When Arabs DancedJawad Rhalib
Fundamentalists have greatly changed the Muslim world. A liberated way of enjoying your body and culture has been restricted, seemingly without much resistance from the population. In 'When Arabs Danced', Moroccan-Belgian filmmaker Jawad Rhalib gives a voice to this silent minority who, against the current, continue to oppose radicalization.
The mother of Moroccan-Belgian filmmaker Jawad Rhalib (Le Chant des Tortues, Les Damnés de la Mer) was a belly dancer. In a not so distant past, this Arab dance symbolised sensuality and femininity. Fundamentalists, in the name of Allah, then labeled dancing, music and other artistic expression as unclean. Rhalib was taught that he should be ashamed of his mother. What are the effects of this radical turnaround for dancers and artists in the Arab world? Will they continue and fight for the freedom of expression or will some self-censorship seep into their work? With testimonies from the Belgian playwrights of action zoo humaine, actress Hiam Abbass (Insyriated), Iranian-Belgian playwright Sachli Gholamalizad and his own mother, Jawad Rhalib shows how artists throughout the Arab world oppose and seek to an answer to this attack on (artistic) freedom.
Info
Directed by Jawad Rhalib
België
2018 84 min.
Arabisch, Frans, Engels
Subtitles: Dutch, English
Programme
Belgian selection
credits
Director
Jawad Rhalib
Producer
Bart Maes, Jawad Rhalib
Production company
Zonderling, R&R Productions
Cinematography
François Schmitt
Editing
Stijn Deconinck
Music
Simon Fransquet
Contact info
Bekijk Contact info(en screener)
(beschikbaar vanaf 20.03)