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Director’s Biography:
Philip Bajjaly was born in Lebanon and has largely dedicated his career to conflict in the Middle East. During his undergraduate studies, he was introduced to the field while covering the war in Lebanon. He then studied filmmaking in London and worked with a major TV station in Lebanon, but finally went back to freelance documentary filmmaking. The alternating peace and war he has witnessed have influenced the topics he works on, which range from politics to the development of society in the Arab world. He has worked in almost every Arab nation and has made films there for Arab as well as European television networks.
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RESONANCE by Alaa eldin El Dajani
Resonance is a short documentary about Mustafa Sa'id a young Egyptian blind musician who found his liberation in traditional eastern music from a formidable handicap and an unwelcoming neighborhood. Through his story, a bigger picture is reflected about the mounting radicalism that is taking over a considerable part of the Egyptian society through its dogmatic view of music. |
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Director’s Biography:
Alaa eldin El Dajani is a Palestinian researcher and associate producer at El-Shorouk Media Production Company in Cairo. Before turning to documentary filmmaking, he used to work as a financial analyst for three years. Alaa eldin produced and directed one short documentary entitled "Resonance" in 2007. He also plays the oud professionally and has training in Arabic calligraphy. He holds a BA in Economics from the American University in Cairo and is expected to begin his Masters in Fine Arts in Documentary Filmmaking at Stanford University next fall. |
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THE PARTY AFTER THE WAR by Nathan Fisher and Matthew Bowlby, 30 minutes
In the largest exodus in six decades, at least five million Iraqis — 20 percent of Iraq's pre-war population — have fled their homes since the United States and its allies invaded the country in 2003. This work-in-progress screening of selections of “The Party After the War” chronicles the lives of several Iraqi refugees from a variety of religious and socioeconomic backgrounds who now live in Syria and Jordan. |
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Director’s Biography:
Nathan Fisher is the director and producer of “The Party After the War.” He is completing an MA in documentary film at the New School University in New York. Fisher has directed several documentary shorts and one feature length film on suburban development and urban sprawl in the San Francisco Bay Area. Matthew Bowlby is a producer and interpreter. He is fluent in five languages, including Arabic, and is currently a Civil Affairs Officer at the United Nations Mission in Sudan. |
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I KNOW I’M NOT ALONE By Michael Franti; Editor Carla Swanson, 50 minutes
Armed with an acoustic guitar and a video camera, songwriter Michael Franti goes on a musical journey through war and occupation in Iraq, looking at the human cost of war. A compelling soundtrack, visual and musical montages and Franti’s intimate voiceovers allow the film to cross the generation barrier. With its guerilla style footage captured in active war zones, the documentary is unlike the many academic and politically driven pieces in the marketplace, instead offering the audience a sense of intimate travel and the opportunity to hear the voices of everyday people living, creating and surviving under the harsh conditions of war. |
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Director’s Biography:
Carla Swanson is a graphic designer, filmmaker and creative director living in San Francisco. She graduated with a B.F.A. from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. After gaining experience by working internationally and later in Hollywood, she turned to documentary filmmaking. Swanson founded “The Hundredth Monkey,” a collective committed to increasing social awareness through design, art and film. In 2006, she co-founded ‘Stay Human Films’ with Michael Franti, which produced the documentary “I Know I’m Not Alone.” |
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THE TROUPE by Rabeah Ghaffari, 54 minutes
Ta’ziyeh, a traditional theatrical form from Iran that until now has virtually gone unnoticed, made its American debut at the Lincoln Center Festival under the direction of Mohammad Ghaffari, an Iranian director/actor living in exile in New York City. This film follows its production: the prologue takes places in Iran, and the film then flashes to the present in New York as Mohammad's troupe journeys to America to reunite with him after 23 years and struggle to put on a show for an American audience. “The Troupe” celebrates the spirit of art and its ability to transcend cultural and political boundaries, while entertaining us with its colorful characters.
