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Content

Middle Eastern Studies


Middle Eastern Studies



DISTURBING THE PEACE

Directed by Stephen Apkon, Andrew Young

A film about people born into conflict, sworn to be enemies, Palestinians and Israelis, who challenged their fate and joined together to say "enough."

In a world torn by conflict--in a place where the idea of peace has been abandoned--an energy of determined optimism emerges. When someone is willing to disturb the status quo and stand for the dream of a free and secure world, who will stand with them?

DISTURBING THE PEACE is a story of the human potential unleashed when we stop participating in a story that no longer serves us and, with the power of our convictions, take action to create new possibilities. DISTURBING THE PEACE follows former enemy combatants--Israeli soldiers from elite units and Palestinian fighters, many of whom served years in prison--who have joined together to challenge the status quo and say "enough."

The film reveals their transformational journeys from soldiers committed to armed battle to nonviolent peace activists, leading to the creation of Combatants for Peace. While based in the Middle East, DISTURBING THE PEACE evokes universal themes relevant to us all and inspires us to become active participants in the creation of our world.


DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, College Adults) / 86 minutes

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OPEN BETHLEHEM

Directed by Leila Sansour

The filmmaker comes home to Bethlehem to find the city being strangled by the wall and ongoing Israeli settlements, and starts a campaign to keep Bethlehem open to the world.

Reports predict that if trends continue the Christian community of Bethlehem, a city that provides a model for a multi-faith Middle East, may be unsustainable within one generation. The enormous wall and ongoing Israeli settlements are strangling the city. Leila Sansour's plan to stay a year stretches to seven, and is only resolved when she realizes that, sometimes, the biggest dreams take flight from the smallest places.

OPEN BETHLEHEM is a story of a homecoming to the world's most famous little town. The film spans seven momentous years in the life of Bethlehem, revealing a city of astonishing beauty and political strife under occupation. The film draws from 700 hours of original footage and some rare archive material. In fact the making of this film has led to the creation of the largest visual archive of Bethlehem in the world and plans are currently being discussed with University College London (UCL) to turn the collection into a museum.

While telling a personal story, the film charts the creation of a campaign, named Open Bethlehem, to compel international action to bring peace to the Middle East.


DVD / 2016 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adults) / 90 minutes

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RUINS OF LIFTA, THE

Directors: Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky

Lifta is the only Arab village abandoned in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that has not been completely destroyed or repopulated by Jews. Its ruins are now threatened by an Israeli development plan that would convert it into an upscale Jewish neighborhood. Discovering that his parents' Holocaust experiences may have distorted his views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Menachem - the filmmaker and an Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn - sets out to establish a personal relationship with a Palestinian. He meets Yacoub, who was expelled from Lifta and now leads the struggle to save the haunting ruins of his village from Israeli plans to build luxury villas on the site. Learning that Lifta was once a place where Jews and Arabs got along, Menachem joins Yacoub's campaign in the hopes that Lifta can serve as a place of reflection and reconciliation. This sets up a climactic encounter between a Holocaust survivor and a Nakba refugee amidst the ruins of Lifta.


DVD / 2016 / 77 minutes

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SPEED SISTERS

Director: Amber Fares

The Speed Sisters are the first all-woman race car driving team in the Middle East. Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank, these five women have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, male-dominated Palestinian street car-racing scene. Weaving together their lives on and off the track, Speed Sisters takes you on a surprising journey into the drive to go further and faster than anyone thought you could.


DVD (Arabic and English with English subtitles) / 2016 / 80 minutes

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AMONG THE BELIEVERS

Directors: Hemal Trivedi & Mohammed Ali Naqvi

Firebrand cleric Abdul Aziz Ghazi, an ISIS supporter and Taliban ally, is waging jihad against the Pakistani government with the aim of imposing Shariah law. His primary weapon is his expanding network of Islamic seminaries for children as young as four. Among the Believers follows Aziz's personal quest, and charts the lives of two of his teenage students who are pawns in his ideological war.


DVD (English and Urdu with English subtitles) / 2015 / 84 minutes

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BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Directed by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman

A personal essay revealing the passionate debates over identity and generational change inside today's American Jewish community.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS is a groundbreaking personal exploration of the community and family divisions that are redefining American Jewish identity and politics. The filmmakers' own families are battlegrounds over loyalty to Israel, interpretations of the Holocaust, intermarriage, and a secret communist past.

