The Democratizaion of Arab Cinema In Times of Political Changes

November 11, 2014 @ 4:30pm
Johnson Center Room G
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia

Presented by the Middle East Studies Program, Arab Studies Institute, and Middle East Etc. Film Club

Featuring...
Eliane Raheb, director 

Do the changes/revolutions have a significant impact on Arab cinema? And if yes how? Is it in its form, content, language or institutions? What’s expected today from the Arab filmmakers nowadays? Are they fighting for new cinema laws, that disable censorship and give more liberty and freedom of expression? Will there be more space for independent movies on the market? We will try to answer these questions through taking some examples from the history of the Arab Cinema that were influenced by the winds of changes of the 60s, 70s and 80s eras (Algeria, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon), and compare them to today’s cinema trends in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, with a reflection on the role of cinema in times of changes, fiction v/s documentary.


About The Director
Eliane Raheb is born in Lebanon and is the director of 2 short films: The last screening and Meeting, and of the documentaries : Karib Baiid (So near yet so far), Intihar (Suicide) and Hayda Lubnan (“This is Lebanon”) which received the Excellency Award at the Yamagata film festival, and was broadcasted on ARTE/ZDF/ Al Jadeed and NHK. Layali Bala Noom (Sleepless nights) is her first feature documentary.
With Nizar Hassan, she founded ITAR productions, and the cross media documentary Arabi Hor (Free Arabs) www.arabihor.com, a project on the dailies of people within the Arab revolutions, that produced 160 short documentaries aired online.
She is also one of the founders of the cultural cooperative for cinema Beirut DC , where she was the artistic director of “Ayam Beirut al Cinem’iya” film festival for 6 editions.​