Speed Sisters a must-see for International Women’s Day
Seeing a feature-length documentary about street car racing may not seem like the way to celebrate women on International Women’s Day.
Speed Sisters pushes us to rethink that assumption.
Directed by Canadian-Arab filmmaker Amber Fares, Speed Sisters explores the unique world of street car racing, and the first all-female, Palestinian team made up of five young women with a passion for this motor sport and a mission to change the expected roles of women.
Mona, Marah, Noor, Maysoon, Betty and team captain Suna make up the team. Young, ambitious, physically fit, focused and in full command of old cars modified to be “lighter and faster,” they train in dismal conditions free-wheeling around pylons in abandoned parking lots in the West Bank. Curious kids and men stand on the sidelines watching.
Highly competitive, each young woman aims to become the fastest racer in a Middle East setting of bleak military checkpoints and sharpshooters. Winning regional meets could lead to major European championships. Becoming the fastest woman in street car racing would be the ultimate personal achievement.
Although recognized by the allmale Palestinian Racing Federation as the first women’s racing team in the Arab world, the tension between team bonding and self-image amid the male order is scripted in personal identities emblazoned on the hoods and windshields of cars: one racer’s given name, and another’s declaration: “Born to race.”
Crisis scenes are a common convention of documentaries, notably in this film around Marah’s emotional reaction to an unfair, ad hoc decision by a Motor Federation judge misinterpreting racing rules.
Television has made these women known to Middle Eastern and European audiences, especially Betty, who exploits her attractiveness posing as a sexy victor for the cameras. Eager to be a winner and a celebrity, she remarks in earshot of the camera, “I don’t care about the girls.” An insert clip from Anthony Bourdain’s 2012 season opener of
Parts Unknown (CNN), on location in the West Bank, shows the American host inviting Betty to be his special passenger.
Director Aras contextualizes her film in stark images of daily life in a divided Middle East. Bleak areas near military checkpoints on the West Bank look like dangerous construction sites. A shooting incident occurs as school kids navigate the rubble.
When the studious Marah finally receives a permit to cross into Israel, she sees the ocean for the first time, romping over the surf like a kid.
The film shows an increasing shift in the women’s regional racing fans, from a few spectators from a refugee camp, to young men curious about racing women, to cheering girls and an elderly woman in traditional dress.
The heart of Aras’s film rests on private moments where individual women address the camera directly speaking about traditional Middle Eastern life and a different perspective of their future. Modern fathers, mothers and a visionary grandfather fully support racing daughters. Marah’s parents forego buying a home, instead purchasing a car fit for racing.
The film title Speed Sisters riffs on a concept of sisterhood in a world unknown to most, and beyond western notions of feminist solidarity.
The compelling music track was released as an album of diverse music: Palestinian hip-hop, indie folk rock, alt-rock, and northern African and Franco-Chilean beats.
Speed Sisters continues to make the rounds of Hot Docs festivals globally. The film could only have been made with the support of the Sundance and the Doha non-profit Film Funding Institutes, Chicken and Eggs Productions and crowd funding.
Young women especially should alert family, friends and boyfriends to see this remarkable documentary with them.