While other filmmakers may choose to portray Middle Eastern political unrest through a violent, partisan lens, acclaimed director Kamal Aljafari presents conflict humanistically.
Two movies by the director will be screened Friday night at 5:30 p.m. in the FedEx Global Education Center. Aljafari will be presenting his works — “Visit Iraq” (2003) and “The Roof” (2006) — on Friday, in addition to teaching a film making workshop from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in House Undergraduate Library.
Born in Palestine but raised in Israel, Aljafari sheds new light on Middle-Eastern conflict.
“I think his work is very different from what a lot of people see about Palestinians and Israelis,” said Nadia Yaqub, an Associate Professor at UNC in the Department of Asian Studies.
Yaqub, who helped organize the screenings, said that not only are Aljafari’s films poignantly personal — his family is prominently featured — but his attention to artistic detail sets him apart as a director.
“His films are very sensitive to the interplay between the visible and the audible,” Yaqub said.
“He really focuses on the quality of the images he’s showing.”
Both Yaqub and Rich Cante, faculty director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Cinema, agree that it is unwise to categorize Aljafari’s films as mere political documentaries.
“You’re looking at layers of fiction that people invent to make sense of their real lives,” Cante said.
According to Yaqub, the films will be of interest to a broad audience, and do not require prior understanding of Middle Eastern history.
“Running through his work are all of these questions from disciplines like urban studies, history and international and transnational political issues,” Cante said. “They have a very personal, familial dimension and broader historical overtones.”
For more information about the screenings, visit http://global.unc.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1860&Itemid=118.
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