Arab Women’s Films Highlight Festival

By KIM JENSEN

The Arab Film Festival, Cinemayaat, extending from Berkeley to San Francisco to San Jose, has come and gone—with much ado.

The festival offered an eclectic program, featuring several genres from the documentary form to feature films to experimental shorts. Highlights included a retrospective on the career of Youssef Chahine and a special series entitled “Conflicts: Past and Present,” which explored the effects of war and exile in the Arab World.

The week-long festival, sponsored by the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association, was well-organized and well-attended, often with standing-room-only audiences. Several of the filmmakers were present, adding an aura of excitement and authenticity to the showings.

Many regions were represented in the festival, with especially strong work from North Africa, Egypt and Palestine. The absence of films from or about Iraq was painfully conspicuous; it would have been an important moment to include at least one documentary on the crisis there. It was a telling deficiency, perhaps indicating a flaw in Arab cinema as a whole.

Even with this obvious gap, and the inclusion of some relatively disengaging films from Lebanon, the festival was encouraging for many reasons. One of the most promising aspects of the week was the abundance of excellent films by women or concerning women’s issues. Though the content of these films was sometimes quite grim, the emerging talent was unmistakable. And the fact that these difficult topics are being brought to the screen holds some promise for the future. Three documentaries in this category were especially noteworthy: “Children of Shatila,”   “Women In The Sun,” and “Days of Democracy.”

One of the many gifted filmmakers present at the festival was Mai Masri, the award-winning director of “Children of Fire,” “Hanan Ashrawi: A Woman of her Time,” as well as many other films. Her new work is entitled “Children of Shatila.” With a technical mastery of the documentary genre and a special talent for catching symbolic moments, Masri’s film is a tender representation of the lives of children inside a war-torn, embattled refugee camp.

Upon a backdrop of rubble, poverty, and a devastating history, “Children of Shatila” traces the daily lives of two Palestinian children, Farah and Issa.  Comprised of interviews, candid moments, as well as scenes that the children themselves taped, the film gives an intimate picture of the tragedies and the hopes that shape their lives.

Both Farah and Issa have lost loved ones to the war. Both children are extremely imaginative, loving, strong, and funny. Both of them also hold the fond hope of one day returning to Palestine, which they see as an idyllic fairy tale land. Their innocent, uncomplicated yearning for return is especially poignant to the adult viewer who understands the real political landscape and the barriers to the realization of these wistful dreams. Is this an unforgivably cruel hoax that has been played on them, or a national vision that will one day come to fruition?

Producing a political film using children as the focal point runs the risk of either being overly sentimental or verging on exploitative. Masri is obviously aware of these pitfalls, because just when the film could easily slip into pure polemics, Masri captures a moment so vivid and real that it alone justifies the film.

The realities of the children’s hard working families, their struggle to survive and bring beauty into their lives, and their will to overcome unbelievable suffering is powerful subject matter.

When introducing the film, Masri said that the documentary “makes the connection between memory, identity, and fantasy.” This was an apt description of a film whose music, images and reflections from three generations of refugees creates an almost dreamlike atmosphere.  “Children of Shatila” cannot help but be a moving experience for anyone who is cognizant of the Palestinian tragedy.

On a bleaker note, the festival brought another Palestinian documentary, “Women in the Sun” by Sobhi Zobeidi of Ramallah. Filmed for the most part in Gaza, “Women in the Sun” was dedicated to Ghassan Kanafani. While Kanafani’s novella “Men in the Sun” portrays the plight of three Palestinian workers, this gripping documentary focuses on the deep-rooted and taboo subject of violence against women. The film paints a desperate picture of marital coercion, forced marriages, forced suicides, and the “honor killings” that seem to be an unspoken aspect of Palestinian life.

The film, set in the slums of Gaza, is mainly constructed from a series of interviews with four battered women who remain anonymous. With melancholic flute music underscoring their words, the women reveal private details of their lives. One woman describes how her husband smashed her jaw with his foot. Another woman tells how she was driven to attempt suicide by her husband and his oppressive family. Yet another woman who lives with an abusive, negligent husband likens her existence to “living in a grave, only bigger.”

