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Amber Fares is a Lebanese Canadian filmmaker, documentarian, director and cinematographer. [1] [2] She co-founded SocDoc Studios. She is based in Brooklyn and West Bank.
Born in Canada with Lebanese roots, Fares began her secondary education at the University of Western Ontario from 1990 to 1993, graduating with a B.A. in Sociology. [3] From 1997 to 2000, she attended the University of Calgary, receiving a M.B.A. in Marketing and International Business. [3] After the September 11 attacks, she left her career in marketing to "deepen her understanding of life in the Middle East". [4] In 2007, she enrolled in the film program at the Gulf Islands Film and Television School (GIFTS) located on Galiano Island. [3] In 2009, Fares co-founded SocDoc Studios with Avi Goldstein. [4]
Fares has also worked for the United Nations, Defence for Children International, and the British Consulate providing her videography expertise for projects such as Peace Starts Here, which is a video series for United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) filmed in the West Bank, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Although on paper she has expressed a number of times her desire for peace for Palestine, she is not really working to achieve this peace, because she is not ready to participate in an honest conversation with the Jewish Israeli population, and she is only interested in preserving the narrative of the "Palestinian victim". [3] [ better source needed ]
After Speed Sisters she went on to co-produce and was the cinematographer on the documentary The Judge that won a Peabody Award in 2019. [5]
Speed Sisters is Fares' first feature length documentary, following the Speed Sisters: the first all-women race car driving team in the Arab World, made up of Noor Daoud, Marah Zahalqa, Maysoon Jayyusi, Mona Ennab, and Betty Saadeh. The film is based in the West Bank, where motor car racing has gained popularity. [6] Some of the Speed Sisters and other subjects speak in English, while sections with Arabic speakers have English subtitles. [7] [8]
Speed Sisters tackles issues such as gender in "Palestine", gender in racing, and "Palestinian life under occupation". The film connects the women's literal mobility through racing to opportunities for "Palestinian resistance" to the occupation. In the trailer for the film, one of the Speed Sisters says, "How much will we let the occupation affect our lives? What are we supposed to do, stop living?" [9] Fares depicts racing as relief from occupation and its restrictions and limitations of movement, mobility, and freedom.
On December 1, 2014, Speed Sisters debuted as the opening film of the Doha Film Institute's Ajyal Youth Film Festival. [10] The Huffington Post's E. Nina Rothe reported on the event, calling the film "cool, fast-paced, insightful and fun to watch" with an "infectious soundtrack" including music by Swedish Palestinian musician Hanouneh. Rothe continues, saying that Fares depicts "a West Bank that while surrounded by conflicts and occupations is a fully functioning, passionate world, filled with exceptional human beings. A Palestine of loving fathers, stubborn daughters.... A Palestine that is livable, not just survivable, away from the headlines and wars." [11]
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict about land and self-determination within the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders, security, water rights, the permit regime, Palestinian freedom of movement, and the Palestinian right of return.
Mai Masri is a Palestinian filmmaker, director and producer. Her films are primarily documentaries which focus on the real life struggles of the women and children living in the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon. She has received over 60 international awards for her films and is hailed as a pioneer in the Middle Eastern film industry.
Middle Eastern cinema collectively refers to the film industries of West Asia and part of North Africa. By definition, it encompasses the film industries of Egypt, Iran, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. As such, the film industries of these countries are also part of the cinema of Asia, or in the case of Egypt, Africa.
Doha Debates produces and distributes solutions-focused debate and interview programs, video reports and interactive content. The franchise's products include flagship debates, interview series, podcasts, the #SolvingIt series, digital video reports, Deep Dive education curriculum, and the interactive Doha Portal. Doha Debates is funded by Qatar Foundation.
Assia Dagher was a Lebanese-Egyptian actress and film producer.
Arab cinema or Arabic cinema refers to the film industry of the Arab world. Most productions are from the Egyptian cinema. Currently, the Middle East's largest cinema chain is Vox, owned by UAE-based Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas.
Cinema of Palestine refers to films made in Palestine and/or by Palestinian filmmakers. Palestinian films are not exclusively produced in Arabic and some are produced in English and French.