Filmed in the United States and Israel, this first-person documentary begins with a near riot at a Jewish Film Festival in San Francisco, reveals the agonizing battle over divestment from Israel on a university campus, and shows the crackdown on dissent in Israel itself.


DVD / 2011 / (College, Adult) / 70 minutes

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INVENTING OUR LIFE

Director: Toby Perl Freilich

Set against the backdrop of its glorious 100-year history, Inventing Our Life reveals the heartbreak and hope of Israel's modern kibbutz movement as a new generation struggles to ensure its survival. Can a radically socialist institution survive a new capitalist reality? How will painful reforms affect those who still believe in the kibbutz experiment, and continue to call it home?

Through the lens of its communal movement, director Toby Perl Freilich explores the modern history of Israel, from its revolutionary settlers to the political upheaval that shook the socialist foundations of the state. We meet first, second and third generation members from kibbutzim like Degania, the flagship commune established in 1909; Hulda, once near collapse and recently privatized; and Sasa, the first to be settled entirely by Americans and today Israel's wealthiest kibbutz.

With their desire to create a Jewish homeland and build a more just society, the first settlers helped place kibbutzim in the vanguard of Israeli history. In doing so, they became a magnet for all those who shared one thing in common - a powerful urge to invent their own life.


DVD-R (English, Hebrew, With English subtitles) / 2011 / 81 minutes

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BHUTTO

Director: Duane Baughman & Johnny O'Hara

A recent Sundance world premiere, Bhutto tells the epic story of one of the most fascinating characters of our time- Benazir Bhutto, the first woman in history to lead a Muslim nation. A favored daughter of the family often called the "Kennedys of Pakistan," Benazir was elected Prime Minister after her father was overthrown and executed by his own military. Her two terms in power saw extreme acts of courage and controversy as she tried to clean up Pakistan's corrupt political culture while quelling the fires of radical Islam that threaten to engulf the region. A fascinating array of archival footage and interviews with family members and leading experts brings life to this tale of Shakespearean dimension in the country the Economist calls "the World's most dangerous place."


DVD / 2010 / 111 minutes

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SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO: EN ROUTE TO BAGHDAD

Director: Simone Duarte

When Kofi Annan asked Sergio Vieira de Mello to be his top envoy in Baghdad following the US-led invasion of Iraq, he knew that his request was highly unprecedented. There was no doubt de Mello was the most skilled mediator at the UN, perhaps the only one who could balance the delicate intricacies that the situation presented. Yet he was also the person that the UN - and the world - could least afford to lose.

On August 19th, 2003, a bomb exploded outside the UN headquarters in Baghdad. Among the 22 killed was Sergio Vieira de Mello. Years later, the shadow of uncertainty continues to loom heavily over Iraq.

One of the most tireless and effective advocates for peace and stability the world has ever known, the Brazilian born diplomat traversed the globe using his uncommon diplomatic skills to accomplish the impossible. Travelling to four continents and featuring the stories and reminiscences of colleagues and luminaries whose lives he touched, this award-winning documentary is "a testament to the power of diplomacy and the proven impact of an insouciant, simple charm that reaches people on a human level" (Sun Sentinel, Florida).


DVD / 2010 / 56 minutes

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INSIDE THE KORAN

Director: Antony Thomas

The Koran is one of the most ideologically influential texts in the world, with over a billion Muslims following its precepts. Yet within this singular religious community there are profound differences in attitudes about peace, violence, punishment, forgiveness and the status of women, among others. In this eye-opening film, award-winning director Antony Thomas goes deep into the heart of the Muslim world, exploring the history and current state of Islam. He also examines the personal lives of his subjects, who range from ayatollahs and grand imams to simple farmers and women living in veiled seclusion; their relationship with this holy Book reveals a complex, beautiful and often contradictory guide for humanity.


DVD-R / 2008 / 94 minutes

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KABUL TRANSIT

A street-level documentary that explores the soul of a city devastated by nearly three decades of war.

