Join us on Friday December 8 at 19:00 for a screening of films and videos by Omar Gabriel, Sirine Fattouh, Sharon Hakim, and Bashar Mourad.

The program Letters of Resistance presents videos that are in themselves ways to navigate the tremendous societal pressure on queer individuals from Arab-speaking countries. Using music, irony, and intergenerational dialogues, these videos narrate a story of queer love, creativity, and resistance. As Soha Becharra phrases it in Omar Gabriel’s film, whether for gender and sexuality rights or against colonial occupation, struggles for liberation are interconnected, “My fight for the liberation of south Lebanon is a stage of the open battle of life with and against society and the state. My journey with Juan has become a part of this battle”

This program is produced in collaboration with Festival Ciné-Palestine and Cinema al Fouad as part of the second edition of the Queer Cinema for Palestine Festival. 

It was developed and produced a few months before October 7, 2023. We believe it is still relevant. We want to stress again that no queer liberation is possible under occupation.

La Grande Nuit
Dir. Sharon Hakim, 2020
23', France
French with EN subtitles

Esma is a young cabaret dancer of Algerian origin in search of freedom. Hantirah, a young Syrian doctor who is destined for a future mapped out by his parents, is torn between his love for her and his commitment to his fiancée, a medical student like him. On Eid day, between the streets of Barbès and the queer cabaret where Aragoz, Hantirah's best Egyptian friend, performs, we discover a modern youth of various Arab origins.

Maskhara
Dir. Bashar Murad, 2020
3', Palestine
Arabic with EN subtitles

Maskhara is a satirical Arabic Pop song encapsulating the combined struggles of living under occupation, fighting patriarchy, and going through the pandemic. Fusing various musical styles, from disco to '80s nostalgia and Caribbean rhythms, the track stands as a window into counter-culture, ushering positivity into year-end and conveying hidden messages through images and symbols.

Ilkul 3am Bitjawaz
Dir. Bashar Murad, 2018
3’, Palestine
Arabic with EN subtitles

Ilkul 3am Bitjawaz (Everyone is Getting Married) is Bashar Murad’s debut in the realm of Arab Pop. Through both song and video, Murad employs satire to lampoon the relentless societal expectations surrounding marriage, particularly the notion that reaching 30 without a partner is a failure. In the self-directed visuals, Bashar takes audacious steps by challenging conventional gender roles. 

A Letter to Myself: Soha Bechara
Dir. Omar Gabriel, 2022
10’, Switzerland
Arabic with EN subtitles

In a letter to herself, Soha Bechara, a Lebanese figure of the resistance to the Israeli occupation expresses her worries about her son Juan, who recently confessed to her that he was a boy in a girl's body. Soha reflects on her child's struggle and what it would mean for him if they had not left Lebanon to live in Switzerland.

From Algiers to Beirut: A Video Correspondence by Sirine Fattouh and Leïla Saadna
Dir. Sirine Fattouh, 2022
26’, Lebanon/France
Arabic and French with EN subtitles

From Algiers to Beirut is a video installation consisting of several short videos working as a back-and-forth correspondence between Sirine Fattouh and Leïla Saadna. In this dialogue, the two artists explore the complex and fraught relationship with their respective countries, how it has impacted the choices they have made in the past, and how it has framed their identities.