First Annual Middle East Film Festival

Directed by Soudade Kaadan, Syria, Lebanon, 2017, 67 min, documentary

Obscure tells the story of Ahmad, a Syrian child who does not want to remember that he is Syrian. Half traumatized, half trying to escape his reality, Ahmad prefers to be silent and asleep. In his silence and refusal to talk, he takes us in a journey where individual and collective Syrian memories collapse.

Q&A with director Soudade Kaadan

Directed by Roshdy Ahmed, Egypt, 2017, 15 min, animation short film

An Egyptian artist named Khaled decides to investigate a murder case of a child who is selling sweet potato in Tahrir square. During his investigation, he has visions and nightmares about the child until he reaches a dead end and an unexpected outcome.

Q&A with actor, director and producer Khaled Abol Naga

Directed by Ahmad Abdallah, Egypt, 2010, 120 min, docufiction

Upon his return to Alexandria to attend his mother¡¯s funeral, Khaled becomes intrigued with a graffiti mural opposite his apartment. As he pursues this further, a larger underground arts scene slowly reveals itself, composed of musicians, filmmakers, and graffiti artists.

Q&A with actor, director and producer Khaled Abol Naga

Directed by Khaled Jarrar, Palestine, UAE, Lebanon, 2012, 70 min, documentary

Infiltrators is a visceral and haunting ¡°road movie¡± that chronicles the daily travails of Palestinians as they seek routes through, under, around, and over a matrix of walls and barriers erected by Israel in the West Bank/Jerusalem area.

Q&A with director Khaled Jarrar

Co-Sponsored by the International Studies Department

Directed by Kasim Abid, Europe and Iraq, 2018, 88 min, documentary Filmed over three decades, this ambitious project explores the lives of 7 Iraqi artists. Following them from graduation, to street art, to recognition, Abid showcases how interwoven art and personal lives are. The film focuses on the artists¡¯ experiences with exile, creativity, memories, nostalgia, war, and survival.

Q&A with Dr. Isis Nusair, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and International Studies, ±Ø²©ÓéÀÖ,±È²©ÓéÀÖÍøÖ· ######### University