Unveiled Views

Muslim Women Artists Speak Out

A film by Alba Sotorra

2009 | 52 minutes | Color | DVD | Bosnian, Turkish, Farsi, Urdu | English subtitles | Order No. 10995

SYNOPSIS

In this revealing documentary five extraordinary women talk about their occupations, aspirations, and the rights and status of women in their Muslim countries. Bosnian Alma Suljevic risks her life daily clearing the landmines near Sarajevo that are war’s deadly legacy, then sells minefield earth in European art galleries so that she can continue her work. Eren Keskin, a longtime human rights activist and lawyer with music conservatory training, fights to change Turkey’s legal practices that perpetuate violence against women. Veteran filmmaker Rakshan Bani-Ehmad, true to her credo that art must “look, observe, and discover”, frequently pushes Iran’s censorship rules to the limit. Surrounded by conflict since childhood, young Afghani writer Moshagan Saadat creates brave, profoundly moving and memorable poems. And renowned Pakistani dancer Nahid Siddiqui, once forced to live outside her homeland when her work was banned, continues to perfect, renew, and teach her art form. Captured by Spanish filmmaker Alba Sotorra, who hitchhiked from Barcelona to Pakistan to shoot UNVEILED VIEWS, these self-portraits of hope, heroism, and pride challenge conventional Western stereotypes about women in the Islamic world.

PRESS

“Thoughtful, enlightening, refreshingly candid. Five profiles in courage and talent.”

Jennifer Heath Editor, “The Veil: Women Writers on Its History Lore, and Politics”

“Weaves a beautiful tapestry of the lives of [these] Muslim women…Their determination and lack of bitterness against the forces of opposition inspires hope in all of us.”

Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, M.D. Spokesperson, Muslim Women's League

“[These] extraordinary women are used to facing the media. Here, they speak in their own voices, depicting transnational Islamic feminism as complex, varied and vital.”

Patricia White Chair, Film & Media Studies, Swarthmore College

“Theirs are stories of hope, heroism, pride, and finding strength through self-expression, revealing the faces and talents beneath the veils.”

Napa Sonoma Wine County Film Festival

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

  • Mollerussa Film Festival, Best Documentary
  • Guadalajara Film Festival
  • Karachi Film Festival
  • Cines del Sur
  • Docupolis, Barcelona International Documentary Film Festival
  • Napa Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival
  • Calgary Int'l Film Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Alba Sotorra

Alba Sotorra has a BA in Communication and an MA on Mediterranean Cultural Studies. What shaped her view of the world and encouraged her to portray it was having the chance to know other countries and having a camera. She lived and worked in Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Cuba, New York, England, Bosnia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, participating in different cinema and video productions. She has directed several short documentary films, among them: INTERSECTIONS (2005), about the inter-religious conflict in Bosnia, and I’M STILL A STONE (2006) about the need of reconstruction of the Afghani Culture. UNVEILED VIEWS (2008) is her first long documentary film. (2/10)

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