Film Series Focuses on Stories of Muslim Women

Beginning Tuesday, Oct. 6, Assistant Professor DIYA ABDO's IDS 485 class will present a series of films concerning the lives of Muslim women. Students in the course “Arab and Islamic Feminisms” will introduce each film and moderate a discussion afterwards. The film screenings are free and open to the entire campus community.

All screenings will take place in Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Auditorium, located in the Frank Family Science Center.

They Call Me Muslim -- Tuesday Oct. 6, 5:30-7 p.m. (2006, 27 min)

In popular Western imagination, a Muslim woman in a veil – or hijab – is a symbol of Islamic oppression. But what does it mean for women’s freedom when a democratic country forbids the wearing of the veil? In this provocative documentary, filmmaker Diana Ferrero portrays the struggle of two women – one in France and one in Iran – to express themselves freely.

A Woman's Word – Thursday, Oct. 29, 6:15-8 p.m. (2004, 52 min)

A WOMAN'S WORD depicts the life and writings of three exceptional authors of the Arab word. For all three women, becoming a writer was never a choice but a necessity – a vocation fought for and hard won. In her own way, each writer struggles as an Arab woman in a society that often wants to shut down her powerful voice. This documentary shatters the clichéd image of the oppressed and helpless Arab woman too often portrayed in the media.

Women Like Us – Wednesday, Nov. 11 6-8 p.m. (2002, 60 min)

Filmmaker Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri returns to Iran after 20 years as an expatriate to present this intimate and revealing portrait of five ordinary Iranian women: a nurse, a journalist, a rice farmer, a religious college graduate and a piano teacher. Against a backdrop of Islam, revolution and war, they share their views on the veil, the relationship of Iranian women to the West and the long-ranging impacts of the 1979 Revolution on the status of women in their country.

That Paradise Will Be Mine – Tuesday, Dec. 1, 6-8 p.m. (2005, 54 min)

Why would a woman in one of the most liberal Western European countries choose to become a Muslim and faithfully follow the demands of her new conviction – including wearing the veil? This eye-opening film follows the lives of three women dealing with the consequences of their choice to convert to Islam.

For more information about the series, contact Abdo at 316-2214 or abdod@guilford.edu.

Sept. 29, 2009