About The Film Series

Q&A with Paulina Tervo via Skype at the Arab Women Doc Film Series

The Arab Women Doc Film Series, Mothers, Sisters and Cab Drivers, was organized by graduate students of the Cynthia Nelson Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies (IGWS) at AUC in the spring of 2010. The goal of the event was to initiate critical dialogue about the under-representation of Middle Eastern women’s standpoints and their roles in family life and the economy (which includes both paid and unpaid “work”).

In a regional context marked by rapid social, political and economic change, contradictory meanings arise about women as mothers, wives, sisters and working professionals. These constructs often form the basis for mainstream narratives produced by institutions, such as the news media and entertainment, law and religion; as well as for counter-narratives produced by women themselves. Integral to this film series was the role women’s agency played by taking up particular narratives that serve to affirm dominate gender relations, or alternatively, to challenge these norms and transform lives.

All three films emphasize the experiential, attentive to the concrete realm of everyday reality and human agency. Delving into issues of social class, marriage and unconventional jobs for females, this film series discussed and celebrated the different ways in which Middle Eastern women from different regional, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds confront and overcome daily challenges.

Film Screening Schedule

Sunday 11 April 2010: 18:00 – 20:00
AUC New Campus, Core Academic Center, C205

About The Film Series

Film Screening Schedule

Thorns and Silk

Conversations In Cairo

Marriage Egyptian Style