Free movies to watch in the UAE
Initiative by Sharjah Art Foundation celebrates female filmmakers
If your weekend plans are undecided, then here’s the perfect excuse to stay indoors and watch three short films being showcased by the Sharjah Art Foundation.
Titled Ghosts of Songs: Oral Histories in MENA Female Cinema, this is the second in a three-part series of online screenings in collaboration with the digital film archiving platform, Habibi Collective.
Taking place tomorrow, at 8.30pm UAE time, the programme features three documentaries and experimental short films about memory, while examining relationships between the environment and culture, the effects of migration and family life during times of unrest.
This three-part series of online film screenings, which runs until June 26, aims to celebrate the world of female filmmakers from the Middle East and North Africa region. Drawing from acclaimed short and feature-length narratives, documentary and experimental films, the three programmes in the series focus on a different theme, map various traditions and explorations of feminist narratives.
Streaming on the Sharjah Art Foundation’s website, the films will be screened consecutively and cannot be streamed on demand. Viewers who join at a later time will not be able to watch the entire film programme. Films to view include the following:
Fiery Father (2018)
Director: Jala Wahid United Kingdom
No dialogue with English and Kurdish subtitles
The film explores the symbolism surrounding the eponymous natural fire Baba Gurgur (Kurdish for ‘fiery father’), specifically the mythical and political importance it holds in Kurdish culture. Against the backdrop of the daf drum, the formation of crude oil becomes synonymous with Kurdish dancing (halparkeh), creating a landscape where the Kurdish spirit is the embodiment of its disputed land.
Only My Voice (2017)
Director: Myriam Rey United Kingdom
Arabic with English subtitles In transit through Athens, four migrant women from the Middle East share their stories of being uprooted. As they recount their personal experiences of freedom, resonating and interacting with the city of Athens, they gradually begin to echo one another.
Like a String of Beads (2019)
Director: Inas Halabi
Palestine
Arabic with English subtitles In this film, Inas Halabi documents the lives of nine siblings who reside in the village of Ibillin in northern Palestine. As they explore their individual oral histories, the family members attempt to build a collective history. With the action contained within one household, the film unpacks diverging experiences of the same events, veering between agreement and disagreement.