Modern Iranian, Arab and Israeli Cinema
A Film Series

All films screened in LPAC cinema at 7 pm
Followed by refreshments and student-faculty conversation

March 31 The Cow (Gav), Iran

By director Dariush Mehrjui.
A peasant has a single cow which is his only source of income. When the cow dies in his absence, the peasant’s life is transformed by the absent animal with whom he profoundly identifies. Based on a story by dissident writer, Gholamhosain Saedi, this film was banned for a year under the Shah’s regime. When finally released, it lead the “New Wave” film movement in Iran.

April 2 Downpour (Ragbar), Iran

By director Bahram Baiza'i.
A new teacher in Tehran confronts students and a community that is slow to accept him. The story unfolds involving love and jealosy, after the teacher is forced to expel one of his students and has to confront the student’s sister. The film is about how a stranger challenges established relationships and expectations. The director was a playwright and theater scholar before turning to cinema.

April 7 Child of the Terraces (Halfaouine: Usfur al-Sath), Tunisia

By director Ferid Boughedir.
Noura is an inquisitive thirteen-year-old whose eyes are opened to his own sexual desires when he visits the local bathhouse with his mother. Just as Noura is awakened to the pleasures of the opposite sex, he risks being wrestled from their tender, affectionate companionship and thrust into the callous company of men.

April 14 How I Learned to Overcome My Fear and Love Arik (Ariel) Sharon, Israel

By director Avi Mograbi.
A mockumentary that is almost an Israeli version of Roger and Me, predicting the Sharon regime and its relationship to Intifada. In the course of making the film, Mograbi sets aside his leftist political beliefs and gets surprisingly close to Sharon. The real story is of the impossible close encounter between left and right in present-day Israel.

May 5 A Door on the Sky is Open (Bab al-Sama Maftuh), Morocco

By director Farida Ben Lyazid.
A young woman struggles between her Moroccan heritage and adopted French culture. She returns to Fes when her father dies, she returns to his house. An elderly woman Qur’an reciter, she decides to keep the house as a women’s shelter.