed Khan, novelist and editor Gamal al Ghitany, and Sudanese author Tayeb Salih."

Ali Saigal and his wife Linda have been married for 20 years, raising their traditional Islamic family in Doha, Qatar. But their relationship is far from traditional - Linda was brought up Catholic in Arizona and met Ali at college in the 1980's. Shot over two years during the American invasion of Iraq, this poignant doc shows how Linda and Ali struggle to surmount their cultural differences while raising their seven children in a lively, loving home. The filmmaker hones in on surprising and candid family discussions about issues such as second wives, religion and Qatari society in general, painting a fascinating portrait of a family living at the complex intersection of gender roles, nationality and religion.

Reports on the Arabic television news station al-Jazeera, "the CNN of Arabia". Dedicated to freedom of speech, al-Jazeera has earned the admiration of the West and the ire of the Arab nations. The program includes clips of al-Jazeera news programs and reports as well as interviews with the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and some of al-Jazeera's reporters, editors, and directors.

A selection of the best television/cinema commercials from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt, and Bahrain as chosen by the London International Advertising Awards.

Tells the story of the seventh century prophet who changed world history in 23 years, and continues to shape the lives of more than 1.2 billion people. The film takes viewers not only to ancient Middle Eastern sites where Muhammad's story unfolds, but into the homes, mosques and workplaces of some of America's estimated seven million Muslims to discover the many ways in which they follow Muhammad's example.

Simone Bitton etches a haunting portrait of one of the most profound geographical markers of our time -- the wall of separation constructed by Israel that shields it from adjacent, conflicted Palestinian territories. This documentary shows how the Wall is destroying one of the most historically significant landscapes in the world, while imprisoning one people and enclosing the other.

Documentary providing an intimate portrait of Iraqis living under U.S. occupation. The principal focus is Dr. Riyadh, an Iraqi medical doctor, father of six, and Sunni political candidate who is an outspoken critic of the occupation but passionate about the need to establish democracy in Iraq. As his waiting room is filled daily with patients suffering the physical and mental effects of ever-increasing violence, Dr. Riyadh struggles to understand the tragic contradiction of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and its project to spread democracy through the Middle East.

"Author of the acclaimed Cairo Trilogy, The Harafish, Arabian Nights and Days and many other novels and collections of short stories, 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."

Covers the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States in the conflict, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace.

[Filmmaker] Talal Derki returned to his Syrian homeland ... where he gained the trust of a radical Islamist family, sharing their daily life for over two years. His camera focuses primarily on the children, providing an extremely rare insight into what it means to grow up with a father whose only dream is to establish an Islamic caliphate. Osama (13) and his brother Ayman (12) both love and admire their father and obey his words, but while Osama seems content to follow the path of Jihad, Ayman wants to go back to school.

This documentary contends that the foreign policy interests of American political elites, working in combination with Israeli public relations strategies, exercise a powerful influence over news reporting about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Combines U.S. and British television news footage with observations from analysts, journalists, and political activists. Examines the factors that have distorted the United States' media coverage and, in turn, American public opinion.

Through interviews with men and women of all ages and classes this film explores the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos, of erotic literature and films. It begins looking at a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, social taboos and issues of language. It also demonstrates how the rich legacy of fantasy in the A Thousand and One Arabian Nights still permeates contemporary Arab culture.

Follows the journey of a filmmaker who travels in and around Jerusalem, from a Palestinian refugee camp to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, where he meets seven Palestinian and Israeli children who exist in completely separate worlds, divided by physical, historical and emotional boundaries. Explores the natural boundaries and tells the story of a few children who dared to cross the lines to meet their neighbors. Seen through the eyes of the children - who although only living 20-minutes apart - live day-to-day obstacles differently that separate them deeply.

A investigatory documentary that examines the death of peace activist and International Solidarity Movement member Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003.

This film tells the story of two women with opposing political views fighting for their different visions of a democratic future for Tunisia, the country that sparked the Arab Spring. Over the course of Tunisia's critical post-revolution years, [the film] follow journalist Emna Ben Jemaa, who envisions a secular government committed to human rights and governed without the corruption of the former regime. In contrast, Jawhara Ettis of the Islamist party Ennahda works towards a Tunisia guided by Islamic principles. This timely documentary traces their paths from public figures in the Arab Spring to opponents in its wake, and the common obstacles they face as outspoken women.

"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."

Khitam, a Gaza-born Palestinian woman, was married off in an arranged match to an Israeli Palestinian, followed him to Israel and bore him six children. When her husband divorced her in absentia in the Sharia Muslim court and gained custody of the children, Khitam was left with nothing. She cannot contact her children, has no property and no citizenship. Although married to an Israeli, a draconian law passed in 2002 barring any Palestinian from gaining Israeli citizenship has made her an illegal resident there. Now she is out on a dual battle, the most crucial of her life: against the court which always rules in favor of the husband, and against the state in a last-ditch effort to gain citizenship and reunite with her children.

Born a peasant in 1898, Umm Kulthūm earned a position of great wealth and influence in the Arab world as a popular and beloved singer. This film places her life in the context of 20th century Egypt. It includes concert footage, film clips, and interviews with the singer's friends and colleagues.

Documentary about the singer Umm Kulthūm, born a peasant at the turn of the century, who became a powerful symbol of the aspirations of her country. Based on the book: "The voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic song, and Egyptian society in the twentieth century" by Virginia Danielson.

Set during the Intifada that began in 2000, the film follows the lives of four Palestinian families living in the Duhayshah Refugee Camp near Bethlehem.

"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 grandaughters 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."

Going beyond the headlines, this story, filmed in the fourteen months leading to the Revolution, highlights the years of mounting resentment against a U.S.-backed authoritarian government determined to stay in power at any cost. Embedded inside the turmoil, filmmaker Lillie Paquette followed key opposition figures and young democracy activists as they struggled against extraordinary odds and at great personal risk.

"In 1948, during the war that accompanied the founding of the Israeli State, thousands of Palestinian refugees fled to neighboring countries. In 1967, the Israelis fought what they regarded as a defensive war -- and occupied the West bank of Jordan and the Gaza Strip. As a result there are now 1.3 million Palestinian refugees living under Israeli control and denied many human rights guaranteed to all people under international laws. This Life episode explores their plight against the backdrop of the stalled Camp David talks on peace in the Middle East."

Filmmaker Maher Abi-Samra returns to the neighborhood of his youth in Beirut settled in the 1950's by the mostly shiite community from southern Lebanon and now the stronghold of the Islamic Party of God, the Hezbollah. This film is a portrait of two Lebanese muslim women, Zeinab and Khadije, who are activists in the Hezbollah. It examines the personal, social and political factors that undergird their commitment, presents the activities of the Islamic political party and examines its place in Beirut society and in Lebanese politics.

"Follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world's largest garbage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is the home to 60,000 Zaballeen, Arabic for 'garbage people'. Far ahead of any modern 'Green' initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community."