![]() Through the eyes of these accidental activists, we see the reality of a country in transition, where personal stories of love and aspiration collide with gistory.Īrebi says: “Initially I thought I was making a film about a group of women fighting to play their first ever match as Libya’s national woman’s football team, but it became something far richer, more intimate and more powerful. While this film presents the world with a different, unknown Palestinian reality, it also unveils unknown practices to the local Palestinian public and generates discussions of gender, power and patriotism.”įilmed over five years, Freedom Fields (2018) by the Libyan director Naziha Arebi follows three women and their football team in post-revolutionary Libya, as the country descends into Civil War and the utopian hopes of the Arab Spring begin to fade. ![]() It is a counterattack against stereotypes, treated with a clear vision of Palestine, of women and of women under occupation. It was also screened at Sheffield Doc/Fest, the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Helsinki International Film Festival, the Irish Film Institute Doc Fest where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature, the Adelaide Film Festival where it won the Best Documentary award, and the Vail Film Festival where it won the Best Documentary award.Īccording to Palestinian filmmaker Ula Tabari, who chose Speed Sisters, “it is among the most powerful, recent, Palestinian documentary films. Speed Sisters premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2015. For Amber Fares, the director of the film, “not everybody in Palestine is a Speed Sister, but people like the Speed Sisters definitely exist and they exist in other Arab countries as well.” Grabbing headlines and turning heads at improvised tracks across the West Bank, in Palestine, those five women have sped their way into the heart of the gritty, male-dominated scene. The film follows the Speed Sisters, the first all-woman car racing team in the Middle East. In February Speed Sisters (2015), a feature documentary by Palestinian director-producer Amber Fares, was screened. It is a unique experiment in which the director questions reality.” According to Raheb, “Saken is an authentic film where Sandra Madi expressed her individual vision of humanity. ![]() It was selected by the Lebanese filmmaker Eliane Raheb, known for her feature documentaries Sleepless Nights (2012) and Those Who Remain (2016), the latter being a film that took part in over 60 festivals and recently won the Etoile de la Scam prestigious award. Saken premiered at IDFA 2014, and participated in the Bristol Palestinian Film Festival, the Beirut Cinema Days, the Al-Film Arab Film Festival in Berlin, and the FidaDoc Aghadir International Film Festival 2015, where it won the Human Rights Award. When he crosses paths with Walid, an Egyptian labourer in Jordan, they end up experiencing one of the strongest bonds two human beings could share. The film tells the story of Ibrahim Salameh, a Palestinian freedom fighter who was shot while on duty in Lebanon during the 1980s, leading to his paralysis and ending his career in the resistance. Saken (2014), a documentary by Palestinian director-actress-writer Sandra Madi was screened in January. The audience gets closer to the worlds of two directors they may not have known much about.” “Every month, we get to know more about not one but two female directors. ![]() As if we see female directors through the eyes of other female directors.” The programme also implies a great deal of variety, with each filmmaker allowed to choose any woman-made film regardless of nationality, year produced or genre. There are 12 films, in other words, but 24 filmmakers meeting with the audience online.Īccording to BWFC founder Amal Ramsis, the idea of the network is at the heart of the initiative: “Each director’s choice reveals her cinematic awareness and how she connects with other women’s films. Every month, a female filmmaker selects a film by another female filmmaker to be screened for a week before a meeting is held with the director on the second Thursday of the month. Its Carte Blanche programme was launched at the beginning of the year. The Between Women Filmmakers Caravan (BWFC) initiative believes in the concept of the online festival, streaming films and bringing filmmakers together with their audience.
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