There is a rich history of filmmaking in the Middle East, including a growing number of women filmmakers. Jan Haaken talks with Professor Yasmeen Hanoosh about the course Hanoosh is teaching this term at Portland State University titled “War and Coloniality in Arab Cinema.” They discuss the themes taken up in the class and some of the films included in weekly screenings at the MENASA Center. The screenings are also free and open to the public. Professor Hanoosh is on the faculty in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at PSU where she directs the Arabic program. She is an Iraqi writer of both fiction and nonfiction and author of a number of publications, including The Chaldeans: Politics and Identity in Iraq and the American Diaspora and an Arabic short story collection, Ardh al-Khayrat al-Mal’unah (The Land of Cursed Riches).
Image: Scene from "The Man Who Sold his Skin," directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania.
- KBOO