Tuesday,
March 30, 2010
Scribe
Video
Center
Producers’ Forum
Veiled
Voices
dir.
Brigid Maher, US, 2009, video, 59 mins, color, English and Arabic
w/ English subtitles
Director Brigid Maher in person
Women
across the Arab world are redefining their role as leaders in
Islam. Veiled Voices investigates the world of Muslim
women religious leaders through the eyes of three women in Lebanon,
Syria and Egypt. Shot over the course of two years, Veiled
Voices reveals a world rarely documented or filmed before
now and explores both the public and private worlds of these
women. The stories of the women featured give insight into how
Muslim women are now increasingly willing to challenge the status
quo from within Islam, promoting Islam as a powerful force for
positive transformation in the world. Each triumphs over difficult
challenges as they carve out a space to lead in Islam and their
communities.
Director Brigid Maher is a film
and media arts professor at American University and an award-winning
filmmaker. Her inspiration for Veiled Voices came while teaching
broadcast media in Lebanon in 2005 on a Fulbright award. Maher
traveled to Lebanon, Syria and Egypt to film, following the
lives of the three sheikhas as they seek to carve out a space
to lead in Islam and their communities. Her intimate portraits
of these women provide a launching point for intellectual discussion
among both Muslims and non-Muslims about the evolving role of
women in religion. Maher's films, which have been shown at festivals
around the world, often examine themes of cultural identity
and discrimination.
|