Maysoon Pachachi is a film director, editor and producer of Iraqi origin. She was educated in Iraq, the U.S., Britain and can speak English, Arabic, French and Italian. She studied Philosophy at University College London and Film under Thorold Dickinson at the Slade School of Art, where visiting lecturers included Jean Renoir and Gillo Pontecorvo. She has made documentaries in Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. Aside from making films, Maysoon has also taught film directing and editing in Britain, Iraq and Palestine. She now lives in Britain where she co-founded Act Together: Women Against Sanctions and War on Iraq, a group of UK-based Iraqi and non-Iraqi women formed in 2000 to campaign against the economic sanctions on Iraq. They also campaigned against the invasion of Iraq. Now the group's focus is on the occupation and the support of independent grassroots women’s initiatives in Iraq. She has also written articles on her work in Iraq and Palestine for the New Statesman and The Guardian among other publications.
Palestinian literature refers to the Arabic language novels, short stories and poems produced by Palestinians. Forming part of the broader genre of Arabic literature, contemporary Palestinian literature is often characterized by its heightened sense of irony and the exploration of existential themes and issues of identity. References to the subjects of resistance to occupation, exile, loss, and love and longing for homeland are also common.
Annemarie Jacir is a Palestinian filmmaker, writer, and producer.
Farid Majari was a German cultural manager and film producer.
Maysoon Zayid is an American actress and comedian. Of Palestinian descent, she is known as one of America's first Muslim women comedians.
Doha Film Institute (DFI) is a nonprofit cultural organisation established in 2010 by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani to support the growth of the Qatari film community and to provide funding and international networking opportunities to creators. DFI hosts two major film festivals, Ajyal Film Festival and Qumra, each year. Since its inception, DFI has financially supported more than 600 projects from development through post-production.
Salma Khadra Jayyusi was a Palestinian poet, writer, translator and anthologist. She was the founder and director of the Project of Translation from Arabic (PROTA), which aims to provide translation of Arabic literature into English.
A growing number of film festivals are held in the Arab world to showcase films from the region as well as international standouts. In addition, institutions and organizations in other parts of the world are increasingly honoring the new generation of filmmakers in the Arab world with Arab film festivals.
Najwa Najjar is a film writer and director. She was born to a Jordanian father and Palestinian mother. She began her career making commercials and has worked in both documentary and fiction since 1999.
Speed Sisters is a 2015 documentary film by Amber Fares that follows the all-female Palestinian racing team the Speed Sisters and explores the social issues surrounding their career. It was pitched at the 2011 MeetMarket part of Sheffield Doc/Fest.
Cinema in Qatar is a relatively young industry that evolved as part of the country’s plans to develop different local sectors with the aim of accumulating international recognition and status. Many major steps were taken to implement a long-term plan to develop the infrastructure as well as giving opportunities to local talents to have a platform that establishes their presence within the film industry with the support of the Doha Film Institute, and their various grants, workshops and festivals. The Qatar National Vision 2030 has three major pillars to development: human, social economic and environmental; this vision provides frameworks that enable the development of different elements within Qatar and its society; one of which is the high importance put on developing and cultivating artistic talents to represent and define Qatar on a global scale. Another important element in developing the movie industry is the influence and vision of Sheikha Al Mayassa who founded Doha Film Institution; the establishment of film as a mode of storytelling was imperative because it serves the purpose of granting Qatar a global presence through the talents that are supported and cultivated because of her initiative. The film industry plays a role in amplifying the Qatari national identity alongside the identity of the Arab world as a whole.
The Occupation of the American Mind is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Loretta Alper and Jeremy Earp, and narrated by Roger Waters. The film seeks to show how the Israeli government and pro-Israel lobby groups use their influence in the American media to shape the views of the American people on its control of the West Bank and Gaza. According to Al Jazeera, the film explores the United States' steadfast support for Israel in the face of the latter's controversial actions, seeking to show how "information warfare" waged by Israel and its supporters managed perceptions about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and won over the hearts and minds of Americans for the last 50 years.
Boycott is a documentary film about three Americans' lawsuits against their state governments in response to anti-BDS laws which caused said governments to cancel their business contracts after they refused to pledge that they would not engage in a boycott of Israel. The film is directed by Julia Bacha; it premiered in 2021.