Middle East Cinema Series Announces Fall 2018 Line-Up

Nadi Cinema screenings take place at 7 p.m. on select Wednesdays in the Hembree Auditorium, room 107E in the Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Building, next to the Pat Walker Health Center on Maple Street.

From Turkey to Palestine, Iran to India, Nadi Cinema introduces viewers to the storytelling and vision of filmmakers across North Africa and the Middle East. All films — classics, cult favorites, recent hits, comedies, tragedies, political thrillers, social commentaries, and romances, in black-white and living color — are subtitled in English.

The series is hosted by Joel Gordon, professor in the Department of History at the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

All screenings are free and open to the public, and take place at 7 p.m. in the Hembree Auditorium, room 107E in the Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences Building, west of the Pat Walker Health Center on Maple Street.

Wednesday, Aug. 29 – Café Setarah (Iran 2005)

Café Setarah anchors a modest Tehran neighborhood in which three women and their associated men struggle to find romance, financial independence or, for some, a way out (Farsi with English subtitles – 102 minutes)

Wednesday, Sept. 19 – The Insult (Lebanon 2017)

An argument over a home renovation leads to blows; a subsequent legal case revives raw communal tensions that have survived Lebanon's brutal 15‐year civil war. An Oscar nominee as Best Foreign Language Film (Arabic with English subtitles – 112 minutes)

Wednesday, Oct. 17 – Josh: Against the Grain (Pakistan 2012)

When her housemaid disappears during a trip to the village, Fatima ventures beyond her comfortable urban life and enters the dark world of feudal politics (Urdu with English subtitles – 104 minutes)

Wednesday, Nov. 14 – Razzia (Morocco 2017)

Razzia interweaves the stories of 5 Moroccans across three decades in Casablanca, counterpoising his city to the famed Hollywood romance. (Arabic/French with English subtitles – 119 minutes)

Wednesday, Dec. 5 – Boats Out of Watermelon Rinds (Turkey 2004)

A love story of cinema: two teens growing up in a village restore an old projector and show snippets of discarded film stock. Based on the director's personal experience and filmed in his village with an unprofessional cast (Turkish with English subtitles – 97 minutes)

All five film screenings are free and open to the public, and all are subtitled in English. Nadi Cinema is sponsored by the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies in the Fulbright College.

For film synopses, trailers and more information, visit the Nadi Cinema webpage and follow the King Fahd Center on Facebook and Twitter.

About the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies: The King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies is an academic and research unit in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. An interdisciplinary and interdepartmental area studies center that offers diverse cultural, intellectual, and educational opportunities for the University of Arkansas community, the Center promotes research and teaching in interdisciplinary Middle East studies. The center offers an undergraduate major in Middle East Studies through the Middle East Studies Program and supports graduate studies in related departments with graduate assistantships, as well as summer language study, conference travel, and field research grants, and teaching and research by visiting scholars from affiliated universities and programs. More information about the King Fahd Center can be found at mest.uark.edu. For ongoing news, follow the Center on Facebook and Twitter.