Culture

Arab Film Series “Beyond Spring”

An Egyptian film to be shown in Berlin on 16th May

May 14th, 2019
Niina Nukki, News from Berlin
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In 2010, the first protests in Tunisia sparked a wave of uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa known as the Arab Spring. The history of the region, however, goes beyond the said Arab Spring.

The film series called “Beyond Spring” is curated by Viola Shafik and it has presented films from various Arab countries in the Werkstatt der Kulturen since 2014. The goal is to examine the social and political conditions in the Arabic countries and to improve understanding of class relations, gender, politics and social justice.

On 16th May the film Poisonous Roses, directed by Ahmed Fawzi Saleh, will be shown as a part of the Arab film series. The film will be accompanied by discussions about it. The film tells a story about Saqr, a 22-year-old man living in Egypt, who wants to flee from the tanner’s district he lives and works in. His sister, 28-year-old Taheya, wants to prevent this at all costs. She sabotages her brother’s blossoming relationship and tries to thwart his future plans.

The film will be presented by Iskandar Abdalla, who is a PhD student at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies. His doctoral project is called “Rendering Islam Liberal. Secularism, Sexuality and Politics of Muslim Self-appropriation in Contemporary Germany.” Also Dina Wahba will be there to discuss the film. She has graduated from Cairo University and the University of London. The topic of her recently published thesis is “Gendering the Egyptian Revolution.” She is currently working on her PhD and she is also a women’s rights activist who has worked for several local and international organizations such as International Rescue Committee (IRC) and UN Women.

Poisonous Roses will be shown at Werkstatt der Kulturen on Thursday 16th May 2019 at 19:30.

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News from Berlin