In the short video “Upside Down,” an older woman
makes makloubeh, a traditional Palestinian food dish. The last shot
shows the completed product: separate and distinct layers of
chicken, rice and vegetables piled on each other, but combined to
form something bigger than its individual parts.Â
Similarly, the widely-varying world of Arab video shorts piles
up into a more complete vision of Arab society. “Upside
Down” is the first of 11 Arab-influenced videos to be
screened this week by the UCLA Film and Television Archive at the
James Bridges Theaters.
Tonight’s series “in/tangible cartographies,”
presents a series of video shorts made by young Arab
filmmakers. On Sunday, the second program,
“untitled,” will feature three longer pieces that focus
on the Middle East and its conflicts. According to Archive
programmer David Pendleton, the pieces should give audiences a
sense of what modern-day life is like in the Arab world.
Both nights of screenings in the James Bridges Theater are
co-sponsored by L.A. Freewaves, a national media arts advocacy
group, as a part of their biannual TV or NOT TV festival.
Attempting to expand the audience for experimental media art, TV or
NOT TV will present over 300 films, videos and other works
throughout the month in various locations and across various
mediums in Los Angeles.
“I think there’s an audience for experimental
works,” said Anne Bray, L.A. Freewaves executive
director. “All it takes is curiosity, that you’re
willing to suspend knowing the answer.”
The works shown at UCLA were compiled by media artist Jayce
Salloum as part of a 10-hour Arab video program for the Worldwide
Video Festival in Amsterdam. Salloum, who also produced and
directed the “untitled” videos to be shown on Sunday,
will curate the Archive event.
“I don’t see my program as part of
“˜in/tangible cartographies,'” Salloum
said. “(My work) looks more like a
documentary.”
Indeed, of his three pieces being screened, two are heavily
interview-based, including one 41-minute dialogue with Soha
Bechara, a now famous ex-Lebanese National Resistance fighter.
Interviewed a year after being released from a torture and
interrogation center where she was held for 10 years, Bechara
discusses life in the center as well as her changed views of the
world.
“People are generally engaged with (Bechara), with the
dynamics of how she presents herself, even though there’s
nothing fancy in the video,” Salloum said.
In contrast, most of the pieces in the “in/tangible
cartographies” program take on more narrative structures,
addressing various aspects of life in the Middle East from the
filmmakers’ own perspectives. “Cyberpalestine”
retells the story of Mary and Joseph in a modernized Palestinian
setting, revealing the abuses suffered under Israeli
occupation. In “Survival Signs,” a series of
distorted images and animations stress the importance of
communication as a means of survival.
“I’ll be happy if people walk away with more
questions than answers,” Salloum said. “My role is
to challenge and provoke the audience and make them consider
different angles and different ways of life.”
“in/tangible cartographies” screens tonight at 7:30
p.m., and “untitled” screens Sunday night at 7:00
p.m. Jayce Salloum will be present at both screenings. For
more info, call (310) 206-FILM or log onto www.cinema.ucla.edu.