by Armin Etemadi Andrea Luka Zimmerman’s cinema is basically about the empty and un-narrated spaces between the lines. She puts her finger on outcast human beings of whom no traces can be seen in the media, in history, or in any other marketable material, as though...
by: Markéta Jakešová Introduction Cryptofiction, founded by Mania Akbari, with the curator Giovanni Vimercati, presents a selection of nine diverse films, all created by women directors with a Middle Eastern background that address issues related to Palestine...
Written by: Amin Pakparvar – September 2024 In the realm of feminist cinema, articulation and misarticulation serve as central modes of resistance against dominant structures of power. The filmmakers discussed in this essay, engage with language—both its presence and...
Author: Maryam Shayesteh (Writer for Majara Film School) I view the world of Larissa Sansour's films through a dual lens, embodying the narrative of dualities and the dichotomy of the storyteller. Although she has lived in a different generation and geography, the...
Parnian Mostafavi - Writer at the School of Film Majara All This Victory, directed by Ahmad Ghossein, addresses the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. This film has received special awards, including the Best Film Award from the Critics' Week at the Venice...
An Arab Woman’s Place is in the Struggle Curated by Giovanni Vimercati Paraphrasing Assata Shakur’s dictum “a woman’s place is in the struggle,” this programme of films by and about women in the Middle East is meant to foreground their place on the frontlines of...
By Amin Pakparvar Ahmad Ghossein's film All This Victory offers a profound exploration of the human condition against the backdrop of the 2006 Lebanon conflict. Through the depiction of individual and collective suffering, the film delves into the multifaceted impacts...
Writer: Maedeh Moeini Author of Maajara Film School Editorial It doesn’t matter if there were never any ghosts under your bed at night. They were still there, somewhere. - Familiar Phantoms Familiar Phantoms (2023), a 40-minute documentary by Larissa Sansour and Søren...
JOSIE FANON, 1977 TRANSLATED BY SIS MATTHÉ What does it mean to make a film when you are a woman, an Algerian, a novelist (writing in French) and you decide to make it in your own country, for the people of that country, with the widest distribution possible, as it is...
By: Mary Jirmanus Saba Ten years on from the Arab Revolutions, it is essential that we think critically about the limitations and possibilities of image archives, lest it appear that the image of revolution is all we have left. Could a collection of worker strike...
An Analysis of Five Short Films by Young Female Filmmakers from Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, and Palestine to be soon showcased at the 32nd Raindance Festival 2024 in London, curated by Mania Akbari. Authors: Pegah Pezeshki and Mania Akbari Trauma, body, and geography...
Author: Ali Zokaei Introduction: Zones of Chaos Our world is full of chaos, which comes in different qualities, intensities, and proportions. Every space, land, place, and time is subject to chaos. Based on this variability, it can be said that the "Middle East" has...
Author: Katayoon Barzegar Science fiction films are not about science; they are about disasters. Susan Sontag - The Imagination of Disaster The science fiction genre might be the last thing that comes to mind for a film about Palestine. The first question that arises...
Writer: Pegah Pezeshki But, memories become political, when there is a constant and pervasive attack against land and body to make us forget the past. Memories; those fragmented, scattered, and ambiguous images, or those that are sometimes very clear and detailed in...
A Review By Nick Bradshaw Disruption, dispossession, dislocation, separation… These six short films directed by a new crop of female Iranian directors speak almost shoulder to shoulder of loss, of broken homes and hearts and life-paths; some but not all forge new...
Heiny Srour was born in Beirut, Lebanon in the mid-40’s. She studied anthropology at the Sorbonne under Maxime Rodinson, a renowned Orientalist and Social Anthropologist. It was during this time that she became interested in film, influenced by the ethnological films...
Hend Alawadhi The IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication and Film Abstract Palestinian cinema is intricately tied to the memory of a pre-1948 Palestine and the desire of return; one that must be understood in the context of sixty years of exile and dispersion. It is...
Author: Sepid Ghaemi When we use the term "independent" in isolation, specific meanings take shape in our minds. It belongs to the category of words that require constant definition and redefinition to reshape their boundaries, and perhaps this is its fundamental...
There’s a particular feeling I get when I’m about to see one of your films–an anticipation. It doesn’t matter if I’ve seen the film before or not (by now I think I’ve seen them all at least several times) I still get that feeling. I’m expecting something I seem to...
John Cassavetes started his career as an actor, most notably in Rosemary's Baby, but ended up becoming one of the catalysts for independent filmmaking -- a director who had his finger on the pulse of artists who wanted to create something outside of the predictability...
First things first: what do we mean when we talk about independent (or indie) films? Independent films don’t refer to just one particular genre. Rather, a film is classed as independent if it is made outside of the big studios. They’re made outside of the film studio...
The red carpet at mainstream events serves as a stage for the reflection and spotlighting of celebrities from the realms of commerce, art, and cinema. Their presence on the red carpet signifies a mission to portray films with substantial investments, and they...
Short-term program for the next three months: Production of one-minute videos by Middle Eastern and international filmmakers commemorating the anniversary of the government’s assassination of Jina and the “Women’s Freedom” movement. Introduction of independent Middle...