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Director’s Biography:
Rabeah Ghaffari is an Iranian-born writer, film editor, filmmaker, director and actress. She has performed and directed shows in many New York theatres, edited a wide range of documentaries, and written a screenplay, “Neyshapoor.” She was also a participant of the Berlin Film Festival’s Talent Campus 2005 and a Fellow of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab 2006 in conjunction with the Royal Film Commission of Jordan. She is currently finishing her first novel, Caspian’s Sea. |
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BAM 6.6 by Jahangir Golestan-Parast, 60 minutes
The devastating earthquake that struck Bam, an ancient Iranian village, in 2003, transforms American and Iranian lives. The film weaves together stories of survival, loss, and healing, as we explore the humanity of the Iranian people through the prism of this devastating earthquake. Our subjects come from different walks of life - A Jewish-American woman, an American businessman, and the Iranian residents of Bam. Through their experiences, viewers will witness how a natural disaster can overcome religious and political barriers, dispel stereotypes, and unite disparate members of the human family. |
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Director’s Biography:
Jahangir Golestan-Parast producer/director of “Bam 6.6,” was born in Esfahan, and raised in a family of restaurateurs. Golestan-Parast left Iran at 17 to pursue his education in London and France, and finally settled in California 's Orange County. He has lived in four countries and traveled to nearly forty countries, providing a unique perspective on the many cultures that comprise today's world. An international financier and a student of film making at the University of California: Los Angeles, Golestan-Parast created the well-known "Essence of Iran Series" and has won critical acclaim. |
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LIFE IN FOG by Bahman Ghobadi; Executive Producer Bahman Maghsoudlou, 30 minutes
A fourteen-year-old boy, forced to provide for his younger siblings after the death of their parents, is driven to quit school and smuggle goods across the Iran/Iraq border. “Life in Fog” follows the boy’s efforts to succeed in this endeavor. |
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Executive Producer’s Biography:
Film scholar and critic, Bahman Maghsoudlou has been involved as a panelist, juror and lecturer at a wide variety of film festivals, and his films have been selected for more than 100 film festivals around the world. “Life in Fog” is the most awarded short documentary film in the history of Iranian Cinema. He is an author and editor of books on cinema, and his book Iranian Cinema is used around the world. He established the first Iranian Film Festival in New York City in 1980. |
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CYANOSIS by Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami, 32 minutes
Jamshid Aminfar is a painter, forced to work on the streets of Iran but determined to pursue the art he loves despite constant interruption and hassle from officials and the public. With the help of his friends he prepares for an exhibition. Without the help of his friends he falls in love. This is a documentary film, which includes 10 minutes of animation sequences. Aminfar’s animated paintings are talking about his inner life, dreams, nightmares and memories…
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Director’s Biography:
Born in Tehran, 1976, Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami has a BA in cinema and a MA in animation . She graduated from Fine Art University. She has directed several short films, including “Love Affair” which was screened at Kish Film Festival. She also directed "Cyanosis,” a short documentary which has won many national and international awards, including the Diploma of Merit and Audience award in Tampere short film festival and Diploma of Merit in Krakow short film festival. In Tehran’s short film festival, Cyanosis won the prize of “Best Documentary.”
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HIDDEN IN DUST by Mahboubeh Honarian, 45 minutes
This documentary is about drug addiction. Today in any society, the young generation is at risk of drugs. In this film, young men and women explain their situation, their lives, how they got into drugs and the rise of drugs in Iran.
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Director’s Biography:
Mahboubeh Honarian was born in 1962 in Iran. Mahboubeh earned her BA in Media and Cultural studies and in the year 1999, completed her MSC in Engineering Multimedia in the United Kingdom. Mahboubeh has produced and directed a broad range of documentary films and TV programs on different social and cultural issues. Her films emphasize the concerns of women and children. She has served as a jury member in several film festivals.
