A touring program of contemporary art videos from the Arabic Region

Identity, individuality, politics and regional issues have all come to the foreground of the art scene in the Arab region. This has lent the area its peculiarity that is related to the stereotypical way in which it is perceived around the world today. 

With this idea in mind, "Within the Region" manifests how contemporary artists from Arab countries examine these matters with wariness and sensibility.

"Within the Region" is a selection of high-concept/ low-budget videos produced by emerging video artists from Arab countries between 2005 and 2008.

As a touring program this selection will be shown in various art spaces around the world starting 2009, and will be brought to a close by the end of 2010 in Egypt, where a publication documenting all the activities that will have surrounded the event at each tour stop will be created.

One of main aspects of "Within the Region" is that it offers up-and-coming Arab artists a chance to display their work in the international as well as the local arena.  

The program focuses on various topics of the region’s ideological, political and cultural being, striving to represent or depict different fragments of the reality of their being, in contrast to the stereotypical ways in which they are perceived.

Since contemporary art practices have an impact over shaping opinions in a society, “Within the Region” will be approaching the concept of generalized perceptions or stereotypes of the region with a contemporary way of thinking, along with provoking various questions about the diversity involved in practicing video arts in the Arabic region.

1-Kekh
Hosam Elsawah - Egypt - 6 min
Trivial story telling by an extraordinary person reflects the mixed up consequences of his surroundings.

 
2-Don't Resign
Ahmed Elshaer - Egypt - 3min

3-Play
Waheeda Malullah - Bahrain - 3min
Black and white obsession, sympathetic social issues and gender consideration – all related to a football.

4-Interview
Ahmed Sabry - Egypt - 1min
Digital image became a way of mental and personal composition, a guide for belief and may be high heaven.


5-Soup Over Bethlehem (Mloukhieh)
Larissa Sansour - Palestine - 9min
A group of young Palestinians, all educated in the West, are having dinner on a roof terrace in Bethlehem.


6-On The Pointed Stick
Hosam Hodhod - Egypt - 3min
Various assays of self deformation through self head sculpture


7-4 Seasons
Rania Rafei - Lebanon - 4 min
The artist plays with adjustability options of concrete national ideologies in relation to the war of July 2006 in Lebanon.


8-In The Fridge
Asmaa kolaly - Egypt - 2 min
Sewing hobby and unusual appetite to food insertion.

Documentaries:

Full Bloom
Sandra Madi - Jordan - 46min
The Arab boxing champion, Faraj, who was born and lives in Baqaa Refugee Camp, was suspended  from playing until further notice for refusing to confront an Israeli  champion in an international competition.
The film monitors Faraj’s dilemma between surrendering to life in the refugee camp or attempting to emigrate.

Lemon Flowers
Pamela Ghonimeh - Lebanon - 35min
During the civil war, the Director’s family was forced to leave the neighborhood of Haret Hreik, in Beirut, to a new place that doesn’t relate to their memories or history. The father tries to recreate the neighbourhood he misses.

First Picture
Akram Al Ashqar - Palestine - 26min
The film addresses the story of a Palestinian child, Nour, born in the Israeli Telmond prison, where his mother, Manal Ghanem from Tulkarem refugee camp, was detained. He lived for four years with his mother and then he was separated from her while she remained in detention.
The film tells also the suffering of his relatives who cannot understand the fact that he misses the place where he was born: his mother’s cell which represented his only “world”.

Among Ourselves
Ibrahim Abla - Egypt - 18min
In the middle of the crowded city of Cairo, with the unpaved roads, many unusual incidents take place.
The heroes of those stories are usual ordinary people just like me and you in a triangle struggle that consists of customer, driver and policeman.