THERE IS SALT AND BREAD BETWEEN US
Screening Online: Sept 27-Oct 1
RSVP: arabfilmseries.org
Free with RSVP / $5 suggested donation
Available Worldwide
THERE IS SALT AND BREAD BETWEEN US presents a selection of films by Larissa Sansour, Youmna Chlala, Alia Yunis, Andrea Nones-Kobiakov, and Marwa Benhalim. The films are centered around the theme of food, which is employed as a vehicle to explore political and cultural narratives.
Trespass the Salt, a collaborative project by Larissa Sansour and Youmna Chlala, delves into the nuanced relationship between Palestine and Lebanon around a lavish and surreal dinner table. Set in a virtual and imagined space, the film examines cultural and power dynamics in the region and with the West through humor and fiction.
In The Golden Harvest, the filmmaker Alia Yunis seeks to understand the profound and often troubled relationship between olive oil and the people of the Mediterranean, including her own father.
The Devil’s Recipe, a collaboration between Andrea Nones-Kobiakov and Marwa Benhalim, highlights the absurdity and redundancy of political speeches. Words from the speeches of Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías at the 61st United Nations General Assembly in 2006 and remarks by Muammar al-Gaddafi at the 64th United Nations General Assembly in 2009 are replaced with fruit and vegetable idioms.
FILM PROGRAM:
Trespass the Salt by Larissa Sansour & Youmna Chlala
Through this intimate and fictionalized dinner, an impossible happening becomes real. The work explores cultural fabrications and similarities in a non-mediated moment outside the Western gaze – even if the space it seeks is invariably conditioned by it. This work was initially a 3-channel video installation.
The Devil’s Recipe by Marwa Benhalim & Andrea Nones-Kobiakov
The Devil’s Recipe is a collaboration between Andrea Nones-Kobiakov and Marwa Benhalim – a playful view of the nonsensicality within political discourses. Mundane everyday objects, actions, ingredients, and utterances emphasize the redundant and useless nature of propagandistic speeches. The reality in the spoken words is mixed to create new fictions, proverbs, idioms, and linguistic manipulations highlighting the absurd illusions of power and stability we regularly are made to believe. Based on remarks by Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías at the 61st United Nations General Assembly, 2006 and remarks by Muammar al-Gaddafi at the 64th United Nations General Assembly, 2009.
The Golden Harvest, by Alia Yunis
The Golden Harvest is a 6,000-year old love story in which the filmmaker tries to understand the profound, often troubled, relationship between olive trees and the people of Mediterranean, including Palestinian father.
The Arab Film Series online is a monthly program of films and discussions with artists and filmmakers from the SWANA region and its diasporas, presented by ArteEast in partnership with the Arab American National Museum and Arab Film and Media Institute
Image Credit: Trespass the Salt by Larissa Sansour & Youmna Chlala