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TO HAVE OR NOT TO HAVE by Niki Karimi, 25 minutes
Niki Karimi, one of Iran's most acclaimed actresses, directs this documentary that looks at the problems facing childless couples in a society where infertility is a leading cause of divorce. |
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Director’s Biography:
Niki Karimi, born in 1971 in Tehran, started acting at a young age. She has appeared in many films of a variety of genres, including “Pari,” “Two Women,” and “The Hidden Half.” She has received numerous awards and nominations, such as the Best Actress Award from the Cairo Film Festival in 2001 for “The Hidden Half.” She also directed the award-winning documentary, “To Have or Not To Have.” More recently, her feature film “One Night” was selected for more than 58 film festivals worldwide and in 2006 she made another feature, “A Few Days Later.” Karimi studied designing in the US. |
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WOMEN POLICE STATION by Azar Mehrabi, 22 minutes
Mehrabi's short documentary is an eye-opening and entertaining study of female police recruits and their various training sessions, from target practice to being schooled in the proper behavior for men and women in public. |
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Director’s Biography:
Azar Mehrabi was born in Iran in 1980. She is a member of the Iranian Documentary Film Association and has directed several documentaries for Iranian channels. Her short films include “Unsweet Memory,” “Pacific Coast” and “Women Police Station.” She also is a photographer. |
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NOBODY’S ENEMY by Neda Sarmast, 30 minutes
Iran is home to one of the largest, youngest, and least understood populations in the Middle East. As we move closer to the possibility of armed conflict, we remain stranded in ignorance about the "enemies" of our future: young Iranians. It examines the lives, voices and hopes of Iran’s young people in a time of great change and international instability. With the mission of fostering global youth dialogue, this groundbreaking documentary uncovers stories that young Iranians want to tell us - stories we need to hear. “Nobody's Enemy” provides a necessary and intriguing peek into the heart of Iran's young people: it will be a landmark step towards dialogue and tolerance. |
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Director’s Biography:
Feeling that Iranians and Muslims have not been represented fairly in the US media, Neda Sarmast left a rewarding career to focus on her community. Her personal experience growing up as an Iranian-American combined with her ability to convey messages through the arts led her to use music and film to promote tolerance and unity between Eastern and Western cultures. Sarmast was born in Iran, moved to the US at the age of nine, and has traveled back and forth ever since. During the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and again after 9/11, Sarmast found herself constantly defending Iranians to Americans, and Americans to Iranians. Finally, in 2005 Sarmast traveled to Iran to film “Nobody’s Enemy.” |
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WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION By Danny Schechter, 60 minutes
WMD reports the still-timely findings of a gutsy, media insider-turned-outsider, former network journalist, Danny Schechter, on US media complicity with Iraq. Schechter "self-embedded" in his living room to monitor TV coverage, by fastidiously tracking reports on a daily basis, and then creating WMD, a two-hour film that asks the questions that his media colleagues refused to confront before, during and after the war. Featuring footage from inside Iraq, an Arab Media Summit in Dubai, and inside the media, WMD challenges 'weapons of mass deception' in a war that put perception ahead of reality.
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Director’s Biography:
Danny Schechter is a television producer and independent filmmaker, specializing in investigative reporting, who also writes and speaks about media issues. His work includes, among many others, "Media Wars: News At A Time of Terror,” "The More You Watch, The Less You Know," and "Sowing Seeds/Reaping Peace." Schechter, a Cornell University graduate who received his Master’s from the London School of Economics, is co-founder and executive producer of Globalvision, a New York-based television and film production company. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including two Emmys, and he has reported from 53 countries, lectures widely, and blogs daily at mediachannel.org. |
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Day of Freedom by Saeed Tarazi
ARUSI PERSIAN WEDDING by Marjan Tehrani, 62minutes
Iranian-American filmmaker Marjan Tehrani chronicles her brother's return to Iran as he travels with his American wife to have a Persian wedding ceremony and explore his lost heritage. Using dynamic historical footage and weaving it with the couple's personal story, "Arusi Persian Wedding" explores the history and impact of the broken relationship between Iran and America. "Arusi" is the story of one young couple's journey to discover Iran on their own terms. Behind the curtain of political tension,
the film offers rare glimpses of both modern and traditional Iran, displaying a vibrant and complex country that is sealed off to much of the West. |
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Director’s Biography:
Marjan Tehrani, an independent director and producer from Berkeley, California received a BA in Community Studies from the University of California: Santa Cruz and an MFA in Media Arts Production from the City University of New York. She is the founder of the production company Tru Films, which produces documentary films, including “Arusi.” Through Tru Films, Tehrani is dedicated to promoting dialogue between cultures, sharing the intricate and subtle aspects of identity and capturing the transformative moments of human experience. |
