triggerhappymedia

I just got this photography book for my sister, but I’m having trouble letting it go…really beautiful stuff!

“Nazar is an Arabic word meaning ’seeing, insight, reflection.’

Nazar: Photographs from the Arab World offers a multifaceted view of photography from North Africa to Lebanon and Palestine, from Egypt to Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Ranging from passionately documentary to aesthetically innovative, these images by fifty-six Arab and Western photographers- male and female- challenge preconceived views about the region.”

Hala Elkoussy, (Re)construction

Nadia Benchallal, From Shore to Shore

Denis Dailleux, Le Caire

Diana Matar, Veiled Woman in Cairo

Laura Junka, Happy in Gaza

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Trigger: Aperture Foundation’s Nazar: Photographs from the Arab World

Under The Bombs
France/Lebanon/UK/Belgium, 2007
New York Premiere

A nice Lebanese man sat next to me in the half-empty auditorium.

“Why are you here?” he asked. “Are you Middle Eastern, or do you care about human rights?”

He told me that he recognized most of the people in the audience. They were all Lebanese, and all university professors.

Filmmaker Philippe Aractingi used real footage of the 2006 Israeli strikes against Lebanon edited together with a story played out by actors. I can’t say that Under The Bombs brought me any closer to understanding the conflict or the suffering caused by a history of war after war. But as the film opened with shots of explosions destroying buildings, I realized I had just watched people die.

I may have been sitting comfortably as usual behind a barrier of distance and privilege and a movie screen. But I still shook in my seat.

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Trigger: Under The Bombs official site; Human Rights Watch reports on the Israel - Lebanon Conflict

“After years of civil war, most Lebanese were coming to terms with their nation’s past and looking forward to a peaceful future. Director Zeina Aboul Hosn visited Beirut a week before the war began. This film is a journey through her memories of Beirut – as the bombs started falling.”

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Trigger: watch more short films at Pangea Day’s official site

Quote: “Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film. Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film.”

When I met actor Haaz Sleiman, I already knew the answer to my first question.

“Where are you from?”

He smiled. “Orginally Lebanon. Ever heard of it?”

At this point I could only assume that while out promoting The Visitor, gorgeous, gracious Haaz had been asked one thousand times about his ethnicity. And knowing what we know about Americans, I am certain that he had spoken with many geography-challenged people.

“Habibatee,” I swooned like Tarek. “Habibi, ya nour el-ain ya sakin khayali…”

He laughed. “Ahhhh, Amr Diab- you know Arabic!”

“I’m absolutely a beginner. I just know some music well. Who else do I know? Hakim, Khaled, Najwa Karam, Alabina, Fairouz… ”

He teased. “Do you know any that was recorded say, after the mid-90s?”

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Trigger: The Visitor official site and trailer