Film-Essay on the Euphrates Dam(1970)

Plunder(en)

Iranian people’s water requirements are mostly depending on groundwater, though these sources are swiftly ending and the farmers are overusing millions of cubic meters of water annually. This documentary shows the tragedy of progressive depletion of groundwater resources in Iran in the past 50 years. While analyzing the water managements in past decades, we will see the environmental and social losses of such plunder, like land subsidence and migration of more than 11 million Iranians to suburbs of megacities.

Relentless: Struggle for Peace in the Middle East(en)

Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East was produced by the pro-Israel media watchdog group HonestReporting [sic]. The concentrates on the causes of the Second Intifada through an examination of compliance the Oslo Accords, by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It pays particular attention to the failure of the Palestinian Authority to "educate for peace". The documentary shows interviews with Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, S. El-Herfi, Raanan Gissin, Caroline Glick, John Loftus, Sherri Mandel, Yariv Oppenheim, Daniel Pipes, Tashbih Sayyed and Natan Sharansky.

Gorges du Verdon: Les défis du plus grand canyon d'Europe(fr)

An Oppressed People Is Always Right(da)

In May 1974, the Israeli Air Force carried out an extermination operation against the Palestinian refugee camp Nabatiyeh. With this as a starting point, it is reviewed how the last 50 years of Zionist colonization of Palestine have partly led to the establishment of the state of Israel, partly to the expulsion of a people, the Palestinians, from their land. The film shows scenes of daily life in Palestinian refugee camps. We hear various of the inhabitants talk about their desire to return to their country, and we follow how the resistance movement works to free women from their traditional backward role. At the same time, the emergence of the armed resistance struggle is analysed, and the significance of the latest military technological developments for guerilla wars in the 3rd world is explained.

Babylon(ar)

After the insurrection erupted in Libya in the spring of 2012, more than a million people flocked to neighboring Tunisia in search of a safe haven from the escalating violence. When a massive refugee camp was hastily constructed near the Ras Jdir border checkpoint in Tunisia, a trio of filmmakers carried their cameras in and began filming with no agenda. This on-the-fly chronicle of the camp's installation, operation, and dismantling captures a postmodern Babel complete with a multinational population of displaced folk, a regime of humanitarian aid workers, and international media that broadcasts its “image” to the world. Visually stunning and refreshingly undogmatic, Babylon reveals a rarely seen aspect of the Arab Spring.

Waltz with Bashir(he)

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Bil'in Habibti(en)

The Israeli filmmaker Shai Corneli Polak records the building of the 'security wall' through Palestinian territory at the village of Bil'in. The villagers protest mostly peacefully, while the Israeli army doesn't react peacefully. By now the Israeli High Court has ruled that the building of the wall was illegal.

Manufactured Landscapes(en)

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

The Light in Her Eyes(en)

Houda al-Habash, a conservative Muslim preacher, founded a Qur'an school for girls in Damascus, Syria when she was just 17 years old. Every summer, her female students immerse themselves in a rigorous study of Islam, in addition to their secular schooling. A surprising cultural shift is underway-women are claiming space within the mosque, a place historically dominated by men. Challenging tradition, Houda insists education for women is a form of worship. Using Qur'anic teachings, she encourages her students to pursue higher education, jobs, and public lives, while remaining committed to an interpretation of Islam prioritizing women's role as wives and mothers. In a world rarely seen, The Light In Her Eyes tells the story of a leader who challenges the women of her community to live according to Islam, without giving up their dreams. Shot right before the uprising in Syria erupted, the film is an exclusive look at a social movement thriving in a country controlled by a repressive regime

Dam Nation(tl)

This video focuses on Dumagat activists, Nanay Nene, Tatay Lope, and Chieftain Rodrigo and their continuous struggle to organize resistance against a Chinese-funded mega dam in Quezon. The Kaliwa Dam Project will displace numerous Dumagat and non-Dumagat families living near the dam site— yet another example of development aggression.

Introduction to the End of an Argument(ar)

This highly kinetic tableaux of uprooted sights and sounds works most earnestly to expose the racial biases concealed in familiar images. Relying on valuable snippets from feature films such as "Exodus", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Black Sunday", "Little Drummer Girl", and network news shows, the filmmakers have constructed an oddly wry narrative, mimicking the history of Mid East politics.

Cuisine libanaise : Chiche ou pois chiche ?(fr)

Beyond Borders: Arab Feminists Talk About Their Lives... East and West(en)

In the Arab world, women are fighting a two-front war against repressive internal constraints and intrusive Western interference. In this program, a feminist delegation composed of author Nawal Saadawi and other renowned activists from the Middle East and North Africa gathers at the UN, on college campuses, and in church basements to speak out about deterioration of women's rights in the Arab states in an effort to heighten awareness of the Arab feminist struggle for equality--and the effects of U.S. foreign policy on their efforts.

The Story of 1(en)

A humor-inflected history of the of the number one, covering military applications in ancient Rome, the measurement of distances in India, and the decimal system created by Leibnitz.

Isis: The Origins of Violence(en)

Historian Tom Holland traces the origins of Isis’ barbaric and sadistic violence which it claims is justified by the tenets and scriptures of Islam.

Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature(en)

Documentary on water usage, money, politics, the transformation of nature, and the growth of the American west, shown on PBS as a four-part miniseries.

Sobradinho(pt)

In the 70s, a dam and a hydroelectric plant were built in Sobradinho. The government at the time, which was commanded by the military regime, thought that that small town, in the northeast hinterland, would be ideal for the construction, because there would be no resistance from the locals. So, 73.000 people were displaced - it is one of the biggest forced migrations in the history of Brazil. Four cities and dozens of villages submerged. Mrs. Pequenita was the only inhabitant to ever return; there, she lives in a ghost town. She receives the visit of three social agents, who own old videos and photos of the region.

Forbidden to Wander(en)

Forbidden to Wander chronicles the experiences of a 25-year-old Arab American woman traveling on her own in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the summer of 2002. The film is a reflection on the complexity of Palestinian existence and the torturously disturbing "ordinariness" of living under constant curfew. The film's title reflects this, as the Arabic words used to describe the imposed curfew "mane' tajawwul" literally translate as "forbidden to wander". The video is also the journey of personal discovery for the filmmaker, the wanderer who falls in love with a Palestinian man in Gaza.

Amin(en)

AMIN portrays Qashqai musician Amin Aghaie, a young modern nomad and his family who despite facing steep financial, cultural and political obstacles are dedicated to their art and culture. Amin travels to remote towns and villages to record the music of the surviving masters whose numbers decline each year. His nomadic family are selling their meager belongings to help support their son's education in performance and ethnomusicology at Tchaikovsky's Conservatory in Kyiv, Ukraine, but it is not enough. Amin, desperate to finish his academic education, sells his violins one at a time just to pay for his tuition.

La Rose et le Barrage(fr)

A parallel montage of the construction of a dam in Galicia and the architecture of a small Roman-style church.