From The Middle East with Love

One of the regions where video is gaining ground is the Middle East. Video as a medium started to gain popularity across the Arab world around the eighties. However, video making as a serious art form only managed to manifest itself and gain a place in the Arab visual culture during the last 10-15 years.

The current geo-political and socio-cultural climate has introduced a new vocabulary into the electronic media practices in the Middle East , resulting in an innovative expression of minimal art with maximal explanation power. One of the characteristics of this category of art has been the extensive use of historic and socio-political texts and narratives, as well as antique-like and readymade footage and photography. Another characteristic is the tendency to interact with the surroundings, which makes the genre commit itself to complex contemporary political and socio-cultural issues.

The worldwide popularity of video as medium started already in the sixties. While for many years video art was operating on the margins of the art society, it ultimately won its autonomous position and managed to unite a variety of artistic practices. This cross-media art is based on a variety of known artistic elements, in particular painting, sound, cinema, photography etc.

One of the regions where video is gaining ground is the Middle East.
Video as a medium started to gain popularity across the Arab world around the eighties. However, video making as a serious art form only managed to manifest itself and gain a place in the Arab visual culture during the last 10-15 years.

The current geo-political and socio-cultural climate has introduced a new vocabulary into the electronic media practices in the Middle East , resulting in an innovative expression of minimal art with maximal explanation power.
One of the characteristics of this category of art has been the extensive use of historic and socio-political texts and narratives, as well as antique-like and readymade footage and photography. Another characteristic is the tendency to interact with the surroundings, which makes the genre commit itself to complex contemporary political and socio-cultural issues.

Khaled D. Ramadan
Curator remarks, Dubai summer 2007

Special Program

Tuesday, 23 October, Opening at 20.00hr

Presentation by:
Elias J. Torres Feijó, Vice Dean of Culture of the USC
Ghaleb Jaber M., Curator of AMAL

Presentation of the program and lecture "Independent videomaking in the Middle East"by Khaled D. Ramadan, Curator of the programme.
Joan Evans, journalist and specialist on Arab studies.

Projection of Planet of the Arabs . 8 min. 2005. O.V.S. Jacki Salloum and We will win. 8 min. 2006. O.V.S.SP Mahmoud Hojeij

Wednesday, 24 October, at 18.00hr

WE WILL WIN. 8 MIN. 2006. V.O.S.E. MAHMOUD HOJEIJ
An attempt to solve the Arab- Israeli conflict in eight minutes by three men in Paris.
Mahmoud Hojeij. Born in Beirut, in 1975, he continues to live at his hometown. Film maker and journalist, he is the author of films about the relation between video and the city.

JULY TRIP. 35 MIN. 2006. V.O.S.E. WAËL NOUREDDINE
Beirut, July 2006. The Israeli bombing strikes Lebanon. Waël Noureddine begins a journey across his country. Although the film is not a documentary, its real life images are gripping. Using 16 mm film and HDV, this film questions the underlying principles of the documentary genre. The cameras capture a country in a state of terror and record the immediate effects of the war on civilians.
Waël Nouredinne. Born in Lebanon in 1978 and currently living in France. Writer, poet and journalist, his films reflect the reality in an artistic and literary way. His previous film, 'Ça sera beau' won the Prize of the Jury at Clermond Ferrand Short film Festival.

REVOLUTION. 4 MIN. 2006. V.O. KHALED HAFEZ
Liberty , social equality, unity. "Each revolution comes with a bagful of unfulfilled promises". Reflection on the results of the coup d'etat through which a group of military officers came to power in Egypt in 1952.
Khaled Hafez. Cairo, 1963. He combined studies of Medicine and Fine Arts. He was granted a Fullbright Scholarship to continue his studies in the U.S.A. His work was shown at museums like Tate Modern (London ) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Copenhagen.