In the broken cityscape of Kabul, Afghanistan, amid the dust and rubble of war, Westerners and Afghans adjust to the uncertain possibilities of peace. Kabul Transit shuttles through the broken streets of the city, moving between public space and private, listening in on conversations, posing questions, probing the darker alleys mainstream media avoids. The result is a unique cinematic experience-a shifting mosaic of encounters and raconteurs, captured glances and telling gestures, all beautifully shot and woven together by the music and the found sounds of a city sluggishly coming to life. Rejecting the usual device of narration and portraiture, the film asks the viewer to experience Kabul as a newly arrived visitor would-with a freshness born of apprehension on finding oneself in a place that is at once hauntingly strange and altogether familiar.


DVD (Color, Closed Captioned, With English & Spanish Subtitles) / 2006 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 84 minutes

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MOTHERLAND AFGHANISTAN

Director: Sedika Mojadidi

Filmmaker Sedika Mojadidi and her father, Dr. Qudrat Mojadidi, are Afghans who have made a home in the United States. After the US-led invasion to oust the Taliban, Dr. Mojadidi, a specialist in women's health, decides to return to his war-ravaged homeland to help rebuild and modernize the hospitals and clinics which serve the women of Afghanistan.

Sedika, camera in hand, accompanies her father in order to document this most difficult yet rewarding journey. The result is Motherland Afghanistan, an inspiring portrait of dedication and fortitude in some of the most harsh and unforgiving physical, political and cultural terrain on Earth.


DVD (English and Farsi with English Subtitles) / 2006 / 74 minutes

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RETURN TO KANDAHAR

Post-war Afghanistan, as seen through the eyes of Nelofer Pazira, star of the movie "Kandahar," as she searches for her childhood friend.

Nelofer Pazira, the star of the movie "Kandahar," returns to Afghanistan to seek out her childhood friend Dyana, whose story inspired that film. Landing in Kabul 13 years after her family left Russian-occupied Afghanistan, Nelofer unravels her past and the history of her country while searching for Dyana; the epic journey takes her to Kabul, Kandahar and Masir-e- Sharif, where Dyana's uncle last had contact with her family.

Nelofer journeys across a broken land smashed by war with the Russians, years of anarchy under the Northern Alliance, the Taliban, and now by America's "war on terror." Incisively weaving Nelofer's personal story with that of Afghanistan itself, RETURN TO KANDAHAR shows a country once again in the grip of warlords


DVD (Color) / 2003 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 65 minutes

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CITY LIFE: GAZA UNDER SIEGE

The Gaza Strip has been a virtual prison for Palestinians for over fifty years.

One of the most densely populated places on earth, the Gaza Strip, is home to a million Palestinians -- and is a virtual prison. Just forty-three kilometers long and ten kilometers wide, most of its residents are refugees who have lived in camps since 1948. Since the Palestinian uprising -- the second Intifada -- began in September 2000, none of Gaza's forty thousand day laborers have been able to cross the border to Israel. The checkpoint is also closed to all goods and medical supplies coming in from Israel and the West Bank. Local Gazans bear the brunt of Israel's determination to quash the uprising.

This program from the City Life series films Reyidh and Sabah -- from just one refugee family trying to cope. Already poor, the family has reached breaking point, with Sabah wondering how long life can go on with no solution in sight.

Raji Soranj, a human rights lawyer, asks why the United Nations shies away from its responsibilities and fails to criticize Israel's aggression and the denial of the Palestinians' rights -- rights laid down in UN resolutions, but ignored by Israel, and it seems, by the rest of the international community.


DVD (Color) / 2001 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 27 minutes

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CITY LIFE: THE MILLER'S TALE - BREAD IS LIFE

Efforts are underway in Egypt and Yemen to fortify flour with iron to wipe out needless malnutrition.

Iron deficiency anemia is the most widespread nutritional disorder in the world, a severe health problem that affects more than 3.5 billion people. It causes a range of problems, from extreme lethargy to low birth weight, stunting, maternal mortality, miscarriage and loss of productivity. More than half the population of Middle Eastern countries is iron-deficient -- yet fortifying flour with iron costs about US $2 per person, per lifetime.

To quell the anemia epidemic in the Middle East, health professionals urge that fortified flour be used in bread. But because of complex social and cultural issues in the Middle East, fortifying flour with iron is difficult. Bread originated in Egypt and has been sacred since ancient times. Because of deeply rooted beliefs many millers refuse to add anything unnatural to their bread.


