In/tangible Cartographies: New Arab Video
Presented by UCLA Film and Television Archive & L.A Freewaves. Curated by Jayce Salloum,
82 min.

We have (too) many images for this place/this region and as many names, but none of them is accurate or adequate: Middle East, Near East, North Africa, Maghreb, Levant, Holy Land, Arab world, Muslim world, the Orient. We have too few names for the people of these places. There is a certain violence in not naming, just as there is an innate violence in the naming (i.e., 'terrorist' or 'prisoner') that we engage in. This place (these people) has been over- and under-reproduced throughout the history of its representation by its visitors, its conquerors, its 'allies' and those who are passing through. These representations are ours. We are implicated within these constructions.

In/tangible cartographies seeks to provide an audience for a range of work by Arab videomakers living in this (unnameable) region. It also includes the work of those in exile, or 'dispossession,' as are Palestinian videomaker s inside and outside of the 'occupied territories.' In lieu of being silenced and having oneís existence ignored or obliterated, these works account for marginalized voices of experience, composing a history denied and substantiating a concrete body of work. -Jayce Salloum

PROGRAM:
Thursday, November 14 7:30 p.m.

UPSIDE DOWN (Makloubeh) (Palestine, 1999) Directed by Rashid Masharawi The preparation of makloubeh, a traditional Palestinian dish, is served up as image and substance, reflecting on the nature of nourishment, the land and culture. Masharawi uses a respectful humor and a bucolic freshness of images in this short treatise on Palestinian identity. In Arabic with English subtitles, 5 min.

CYBERPALESTINE (Palestine, 2000) Directed by Elia Suleiman Displaying sardonic wit and attention to detail, Suleiman creates a terse but forceful transposition of the biblical story of Mary and Joseph to illustrate the repressive control of movement and the abuses of daily Palestinian life suffered under Israeli military occupation. Intertitles in Arabic and English, 16 min.

BLUE (United Arab Emirates, 2000) Directed by Azza Al Zarouni Private space as discomforting comfort zone at home in Abu Dhabi. Ubiquitous cell phone ringing punctuates this stream of dissatisfaction with pop culture salvation. 3 min.

RED CHEWING GUM (Al-llka Al Hamra) (Lebanon, 2000) Directed by Akram Zaatari Within the changing urban environment of Beirut, two souls find themselves in a cycle of loss, departure, rupture and celebration. An impressive video letter inspired by a story of separation between men. In Arabic with English and French subtitles, 10 min.

FUCK THIS FILM (Kos om el film dah) (Egypt, 1998) Directed by Hassan Khan Surrounded by a multitude of reasons to tape and seeing none, the videomaker runs at life with a soul lost to despondency. In Arabic with English subtitles, 4 min.

SURVIVAL SIGNS (Morocco/France, 1998) Directed by Mounir Fatmi Fatmi analyzes how language has lost its power of understanding and communication; 'deep in the mouth, the tongue is nothing more than a muscle.' Full of clutter, the tape shows how speech and the corollary of being heard are necessary ingredients for survival. In French and German with English subtitles, 13 min.

THE DEAD WEIGHT OF A QUARREL HANGS (Lebanon/US, 1996-99) Directed by Walid Raíad A videotape in three parts exploring the possibilities and limits of writing and imaging a history of the Lebanese civil wars (1975-1991). 17 min.

DIARY OF A MALE WHORE (Yawmeyat Aíher) (Palestine, 2001) Directed by Tawfik Abu-Wael A videotape about memory positioning itself in relation to the 'other,' it can be seen as a metaphorical account of the Israeli-Palestinian 'peace process.' Based loosely on the novel For Bread Alone by Moroccan writer Mohamed Choukri. In Arabic with English subtitles, 14 min.

In person: Jayce Salloum.

PROGRAM:
Sunday, November 17 7:00 p.m.

'Untitled,' recent works by Jayce Salloum
77 min.

untitled part 2: beauty and the east (excerpt) (2002) In a kaleidoscope of interviews from the former Yugoslavia, refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and residents address topics ranging from identity and fascism to optimism and monsters. In both anecdotal and theoretical recountings, they lay out the issues currently at stake in this region of displacement and redefinition. 25 min.

untitled part 3b: (as if) beauty never ends (2002) Ambient imagesóorchids blooming, plants growing, clouds and wateróare superimposed over raw footage of the carnage at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon after the 1982 massacre, with the voiceover of Abdel Majid Fadl Ali Hassan (a 1948 refugee living in Bourg El Barajneh camp) recounting a story told by the rubble of his home in Palestine. 11 min.

untitled part 1: everything and nothing
(2001) An intimate dialogue with ex-Lebanese National Resistance fighter Soha Bechara in Paris, taped (during the last year of the Israeli occupation) one year after her release from captivity in El-Khiam torture and interrogation centre in Lebanon where she was detained for 10 years, six in isolation. 41 min.

In person: Jayce Salloum.

Essay and notes by Jayce Salloum, abridged from a longer version. All works are on video; formats vary.

Co-Sponsored by the Levantine Cultural Center
Reservations and information: 323.650.7010 www.levantinecenter.org