OBJECTS. 67 MIN. 2006. V.O.S. VALSALAN KANARA
//Hassan Sharif – an international contemporary visual artist in United Arab Emirates (UAE). It depicts his art, his life, his vision and his relevance in the contemporary art history of UAE. The documentary also lights upon dialogue with other four contemporary artists – Mohammed Kazam, Hussain Sherif, Mohmmed Ahmed Ibrahim and Abdullah Al Sa'adi from UAE.
Valsalan Kanara, Indian director and scriptwriter currently living in Dubai . He is the Executive producer and programming director of Time Vision.//

THE OTHER ORANGE. 20 MIN. 2005. V.O. HASSAN CHOUBASSI
A video that documents Beirut from the distance of another city, Amsterdam; its physical and social existence, political and cultural clashes under circumstances of 'urban melancholy/solitude', in a city with a continuous heed about its 'image'.
Lebanese Hassan Choubassi is Master of Fine Arts and Advertising Design and post graduated in Digital Media. He worked as a teacher in several Lebanese universities and also developed artistic projects, performances, videos and designs.

NOT FROM HERE. 2 MIN. 2005. V.O. MIREILLE ASTORE
It is a short film that challenges the historical photograph as it morphs before our very eyes. It contests the idea of identity formation while subverting Western hegemonic historical narratives. Dislocating the "prim and proper", it challenges assumptions about race, gender and class.
Mireille Astore. Beirut, 1961. Artist, poet and scholar, she was awarded the National Photographic Art Prize in 2003. Her work was shown in more than 15 countries. She is doctor in Contemporary Art at Western Sydney University (Australia).

Thursday, 25 October, at 18.00hr

HAPPY DAYS. 3 MIN. 2006. V.O. LARISSA SANSOUR
It is a video that exposes everyday Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. In the video, a collage of footage shot on location in the occupied territories is accompanied by the theme music from the seventies sitcom "Happy Days".
The idea is to subjugate international politics to a format normally associated with entertainment and thereby call attention to the blurry boundary between the two.

MLOUKHIEH/SOUP OVER BETHELEM 10 MIN 2006 V.O.S. LARISSA SANSOUR
It presents a stereotype already renegotiated. The Arabic spoken around the dinner table is interrupted by English, and family members hold a variety of international passports, jobs and academic degrees. The Diaspora traits present in every Palestinian family history lends a globalize quality even to life under the restraints of occupation.
Larissa Sansour, 1973. Born of Russian mother and Palestinian father, she lives in Copenhagen , Denmark . She is Master of Fine Arts in London and also has a University of New York Master degree. Her work has great diffusion among the artistic circuits.

THE BEAUTIFUL LAND. 48 MIN. 2006. V.O.S.E. KAYA BEHKALAM
It portrays a man, who follows his family traces: back to Iran, the country his father comes from. But his original idea- to make a film about his family- soon becomes covered by doubts. It is a film about making films, a film about the idea of not making films.
Kaya Behkalam was born in Berlin in 1978, where he continues to live. Master of Audiovisual Communication and Graphic Design at the Universities of Berlin, Bristol and Bombay he is also film maker and artistic commissioner.

ISLAMIC STAR. 6 MIN. 2005. V.O. SHAHRAM ENTEKHABI
Entekhabi is dressed as a type of orthodox Muslim moving through urban space.
The work circles around the Western idea of the Muslim fundamentalist and creates a tension between perceiving the Muslims as a potential danger to public safety and the statement of the Muslims as the victims of prejudice and exclusion.
Shahram Entekhabi is an Iranian artist and architect whose work was shown around the world. At present, he lives and works between Berlin , London and Teheran. His installations, performances, videos and architectural works often deal with the subject of visibility-invisibility.

ALWAYS LOOK THEM IN THE EYES. 65 MIN. 2007. V.O.S. AZZA EL-HASSAN
Who said that enemies do not communicate in times of war? In fact, violence, deception, and fear of the other are only tools of communication between two struggling sides. It is a documentary film that examines Palestinians forms of communication with Israelis.
Azza El-Hassan was born in 1971 in Jordan, and currently lives in Palestine. Master by the University of Glasgow, and Master of Documentary Television by the University of London, her works were produced and broadcast by TV stations like BBC or ARD, among others.

