MIT Lecture Series Committee

The Syrian Bride (2004)

Center for International Studies Film Series 2008: Women and the Middle East

This Spring CIS presents three films from the Middle East, based in Algeria/France, Israel/The Golan Heights and Iraq before, during and after the US war and invasion in 2003. The films focus on the lives of three women, linked together by their Middle Eastern identity and a variety of challenging issues. They are portrayed while following their life paths amidst the political and social trials common to the region. Meriam Belli, Anat Biletzki and Ban Al-Mahfodh from MIT will discuss some background aspects to the three films presented (respectively). They will aim to examine the socio-political context that Middle Eastern women are facing in the region. Both the films and speakers will attempt to throw light on their roles as women within the context of trying circumstances of isolation, tribulation and modern warfare, while holding on to freedom of spirit.

The Syrian Bride is a film by director Eran Riklis, an Israeli Jew. Most of the cast of the Arabic-language film is Palestinian-Israeli, as is the screenwriter. But despite collaboration on and off the set, the movie's plot explores the Middle East conflict through lives fractured by the region's harsh political realities. It's about a Druze family in the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory the Israelis have occupied since 1967. Since then, the Druze in Golan have been cut off from the Druze in Syria. The religion is an 11th-century offshoot of Islam. When the family arranges to marry its daughter to a Druze from Damascus, the wedding must be held at the border. [web.mit.edu]

A conversation with Anat Biletzki, fellow at the CIS Program on Human Rights and Justice will follow the screening.