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SATELLITE QUEENS – BEHIND THE SCENES OF A PRIME TIME ARAB TALK SHOW by Bregtje van der Haak, 60 minutes
ÒSatellite Queens - Behind the Scenes of a Prime Time Arab Talk ShowÓ begins with brief shots of satellite dishes on flats and houses all over the Middle East, interspersed with footage of four female talk show hosts. The film focuses on the popular talk show Kalam Nawaem (Soft Talk or Women's Talk) watched by millions of viewers throughout the Arab world on the leading satellite station MBC. In this lively talkshow, four women from different parts of the Middle East discuss a mix of current events, culture, politics, hair and makeup, childcare and lifestyle issues, including topics that are absolute taboos in their societies. |
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FRONTRUNNER by Virginia Williams, 90 minutes
The scene is Afghanistan’s first-ever democratic election. Dr. Massouda Jalal runs as the only woman out of seventeen candidates. As a medical doctor, mother, and children’s advocate, she defied the Taliban regime. Now, in a dramatic turn of events, she holds the fate of the election in her hands. Amidst threats and attacks, Jalal determinedly campaigns in whatever way she can, showing by her courage that it’s the work of ordinary Afghans that will determine the fate of the newly born democracy. |
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Director’s Biography:
Virginia Williams is an Emmy-winning producer who has written and produced a variety of documentaries for Discovery Channel, TLC, National Geographic, PBS, and other broadcasters. Her company, New View Films , also produces advocacy media about social and public health issues. While working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, Williams became interested in women’s role in Islamic society. In 2002 she traveled to Afghanistan to investigate a film about the role of Afghan women in rebuilding their country after the Taliban. It was there that she witnessed Massouda Jalal’s step up to the podium to announce her candidacy for president. |
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REFUGEES FOR LIFE By Hady Zaccak, 48 minutes
Shafiq Shmaissi, a taxi driver, Nagi Merhi, a fisherman, and Fatima Fatayer, a widow, are three Palestinian Refugees from the same generation living in gatherings- Tyre, South of Lebanon. Jaber Abu Hawash is a human rights activist working in the Palestinian camps of South-Lebanon. He is also a refugee. This documentary film follows the lives of these individuals: how they live, what problems they face, their aspirations, and their attempt to reach their relatives in Germany. From Tyre to Berlin, the observations of people condemned to suffer and wait. |
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Director’s Biography:
Born in Beirut, Hady Zaccak studied at IESAV film school in Beirut, where he obtained a diploma in audiovisual studies and a Masters in cinema studies/option film directing. He has written a book as well as written and directed more than 20 short films and documentaries since 1997. In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Zaccak has been a teacher at IESAV since 1998. He gives courses on film writing and directing, history of cinema and Film Genres. Documentary has an important place in his work. |
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Monks and Muslims
In the midst of terror and violence consuming Algeria in the 1990s, a group
of Catholic monks build deep bonds of friendship and religious accord with
local Muslims. When the monks are kidnapped and killed in 1996, both the
Muslim and Christian communities are outraged. "Monks and Muslims: Finding
Faith in Algeria," explores the aftermath of this tragedy. The lasting
vision of the monks for inter-faith harmony comes alive through interviews
with their families and friends, who carry that commitment into reality in
their daily lives, these many years later. This short preview summarizes
the story and requests support for completion funding. |
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Director’s Biography:
Anisa Mehdi is an Emmy Award-winning producer/director/correspondent with
over two decades in mainstream American media. She specializes in reporting
religion and the arts. Anisa is Artistic Director of "Documentary Voices." |
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The Countdown
In a tour-de-force six-minute award-winning spoken
word piece, young poet, Sofia Snow, unleashes a hypnotic barrage of words
and images about post-9/11 America. |
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Directors' Biographies:
Rene Dongo:
Rene Dongo, a Boston native, began to make short films as a student of
the ICA Fast Forward program. He strives to create new emotions with
the use of humor or charged imagery in his films. Rene has shown his
work in festivals across the country including the Roxbury Film
Festival, Atlanta Teen Screen, Media that Matters Film Festival,
Future Filmmakers Festival Chicago and in the Cloud Place Youth Fusion
Film Series. Rene is currently a film major at Emerson College.
Sofia Snow:
Sofia Snow uses Spoken Word as a medium for opening eyes and hearts to
the truth about issues ranging in areas from our communities to our
world. She has performed at several universities and venues throughout
the country, from Boston to New Mexico to Florida and beyond. In 2006,
she was awarded Spoken Word Artist of the Year by the Mass Industry
Committee's
First Annual Hip Hop Awards. An artist and an activist, Sofia also
held a seat on the Mayor's Hip Hop Round Table as the only youth
member, organizing the citywide Hip Hop Fest, which brings legendary
Hip Hop artists like KRS-1, CL Smooth, Nice&Smooth, and Rakim, to name
a few. Sofia is currently attending University of Wisconsin-Madison
with a First Wave full tuition scholarship to continue working on hip
hop poetry. She is passionate about her art and about its power to
help people recognize and hopefully inspire them to act against
injustice, whether it is taking place locally, nationally or
internationally.
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