For the most up to date info email vika.gardner@ allegheny.edu.

All films start at 7:30 pm in 212 Carnegie Hall, Allegheny College, Meadville PA. Popcorn and a brief introduction provided, with an optional discussion following the film. Click here for map and directions

Middle East Film Series Schedule 

Thursday, September 11: Cease Fire (Iran, 2006, 105 mins.) This romantic comedy pits a spit-fire professional and her love interest. Riotously funny fight scenes will have you giggling for the rest of the evening.

Thursday, September 18: Baran (Iran, 2001, 96 mins.) Iran, like many other Middle Eastern countries, has issues with illegal workers. This movie portrays the issues concerning workers from Afghanistan. What happens when 17-year old Latif loses his job on a construction site to an Afghani? Although this sounds deadly serious, it’s actually a romantic drama, with plenty of food for thought about life in Iran and how it compares to problems we know well in the U.S.
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Thursday, September 25: A New Day in Old Sana’a (Yemen, 2005, 86 mins.) Yet another romantic drama about Tariq, from a socially prominent family, who is contemplating his upcoming wedding. Reputed to be the first feature film to be made in Yemen, it will provide food for discussion about the roles of women and class in Yemeni life as well as depicting some of the customs surrounding weddings in Yemen.

Thursday, October 2: Le Grand Voyage (France to Saudi Arabia, 2005, 108 mins.) This film is a road trip of a father and son from France to Mecca. In circling the Mediterranean, you can see the two working out their relationship in addition to contemplating their surroundings. Special treats in honor of ‘Id al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting!

(The series will be on hiatus for two weeks -- study hard for midterms!)

Thursday, October 23: Man Push Cart (US, 2006, 87 mins.) What is life like for a Pakistani rock star who immigrates to New York City? A simple story of hard work will show you a different side of what it is to be a Middle Easterner in America.

Thursday, October 30: Yossi & Jagger (Israel, 2002, 67 mins.) This view of the Israeli army shows two (male) soldiers who have to hide their love for one another. Israel’s universal conscription also calls up women, and the presentation here will provide fuel for discussion. If students are interested, we can also screen The Bubble (Israel and Palestine, 2006, 90 mins), which portrays a gay Palestinian and Israeli struggling to find a common ground.

Thursday, November 6: Osama (Afghanistan, 2003, 82 mins.) No, not that Osama! This moving drama presents three generations of women who together are trying to survive without men during the Taliban era. Violence, gender-bending, and ideas about both masculinity and femininity are prominent themes. Stridently anti-Taliban, this film presents all its worst sides.

Thursday, November 13: The Closed Doors (Egypt, 1999, 105 mins.) The earliest of our films, this drama, set in the early 1990s, presents a high school student, Mohamed, whose desire for women is leading him into trouble both at school and at home. What happens when an Islamist teacher is the only one who really listens to him? This is a wonderful look at complex family relationships and the life of a struggling teenager.

Thursday, November 20: The Syrian Bride (Israel and Syria, 2004, 97 mins.) This drama, set in a disputed section of what is now northern Israel, shows a Druze family preparing for the wedding of their daughter Mona to a Syrian television personality. Complex family and government interactions show some of the frustrations of life on many kinds of borders.

Thursday, December 4: Under the Moonlight (Iran, 2001, 100 mins.) The last film follows a young man studying to be a cleric in Tehran, and it quickly becomes clear he’s not an enthusiastic student. When he encounters a different side of the city, he has to confront how sheltered his life is. The realism of this drama will have you reconsidering the Iran the American media so frequently presents.