Event Details
July 25, 2020
7:00 pm EDT
Virtual
Join us for our second Shorts Programme followed by a Panel Discussion on titled “Defying Politics, Towards Pan-Arabism in Cinema: The Role of Transnational Cinemas and Film Festivals in Creating a New Arab Cinema” featuring speakers Walid El-Kachab, Christina Piovesan and Viviane Saglier, moderated by Karam Masri.
Screenings:
Towards the Sun//نحو الشمس
Country: Canada, Lebanon
Director: Nour Ouayda
Length: 17 mins
Synopsis: You are now in the main hall of the National Museum in Beirut. A guard reminds you that you are encouraged to touch the archeological objects. A voice in your headset suggests that you lick the stone. You are now facing a hole in the wall on the lower left corner of a mosaic. The voice in your headset indicates that it was made by a sniper. Out of curiosity, you dial 1-9-9-1 to listen to the rest of the story.
In the Middle//في المنتصف
Country: Yemen, Qatar, Russia
Director: Mariam Al Dhubhani
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: In a rarely seen perspective of war, we follow Ali—a Yemeni soldier on tour in the temporary capital of Aden. Leaving his hopes, dreams, and education behind to join the military, Ali dutifully sits at his checkpoint, performing a mundane task that he is clearly overqualified to do. His story represents the majority of youth in the country, people who are unable to just ‘live’, but instead are forced to continually struggle to survive.
Four Acts for Syria//أربع فصول من أجل سوريا
Country: Syria, Germany
Director: Waref Abo Qaba
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: Syrian history has been multicultural for centuries. This film is a voyage through Syrian culture until today’s insanity. It is a message of peace and hope for the Syrian people.
The Return of Osiris//عودة اوزيريس
Country: Palestine
Director: Essa Grayeb
Length: 14 mins
Synopsis: On June 9, 1967, Egyptian President at the time, Gamal Abdel Nasser appeared on television and radio to inform the Egyptian citizens of their country’s defeat. During the speech, he also announced his resignation. For many, Nasser’s speech was the first hint at the full scope of loss and disillusionment with the pan-Arab vision he led. The film weaves together dozens of scenes that feature the speech from Egyptian films and television series produced between 1972-2016. The found footage excerpts were edited to reconstruct Nasser’s speech of resignation according to the original text.
Compressed//مضغوط
Country: Syria, France
Director: Ali Dawwa
Length: 8 mins
Synopsis: Compressed highlights the work of Khaled Dawwa, a Syrian artist, who was in one of the Syrian regime’s prisons. He met many young people in the prison, their only guilt and the great crime was that they had dreamed of, and asked for a better future. Released from prison, Khaled, now lives in France. He considers himself a hope for all those who are still in prison and expresses their voice and suffering through his sculptures. For Khaled, love and revolution are inseparable.
I Have Seen Nothing,I Have Seen All//لم أرى شيئا, رأيت كل شيء
Country: Syria, Sweden
Director: Yasser Kassab
Length: 20 mins
Synopsis: After talking about the end of the war in Syria and the start of the reconstruction phase, Yaser and his family find themselves compelled to deal with the transfer of graves from public parks in Aleppo. Thousands of kilometers separate Yaser from his parents in Aleppo. With what these two places carry of contradiction is reflecting the way they both deal with what happened.
Panel:
Defying Politics, Towards Pan-Arabism in Cinema: The Role of Transnational Cinemas and Film Festivals in Creating a New Arab Cinema
Moderator:
Karam Masri, Filmmaker
Karam Masri is a Program Consultant for Film & Television at Ontario Creates, the provincial agency that supports the economic development of Ontario’s cultural sectors. Prior to joining Ontario Creates, Karam was the Business Analyst at the Bell Fund, a private fund that supports the creation and development of Canadian digital/TV multi-platform projects. Karam holds two Master’s degrees: an MFA in Film Production and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. She also wrote & directed the short film “Juha the Whale”, winner of the York Thesis prize.
Speakers:
Christina Piovesan, Producer & President of First Generation Films
Christina Piovesan is the founder and principal of First Generation Films, a film and tv production company based in Toronto. Past films include the Cannes Winner Amreeka directed by Cherien Dabis; The Whistleblower directed by Larysa Kondracki, Mouthpiece directed by Patricia Rozema, Paper Year, written and directed by Rebecca Addelman and American Woman directed by Semi Chellas which had its Canadian premiere as a Gala Presentation at TIFF 2019. Her collaboration with Elevation Productions, the production arm of Elevation Pictures, has Christina in post-production on The Exchange directed by Dan Mazer and French Exit directed by Azazel Jacobs. Most recently, Christina was producer on The Nest directed by Sean Durkin which had its premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival
Dr. Walid El Kachab, Associate Professor, Arabic Studies, York University
Walid El Khachab has published in Cairo four poetry collections in Arabic: The Dead do not consume (Al Mawta La Yastahlekoon, 2001); She who is (Allati, 2013); Sudden Moon (Qamar Mofajei’, 2015), I’timad’s Booth (Koshk I’timad, 2019). In 2022, his monograph about legendary Arab comedian Fuad al-Mohandes The Arachitect of Joy (Mohandes al Bahga) was released at Dar al Maraya publishing house, Cairo. He also translated into Arabic Canadian poet’s Mon Latif Ghattas collection, Les Chants du Karawan, and Canadian poetry theorist Paul Zumthor’s Introduction à la poésie orale. He teaches Arabic Studies at York University
Dr. Viviane Saglier, Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology and Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), McGill University
Viviane Saglier is a UTSC postdoctoral fellow in the Department of English at the University of Toronto. Prior to that, she was an Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the Anthropology Department at McGill University. She received her PhD in Film and Moving Image Studies from Concordia University. She is currently working on two projects: a first book on Palestinian film infrastructures, and a second book on histories of Arab cinema, gender, and decolonization. Her writings on Arab cinema, postcolonial theory, media economies, and transnational solidarity have appeared in several peer-reviewed journals and edited collections. Outside of the university, she curates collective programs of Arab cinema and political documentaries as well as video art exhibitions.
She started the Works-in-Progress (WIP) series and co-led the Political Imaginaries of Waiting working group.
Panel Sponsored by:
Co-presented by:
