Abrahamic Film Festival

March 24, 2010 |

Israeli directors Dan and Noit Geva, the Spring 2010 Schusterman visiting artist residents at the Maryland Institute College of Art, present this three-part film series that explores the religious tensions faced by the members of the three Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Muslim – as their traditions and communities adapt to the pressures of modern society and co-existence.

All films will be held on Goucher College’s Towson campus and are free and open to the public. Each film will begin at 6:30 p.m., and a discussion will follow the screenings.

Wednesday, March 24
Badal
Director Ibtisam Mara'na's film examines badal marriages, a Muslim practice in which a brother and sister from one family marry a sister and brother from another family. The film portrays Palestinian women living in Israel who struggle to be a part of their traditional society while also maintaining their full rights as women and citizens of a Jewish state.
Merrick Lecture Hall

Wednesday, April 14
Selections from Films by Dan and Noit Geva
Clips from Jerusalem – Rhythms of a Distant City, What I Saw in Hebron, Description of a Memory, and Take Now Your Son. Jerusalem – Rhythms of a Distant City portrays the common historical role that Jerusalem fulfills in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. What I Saw in Hebron uses eyewitness accounts, including the diary of filmmaker Noit Geva's grandmother, to trace the traumatic events that occurred during the 1929 massacre in Hebron, when in the space of two days, rioting Arab mobs murdered 84 of their Jewish neighbors. Description of a Memory is a follow-up to French director Chris Marker's 1960 opus Description of a Struggle. In the original film, Marker traveled to Israel (then only 15 years old) and speculated on the country’s past, present, and future. In this sequel, Dan Geva revisits Marker's travels and subjects, contrasting elements from the original film with the same elements in 21st-century Israel. Geva shows that Marker’s “future Israel” had materialized by the early 21st century. Take Now Your Son is a personal interpretation of the akedah (the biblical story of Abraham being commanded to sacrifice his son) in Israel, which legally requires fathers to send their sons to join the military.
Merrick Lecture Hall

Wednesday, May 5
Arna’s Children
The film tells the story of a Palestinian theater group for children that was established by Arna Mer Khamis, an Israeli political and human rights activist, in the Jenin refugee camp. The film follows the lives of several of the children, many of whom became suicide bombers.
Kelley Lecture Hall

This film series is sponsored by the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies, the Goucher College Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, and the American Jewish Committee.