DVD (Color) / 2001 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 27 minutes

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CITY LIFE: WAITING TO GO

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are denied human rights.

This program from the City Life series is set in Lebanon, where (according to the UN) there are three hundred seventy-five thousand Palestinian refugees. Palestinians are unwanted in Israel, but in war-torn, sectarian Lebanon, among fellow Arabs, they hardly fare better, and most live in poverty. Barred from working, they also have limited access to medical care and higher education. Many have been in Lebanon for over fifty years.

A Palestinian doctor working in the PLO-funded Haifa hospital in Burj el Barajneh refugee camp, Beirut, earns US $200 month, and is glad of the work: she's forbidden in any Lebanese hospital. Elsewhere young Palestinians do not value education because they see their parents in menial, part-time jobs regardless of their qualifications. For refugees living in South Lebanon, a degree qualifies a person to pick oranges, at a salary of US $6.30 a day. South Lebanon's refugees are even prohibited from rebuilding their houses.

Those who can get out of Lebanon go to Europe, Canada, USA -- but they never give up hope of returning to their villages in Palestine. Adding insult to injury, a recent law enacted in Lebanon prohibits Palestinians from owning property -- though people from any other recognized state have that right. But Palestinians do not have a state: they are officially stateless.


DVD (Color) / 2001 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 27 minutes

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LIFE: IN THE NAME OF HONOUR

Kurdish women fight for their rights in Northern Iraq.

It's autumn in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq -- and the wedding season is coming to an end. Marriage for most Kurdish brides promises freedom and respectability. But for others, it can bring isolation, cruelty and even death.

This Life program explores how oppression of the minority Kurds in the disputed enclave of north Iraq has unleashed a chain of violence -- often directed at the weakest members of Kurdish society: its women.

A former doctor, Nasik gave up her career to run a shelter for women living under threat of death from their families. "Till now," she says, "hundreds of women have been killed in Iraqi Kurdistan simply because they fell in love, or because they demanded their basic rights -- such as the right to divorce or to be treated as a human being, to go outdoors, to be free to talk to other men."

Beyan is a lawyer fighting to change the laws on justice for women. "A lot of people treat honor like capital," she explains, "and for them, their capital is women and should be guarded closely."

Ironically, one area of Kurdish life where women are most free is the government-backed Peshmerga Force of women soldiers. 31-year-old Rezan, their commander, spent two years in Iraqi prisons, and lost both her brother and fiance to Saddam Hussein's forces. Now she teaches her young recruits to stand up for their rights. "Young women should be active players in tomorrow's society," she says. "I teach them how to look after themselves."


DVD (Color) / 2000 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 24 minutes

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DEVELOPING STORIES 1: ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT - SUSPENDED DREAMS

Directed by Mai Masri and Jean Camoun

The lasting effects of the civil war in Lebanon.

A courageous documentary from Lebanon about the effects of 16 years of civil war on what was once the intellectual, cultural and commercial center of the Arab world. The film tells the story of four Beirut citizens from very different backgrounds as they struggle to reconstruct their homes and lives amid the chaos, the broken buildings, and the unexploded mines of their once beautiful city. The film assesses the appalling impact of modern warfare on the environment, and looks ahead to a new conflict in the making over the Middle East's most precious commodity -- water.


DVD / 1992 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 50 minutes

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FULL BATTLE RATTLE

Directors - Tony Gerber & Jesse Moss

Full Battle Rattle is a revelatory look at the soul of the American war machine, and a potent allegory of America's military misadventures in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

In California's Mojave Desert, the US Army has built a billion dollar urban warfare simulation - a village they call Medina Wasl, populated with Iraqi exiles, all playing pre-assigned roles ranging from mayor to grocer to doctor to mother. An Army Battalion has been given the mission to quell an insurgency and prevent Medina Wasl from slipping into civil war. Covering both sides of the conflict as the mood in the village shifts from friendly banter to violent clashes, the film follows the Army Colonel who commands the Battalion, the Iraqis who play civilians on the battlefield, and the American soldiers cast as insurgents.

From the moment they begin playing their roles, the stakes are high and the emotions at fever pitch. As reality and fantasy overlap, Full Battle Rattle moves from comic to surreal to disturbing - revealing the challenges and perhaps futility of "liberating" people half a world away.


DVD-R (With English Subtitles) / 85 minutes

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