Friday, May 8
The Wanted 18
Animation/ Canada, Palestine, France/ 2014/ Arabic, English, Hebrew/ Color/ 75 minutes
Combining stop motion animation, with interviews, original drawings and archival footage, The Wanted 18 tells the story of a group of Palestinian activists in Beit Sahour, who decide to purchase 18 cows from an Israeli kibbutz to create a cooperative dairy farm in the West Bank during the first Intifada. With time, they start producing a high quality product that becomes known as the "Intifada Milk." This aspiring project does not go unnoticed; the dairy farm is raided by the Israelis, and the cows are declared "a threat to the national security of the State of Israel."
Time & Location: 7:30 PM at Museum of Fine Arts Houston MFAH
Directors: Paul Cowan, Amer Shomali
Writer: Paul Cowan
Cast: Alison Darcy, Rosann Nerenberg, Holly O'Brien
Saturday, May 9
Villa Touma
Drama/ 2014/ Arabic/ Color/ 87 minutes
Eighteen years old Badia arrives at the home of her three spinster aunts in Ramallah, after leaving a Catholic orphanage in Jerusalem, where she was raised. The three sisters, Juliette, Violet, and Antoinette, isolated themselves from the rest of the world, and adopted a routine of strictness and sternness. With their young guest in house, the three sisters decide to marry Badia off to a man from a good family. But Badia's outgoing personality, and her secret love for an unsuitable man, angers the three sisters, and with that, secrets start to unravel throughout the house.
Time & Location: 7:00 PM at Museum of Fine Arts Houston MFAH
Director: Suha Arraf
Writer: Suha Arraf
Cast: Nisreen Faour, Ula Tabari, Cherin Dabis, Maria Zreik
Friday, May 15
Transit Game
Drama/ 2014/ Arabic/ Color and Black & White/ 85 minutes
A writer and a film director are making a film on a young Palestinian girl in one of Gaza's refugee camps, who is a victim of honor killing. Her name is Sara. As the two men work hard to uphold the truth and end the film, they are deeply affected by Sara's story.
Date & Place: Friday, May 15 - 7:00 PM at Rice University Media Center
Director: Khalil Al-Mozian
Writer: Naim Al Khatib, Khalil Al-Mozian
Cast: Naim Al Khatib, Jamal Abu Alqumsan, Inas Al-Saqa, Haia Ashour
Girrafada
Climb of Hope
Voice of a Condor
The Wanted 18
Animation/ Canada, Palestine, France/ 2014/ Arabic, English, Hebrew/ Color/ 75 minutes
Combining stop motion animation, with interviews, original drawings and archival footage, The Wanted 18 tells the story of a group of Palestinian activists in Beit Sahour, who decide to purchase 18 cows from an Israeli kibbutz to create a cooperative dairy farm in the West Bank during the first Intifada. With time, they start producing a high quality product that becomes known as the "Intifada Milk." This aspiring project does not go unnoticed; the dairy farm is raided by the Israelis, and the cows are declared "a threat to the national security of the State of Israel."
Date & Place: Friday, May 16 - 7:00 PM at Rice University Media Center
Directors: Paul Cowan, Amer Shomali
Writer: Paul Cowan
Cast: Alison Darcy, Rosann Nerenberg, Holly O'Brien
1913: Seeds of A Conflict
On the Bride’s Side
Eyes of a Thief
Drama/ Palestine/ 2014/ Arabic/ Color/ 98 minutes
Set around 2012, Eyes of a Thief tells the story of Tareq, a Palestinian water engineer, who was recently released from an Israeli prison, and embarks on a journey to look for his missing daughter. Moving to Nablus, where his daughter might be staying, Tareq forms a father-daughter relationship with ten years old Malak, and at the same time, builds a tense relationship with Adel, the man who employed him, after having suspicions about the work he wants him to do.
Date & Place: Saturday, May 23 - 7:00 PM at Rice University Media Center
Director: Najwa Najjar
Writer: Najwa Najjar
Cast: Khalid Abu El-Naga, Souad Massi, Malak Ermileh, Suhail Haddad