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The Message
Nearly four hours long, this film tells the story of Prophet Muhammad and the difficulties he experienced in his attempts to establish the new religion in Mecca. It takes viewers through the time when Mecca was recaptured. Great for giving students both a sense of early Islam's difficulties, and what 7th century Mecca and Medina might have looked like.
Promises
(2001) Documentary Filmmaker interviews 6 young people—3 Israelis and 3 Palestinians—with diverse backgrounds, eventually introducing them to each other. Exceptional.
The Shape of the Moon (2004) won Top Honors at the Amsterdam Film Festival in 2004. It tells the story of an Indonesian Christian woman confronting the poverty and rising Islamic fundamentalism in Jakarta.
Nabila (2004) won the Youth Film Prize in Amsterdam. It is about a Muslim Rap Artist in Sweden of all places!
El-Sebou Egyptian Birth Ritual 27 min 1986 DVD (www.der.org/films). All Egyptian children undergo a birth ritual on the 7th day after their birth regardless of their gender, class, or rural/urban status. This documentary features this birth ritual for a middle class family of twins featuring the woman ritual leader. High kinesthetic quality to film, analytical, yet participants also speak for themselves. Received 3 International Awards for documentary films.
El Moulid Egyptian Religious Festival (Same filmmaker as El Sebou) www.der.org/film 38 min 1990 Documents the religious festival of the life and legacy of the 13th ct. Muslim Wali, Sayyid Aymad Al-Dadawy, held annually in Tanta, Egypt during the cotton harvest. Won multiple prizes
Muslims
2002 120 minutes, filmed in Egypt, Malaysia, Iran, Turkey, Nigeria, and the U.S. Muslims takes an in depth look at what it means to be a Muslim in the 21st century seeking to illustrate the huge diversity of religious practices and interpretations of law that exist among Muslims. www.hartleyfoundation.org
Bedouin/ Middle East Studies
Bisha: The Awesome Fire Test
Produced by Elia Sides and Nira Sherman-Sides, The film tells the stories of three people who choose to undergo a ritual called Bisha, part of a system of law and order (Haj El Orfi—The Law of Knowledge), which is the ultimate ordeal for revealing the truth. Suspects lick a white-hot iron pan, if they are scorched, they are lying; if not, they have unequivocally proven their innocence. In this film, one person has been accused of handing a tribesman over to the Israeli Secret Service, another of murder, and the third of adultery. 52 min. video. Sale $295 rental $75 www.filmakers.com/indivs/Bisha.htm
Films dealing with Interfaith Issues; Islam is one of the faiths involved Singing Pictures www.der.org/films 40 min 2005 2 international awards, perhaps especially appropriate for women’s issues in contemporary life. It is a documentary which looks at a group of women who traditionally created religious scrolls, but with new forms of media their art is dying out, so they have formed a cooperative and are rolling with the times. They create Hindu and Muslim artwork, and the film shows them talking about very practical daily issues: contraception, economics, children, the future, etc. An insider’s look at women in India/Bangladesh.
Naata (The Bond) KP Jayasanka and Anjali Monteiro 45 min 2003 DVD Friends and activists, Bhau Korde and Waqar Khan, work together in neighboring communities of the slums of Mumbai to promote peace and mediate conflict during and after riots in 1992-3. www.der.org/films
Another Road Home, deeply moving story about the inherent contradiction imposed by growing up in an Israeli family, while being raised by a Palestinian caregiver. The film focuses on Jewish-Muslim relations, a poignant look at how people can love each other across religious, cultural, and political barriers. Director Danae Elon, 77 min, 2004 www.hartleyfoundation.org
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