A separate interview gives voice to two men who were imprisoned for killing a female family member who had been sexually assaulted. The discussion with these “honor killers” reveals two unrepentant fundamentalists who are thoroughly convinced that they have done the right thing. They feel that God asked them to defend the family’s honor; and that the victim’s murder was the natural penalty for her crime. They seem confident of an early release, hoping to be out of prison within two or three years.

The filmmaker also interviews various activists in the struggle for women’s rights in the emergent Palestinian state.  These activists describe, often with great poignancy, the condition of survivors of incest, rape, or spousal abuse, all of whom remain powerless, with no recourse in the law. One activist spoke about a young girl who was raped and impregnated by a family member. The police, not knowing what else to do, actually put the victim in prison.

The film takes us back and forth between the privacy of the clandestine interviews and the public arena where these topics are being openly discussed as “policy issues.” The juxtaposition of the revelations of the four anonymous women and the cold, rational statements by Palestinian Authority bureaucrats creates a mounting tension and bitter irony throughout the film. On the one hand, we witness testimony from women whose lives have become unbearable; on the other hand, an influential sheikh, Sheikh Bassam Jarrar, goes on record saying that those who struggle for women’s rights are nothing but Westernized atheists.

In the context of a nascent Palestinian democracy, the discussion of these questions is pivotal. The ideas expressed in the political meetings range from the secular, to the moderate, to the radical fundamentalist positions. The overarching debate seems to be whether or not to follow Islamic code or civil secular law. The filmmaker, Zobeidi, clearly comes down on the side of a secular government, which is perhaps the only way for women to stake their claim for equality under a neutral law.

 “Women in the Sun” leaves us with an almost hopeless feeling that the plight of abused Palestinian women will not change soon. Given the terrible economic and social conditions from decades of Israeli occupation, the Palestinian fundamentalist movement is immensely popular; indeed it is the social force to be reckoned with. Though “Women in the Sun” does not claim that only fundamentalists commit crimes against women, it clearly implies they are unwilling to enter a forthright discussion of women’s rights. The film, therefore, makes a gut-wrenching indictment of  the whole situation, leaving the viewer with many conflicting feelings, but particularly anger.

Rather than portraying women as victims, Ateyyat el-Abnoudy, a female filmmaker from Egypt, has chosen to focus her upbeat “Days of Democracy” on women who fight for a voice in the political arena.  “Days of Democracy,” an hour-long documentary, is a chronicle of the 30-some women who ran in the parliamentary elections of 1995. Traversing Egypt, from delta to desert, Cairo to the coast, el-Abnoudy records the political speeches and interviews of these articulate candidates. Without censoring any political viewpoint, the film covers all parties and perspectives from left, center, and right. Some of the women clearly are coming from a feminist perspective while others have thrown themselves into politics for a variety of local reasons.

The best part of this documentary is its ability to convey a sense of excitement and exhilaration in the democratic process. While several candidates pointed out the corruption and injustice of Egypt’s electoral process, still the mood of the constituents and supporters was undeniably ebullient.

For a Western viewer, this film is especially educational about the serious issues facing ordinary Egyptians, taking us on a tour of some of the poorest neighborhoods and villages, capturing what could be called “the voice of the people.” Unemployment, poverty, water, and lack of basic human services are the common problems facing the majority of Egyptians who speak out in the film. To her credit, the filmmaker brings these issues into clear focus.

Though the film does become a bit repetitive in the middle, it is truly panoramic in its scope. It is worth the wait for the final scene—a candid, last-minute interview with a woman named Nafisa from the village of Edfu. Having just come on foot from photocopying election materials, this working-class candidate speaks from the heart, saying that the only reason she does this work is to try to ease the suffering of her people. “My work is always for the poor,” she says.  Her face is sincere, her eyes speak the truth.

“Days of Democracy” is a warm experience, bringing real lives and infectious smiles to the screen. El-Abnoudy should be praised for creating a compelling film that skillfully documents an important historical moment.

Overall, this year’s Arab Film Festival was a success, bringing a number of excellent works beyond those mentioned here. Though films which might be called “masterpieces” were far and few between, this event makes an important contribution to the cultural development of both the U.S. and the Arab World. The presence of such a festival is significant because it continues to raise the level of debate. Exposing its strengths and weaknesses can only help increase interest and dialogue about Middle Eastern Cinemayaat.

This review essay appeared in Al Jadid (Vol.5, no. 28, Summer 1999)
Copyright (c) 1999 by Al Jadid