BERKELEY, March 20th
The Arab Film Festival is proud to co-present with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Berkeley (CMES):
Noor Award Winner Salata Baladi
Screening of the documentary Salata Baladi by Nadia Kamel (filmmaker expected)
Winner of 2007 Arab Film Festival Noor Award
Thursday, March 20th, 5:00 PM, FREE ADMISSION
Stephens Hall, Sultan Room, 340 Stephens, UC Berkeley
Egypt was not always hostage to the myth of being a homogenous society. Rather, it was once a multi-ethnic and religiously heterogeneous society. Salata Baladi is the personal history of the filmmaker’s grandmother, Mary, as told to her grandson, Nabeel. Like many Egyptians born at the end of a century filled with multiple waves of immigration, religious conversions, and mixed marriages, Nabeel is a mix of Egyptian, Italian, Palestinian, and Lebanese identities, with some Russian, Caucasian, Turkish, and Spanish inherited from Muslim, Christian and Jewish ancestors. As Mary weaves her way through the family tales, she bumps into her own fears and continued silence shrouding the Israeli branch of her family. In an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people, Mary has boycotted her family in Israel for 55 long years. Inspired by the telling of her own stories and the fresh perspective her ten-year-old grandson brings to them, she and her loving, eclectic circle of friends and family engage in breaking one of the most vicious taboos in modern Egypt.
Event Contact: 510-642-8208
