Toll Bar: Made with a shoestring budget of 15,000 USD, Toll Bar is the first ever film from the "Partisan Movement," a manifesto in which guerrilla filmmakers aim to create social realism while rejecting conventional cinema. Toll Bar emphasizes the stark dichotomy between the haves and the have-nots in Kazakhstan. Two men residing in the same city, with the same internal ambitions, crossing paths daily at the toll bar the same parking garage are yet divided by a massive abyss.
Department of French and Italian Languages and Literatures; Department of Religious Studies; European Union Center of Excellence; Film Studies Program; Global Studies Center; Humanities Center
Abdellah is a young gay man navigating the sexual, racial and political climate of Morocco. Growing up in a large family in a working-class neighborhood, Abdellah is caught between a distant father, an authoritarian mother, an older brother whom he adores and a handful of predatory older men, in a society that denies his homosexuality. Salvation Army, the directorial debut for Abdellah Taïa – an acclaimed Moroccan and Arab writer – is adapted from his novel of the same name. Discussion with the director after the screening. Free admission.
CMU International Film Festival & other local sponsors
When you're twelve, the end of the world comes in many different forms: it's missing the ball, fighting with your best friend or, for Hany Abdullah Peter Soussa, transferring from a private school to a public one. After a childhood of security and privilege, Hany's idyllic world is disrupted when his father suddenly dies. To cut back from spending more than they could afford, Hany and his mother decide to transfer him from a private school to a public one, where he fits in as comfortably as a sailor does in a desert.
Join Dr. Luke Peterson, UCIS Visiting Professor in Contemporary and International Issues at the University of Pittsburgh for a film-screening event of the Delta Force (1986) and a follow-up discussion.
Saturday, November 9, 2013 - 5:00pm to Sunday, November 10, 2013 - 6:00pm
West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church (20401 Hilliard Blvd, Rocky River, Ohio 44116), First Unitarian Church of Cleveland (21600 Shaker Heights Blvd, Shaker Heights, Ohio 44122)
Witness Palestine: A Film Series will be held on Saturday, November 9 from 5:00pm-9:00pm and Sunday, November 10 from 2:00pm-6:00pm. The First Unitarian Church of Cleveland will show "Welcome to Hebron" and "Salt of This Sea" on November 9. They will show "Since You Left" and "Private" on November 10. The West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church will show "Since You Left" and "Private" on November 9 and "Welcome to Hebron" and "Salt of This Sea" on November 10. Panel discussions will follow each set of films.
The U.S. Government sends comedian Albert Brooks to India and Pakistan to find out what makes the over 300 million Muslims in the region laugh, but Brooks' activities lead to many political and cultural misunderstandings. Directed by Albert Brooks, 98 minutes, 2005. Refreshments will be provided.
This powerful and remarkable drama chronicles the true story of a young girl in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan who must disguise herself as a boy to save her family from starvation. The first feature film made in Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era. Directed by Siddiq Barmak, 82 minutes, 2003. Refreshments will be provided.
Amid a strict Muslim rearing and a social life he's never had, Tariq enters college confused. New peers, family and mentors help him find his place, but the 9-11 attacks force him to face his past and make the biggest decisions of his life.
2013 Academy Award Nominee, Documentary spanning 5 years of the struggle of one Palestinian villager against the Israeli Separation Barrier threatening his village, from the point of view of the 5 cameras destroyed in the process of making the film (Emad Burnat & Guy Davidi, 2011, 94 min.)
