Film Week at KU

The Department of English Language & Literature

Presents

Film Week

Featuring

Middle Eastern Women in Film

2-6 December, 7 pm

Abdullah Al-Otaibi Bldg., Basement

Kaifan Campus, Kuwait University

2 December 2006

Frontiers of Dreams and Fears

Directed by Mai Masri

Featuring Mona Zaaroura and Manar Majed Faraj

Palestine, 2001, 56 minutes

3 December 2006

Rachida

Directed by Yasmin Bachir-Chouikh

Featuring Ibtissem Djouadi and Bahia Rachedi

Algeria, 2002, 100 minutes

4 December 2006

Women Who Loved Cinema, Parts I & II

Directed by Marianne Khoury

Featuring Nadia Wassef

Egypt, 2002, 116 minutes

5 December 2006

The Circle

Directed by Jafar Panahi

Featuring Fereshteh Orafai, Nargess Mamizadeh, and Maryam Almani

Iran, 2002, 91 minutes

6 December 2006

Lebanon: Bits and Pieces

Directed by Olga Nakkas

Featuring Various

Lebanon, 1994, 60 minutes

*Free Admission

**English subtitles

Ali Zawa

Ali Zawa is a wonderful movie. If you get the chance to see it, my advice: don't dare miss it.
Childhood is presented in such a fierce, possibly even grotesque light. These are children abandoned to their own whims, forced by this abandonment to grow beyond their young years. Kwita, Ali, Boubaker and Omar would touch your heart for sure. Trust me.

It's amazing what a few cans of glue does to those kids :)

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Selections for our English Day are approaching and I'm already dreading having to turn a few people down :( "No" is not the easiet word for me to say.

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OK now for more personal matters. If your friends repeat the same attack on your personality, does that make that attack valid? Does that mean you have to try to change? And if you do want to change, is that even possible? But then is it also possible for you to expect your friends to take you as you are (ya3ni no refunds or exchange here)?

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Been craving Salzburg lately: that restaurant next to that museum up above the clouds, rain drizzling slightly, wine teasing us like that drizzling rain, and the company of my 2 favorite sisters and my 2 favorite parents (yes I only have 2 but I swear they would be my favorite still), and my Nunu:

Kuwait CineClub

نادي الكويت للسينما
Kuwait CineClub
برنامج ديوانية الأفلام
Film Diwaniyya Program
**********
19th of November
الجنة الآن
للمخرج : هاني أبو السعد
فلسطين
about the film
Paradise Now
Directed by: Hani Abu-Asaad
Palestine
**********
26th of November
علي زاوا
للمخرج : نبيل عيوش
المغرب
about the film
Ali Zawa
Directed by: Nabeel Ayoush
Morocco
**********
3rd of December
خمن من القادم للعشاء
للمخرج : ستانلي كريمر
أمريكا
about the film
on wikipedia
Guess Who's Coming for Dinner
Directed by: Stanley Kramer
U.S.A
**********
10th of December
البطل
للمخرج : زانج يمو
الصين
official site of the movie
Hero
Directed by: Zhang Yimou
China
**********
17th of December
في الخامسة بعد الظهر
للمخرجة : سميرة مخملباف
إيران
about the film
At Five in the Afternoon
Directed by: Samira Makhmalbaf
Iran
**********
24th of December
عطر الحب
للمخرج : لي جيونج
كوريا الجنوبية
about the film
Scent of Love
Directed by: Lee Jeong
South Korea
***********
So basically its every Sunday
Screening starts at 7:00pm
In Al-Qibliyya School

Schedule and links taken from 2 6 8. He also has a map of the place there if you're interested. Thanks antihero.

On warriors and what not

This is the sequence of events if you're new to this:
رسومات إباحية في مقرر الأدب الإنكليزي في الجامعة
الفهيد يمنع كتاب الأدب الإنكليزي ويحيل مسؤولين إلى التحقيق
العنزي يدعو الطبطبائي إلى التحقق من كيفية تدريس كتاب في الجامعة يحوي تجاوزات أخلاقية
الفهيد: لا رسوم إباحية في مقرر الإنكليزي
بلقيس النجار: الإرهاب الفكري



What started as a response to individual comments in my previous post began to spread into its own post. So following up on the previous post, I choose to insert my reply here:

Action needs to be taken. But that does not diminish the effect of whining and bitching on this blog. I think whining and bitching can lead to action, or even compliment action.
With that said, I agree with the sentiment that calls for action. What would you like to do about those censors who are blind to culture?
At a time when our faculty, among other faculties, is working towards being internationally accredited, we have these forces of darkness who can and will put a stop to any progressive thought. The censoring of art is only one part of this. There is an even more dangerous censoring of thought. If we are not permitted to think freely and without fear, then the matter of banning a book because of some indecent paintings is just the start. What's next?
Kuwait university is not a shitty institution. I have met quite a few enlightened minds among my students and fellow faculty members. It is true that their voices are usually low, but that is the unfortunate result of this open-mindedness that puts me at a position of accepting the oposing thought even when this opposing thought disagrees with my basic rights. We are not quiet because we are passive. We are quiet because we are not aggressive. Politics demands aggressive action. I am not an aggressive person. And I refuse to be an aggressive person, even realizing that my apparent passivity makes my voice hard to hear. I strongly believe in allowing the other to voice their thoughts. How would I raise my voice when I know that raising my voice would shush other voices?
I know most of you disagree with this. I know that most of you think that passivity is not accepted at this stage. But I cannot change what I believe in just to win a cause, no matter how important that cause is. I might have made that mistake before, and I might make it again in the future. But I refuse to knowingly make it now.

I cannot yell and mute other voices. I cannot scream that my opinion is the only right opinion. I simply cannot do that. I have always thought that was because I didn't have enough strength to do that. But I have lately come to realize that my passivity is part of my nature, a nature that refuses to allow me to enforce my thoughts on anyone.

If you're a warrior, go ahead and grab your sword. I am no warrior.

The Norton Anthology of Pornography

القبس 1 نوفمبر 2006

رسومات إباحية في مقرر الأدب الإنكليزي في الجامعة

اثارت بعض الرسومات الاباحية التي تضمنها كتاب مقرر الشعر في اللغة الانكليزية في كلية الآداب استياء بعض الطلبة الذين ابدوا ل'القبس' اعتراضهم على مثل هذه الرسومات التي تتعارض مع قيم المجتمع الكويتي.

القبس 2 نوفمبر 2006

الفهيد يمنع كتاب الأدب الإنكليزي ويحيل مسؤولين إلى التحقيق

وقالت المصادر ان الفهيد - الذي لم يكن يعلم بما يحويه الكتاب من رسومات اباحية - سيحيل عددا من الاساتذة في الاداب وهم المسؤولون عن تدريس الكتاب للتحقيق ايضا لتدريسه رغم علمهم بالرسومات
العنزي يدعو الطبطبائي إلى التحقق من كيفية تدريس كتاب في الجامعة يحوي تجاوزات أخلاقية

متسائلا: ما علاقة الشعر والأدب بالرسومات الاباحية؟

وأكد ان الأدب يعني ارتقاء في الفكر والسلوك والقيم بينما احتواء هذا الكتاب على مثل هذه التجاوزات الأخلاقية تدمير للقيم وهدم للمبادئ، متسائلا: ما علاقة الشعر والأدب بالرسومات الاباحية؟فضلا عن منافاته لقيم ديننا الإسلامي الحنيف

The problem is that the dean has my copy now so I can't post those pictures here :(

Now tell me seriously, where is this country heading if art is now seen as pornography, and if the Norton is a book to shock?

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UPDATE

exhibit A, B, and C (Click to enlarge)

Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother)

"They call me “La Agrado” … because I’ve always tried to make people’s lives agreeable. As well as being agreeable, I’m very authentic! Look at this body! All made to measure. Almond-shaped eyes – 80,000. Nose – 200,000. A waste of money. Another beating the following year left it like this. It gives me character, but if I’ve know, I wouldn’t have touched it. I’ll continue. Tits – two, because I’m no monster. 70,000 each, but I’ve more than earned that back. Silicone in – Lips, forehead, cheeks, hips and ass. A pin costs about 100,000 so you work it out, because I’ve lost count. Jaw reduction – 75,000. Computer laser depilation … because women, like men, also come from apes. 60,000 a session. It depends how hairy you are. Usually two to four sessions. But if you’re a flamenco diva, you’ll need more. Well, as I was saying … it costs a lot to be authentic, ma’am. And one can’t be stingy with these things … because you are more authentic the more you resemble what you’ve dreamed of being."


This is how Agrado, one of the many interesting characters in Almodovar's movie, captivated her audience. I fell in love with Almodovar when I watched Hable con Ella (Talk to Her) a few years back. Todre Sobre Mi Madre is another of his masterpieces.

Thank you Coquette for giving me the movie, and since ne habla espagnol, thank you also Attiya for providing me with the English version.