Ard El-Nissa'a
[Women Beyond Borders]
Screens: Friday March 30th at 4:00 PM
DIRECTOR: Jean Chamoun bio
Producer: Humbert Balsan, Gabriel Khoury, Marianne Khoury & Mai Masri
Cinematographer: Hussein Nassar & Fouad Sleiman
Music: Toufic Farroukh
World Sales: Arab Film Distribution
Genre: Documentary
Length: 58 min.
Country of Production: Egypt
Year of Production: 2003
Languages: English & Arabic with English subtitles
Synopsis
In Ard El-Nissa'a, acclaimed director Jean Chamoun (Taif Al-Medina, 2000) looks at the lives & works of some of the women who have joined in the fight for their Palestinian homeland. We learn of young resistance fighter Kifah Afifi's experience as a survivor of the 1982 Shatila massacre in Lebanon when she was just twelve years old. She tells about fighting the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon in the 1990s & of her imprisonment in the Khiam detention facility, which was run by Israel's auxiliary militia, the South Lebanon Army.
Chamoun also explores the pioneering contributions of other Palestinian women, such as activist Samiha Khalil, also known as Um Khalil, who spoke out against the Balfour Declaration & the British occupation of Palestine at an international women's demonstration in 1936, when she was just thirteen years old. She founded the welfare organization Inaash al-Usra in her garage in 1965 & ran for president against Yasser Arafat in 1996, earning twelve percent of the vote.
Awards & Nominations
Human Values Award, Carmona International Film Festival, 2004
Festivals
Carmona International Film Festival, 2004
Human Rights Film Festival, 2004
9th Ismailia International Film Festival
London Palestine Film Festival, 2006