IFTAR. 8 MIN. 2004. V.O. AYMAN RAMADAN
The video is a reconstruction of a typical Iftar (Ramadan breaking of the daily sunrise to sunset fast) in an urban lane in the centre of Cairo. Da'Vinci's painting struck him as a powerful tool that could underline one of the most important aspects of the two religions which have both appropriated the notion of equality and social justice.
Ayman Ramadan lives in Cairo. Writer and artist, in the broad sense of the word, his works have been shown at museums in Egypt , at collective showings or individual installations.

Friday, 26 October, at 18.00hr

ISTANBUL , WHY?. 34 MIN. 2005. V.O.S.E. RENE GABRI
The artist had an 8 hour stopover in Istanbul and thus his first visit to Turkey . The video tells the story of a day's journey into a city, marked by all the unfamiliarity and innocence of discovering a new place as well as the ghosts and spectres haunting a relentless and unforgettable past.
Gabri Irán lives in New York . He uses cinema, video, sound and the text to explore an ample spectre of subjects. He was professor at the University of Architecture in Venice and the University of the City of New York, in Staten Island ( New York).

GOOD MORNING AT NIGHT 11 MIN 2005 V. O. S. E. NAOKO TAKAHASHI
An experimental documentary film that deals with the idea of using performance as a way of research by asking people questions in an alienated environment, and also explores the use of verbal documentation of action and re-action into poetic language. It opens up for reflections on status, race, class, gender, language and identity in society.
Naoko Takahashi. Born in Japan in 1973, she lives and works in London. Master by the Chelsea College of Art & Design and Master in Audiovisual Art by the Slade School of Fine Art (London), her works were shown at museums and experimental film festivals and won several awards.

LUBNAN/HARB (LEBANON/WAR). 47 MIN. 2006. V.O.S.E. RANIA STEPHAN
Shot in the urgency of the 2006 July war led by Israel against Lebanon, this series of 8 short films tries to salvage a humane look at these tragic and violent events outside of the regular media coverage.
Rania Stephan was born in Lebanon and currently lives in Beirut. Master on Cinema by the University of Latrobe in Melbourne, Master by the University of Paris. She worked as a sound technician, camerawoman, editor, direction assistant and producer.

VISIONS OF A CONTAMINATED MEMORY. 6 MIN. 2007. V.O.S. KHALED HAFEZ
"Some time ago, I decided to relive my own memories my own way. I watch the news with my two kids, we put the volume at zero, and lay bets on what protagonists are saying: usually there are no new news, only recycled spam.
Khaled Hafez. Cairo, 1963. He combined studies of Medicine and Fine Arts. He was granted a Fullbright Scholarship to continue his studies in the U.S.A. His work was shown at museums like Tate Modern (London ) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Copenhagen.

JUNE, 2006. 28 MIN. 2006. V.O.E. MOHANAD YAQUBI
How can you determinate what a community TV is? How can it function and operate? The answer is to experience and experiment, each one with its own ideas, and its own willing to participate, because it's about finding solutions, not academic, but dealing with it on the ground, by facing social thinking problems, and trying to accumulate answers…
Mohanad Yaqubi was born in Kuwait, in 1981. He currently lives in Palestine. He worked as a photographer, painter, actor, producer, editor, artistic director and director's assistant.

STARRY NIGHT. 7 MIN. 2006. V.O. MAZEN KERBAJ
A musical movie based on live recording by Mazen Kerbaj (trumpet) and the Israeli air force (bombs).
//Mazen Kerbaj was born in 1975, and lives and works in Beirut . Trumpet player and graphic artist, he has published ten books. His Works were shown at numerous museums and were edited in magazines in Lebanon and Europe.