SANAD announced the public screenings for two of its granted films, Factory Girl and The Wanted 18
November 5, 7:30 pm
Factory Girl
Egypt’s 2014/15 Oscar Nomination
Directed by Mohamed Khan, Egypt/UAE.
Arabic with English subtitles (15+)
Nation Galleria, VOX Cinemas
Hiyam, a young factory worker, lives in a lower-middle-class neighbourhood, along with her co-workers. She is clearly under the spell of Salah, the factory's new supervisor, who has expressed his admiration for her. She believes love can transcend the class differences between them. However, when a pregnancy test is discovered in the factory premises, her immediate family and close friends accuse her of sinning. Hiyam decides not to defend herself and pays an enormous price in a society that fails to accept independent women. FACTORY GIRL examines the changes that take place in her life over the four seasons of the year. From falling in love to facing heartbreak, her life comes around a full circle by the end of the year.
November 10, 7:30 pm
The Wanted 18
Palestine’s 2015/16 Oscar Nomination
Directed by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan, Palastine, Canada, France, UAE.
Arabic with English Subtitles (12+)
Nation Galleria, Vox Cinemas
It is 1988, the hopeful days of the first Palestinian Intifada (1987–93), and the Palestinians are engaged in a civil disobedience campaign against the Israeli occupation. To bolster their boycott of Israeli taxation and commodities, residents of Beit Suhour founded a collective farm. This set the stage for the purchase of 18 dairy cows from a nearby kibbutz, so that villagers could produce and distribute their own milk. Though they have no knowledge of commercial dairy production, the farm is a remarkable success, becoming a model for Palestinian civil resistance. The occupation authority fears this sort of resistance far more than stone-throwing youth, which is why Israel’s military governor orders the confiscation of the cows, declaring them “a danger to the security of the state of Israel.' Beit Suhour must take its cows underground. This bittersweet tale of imaginative resistance to an absurd occupation is the subject of Paul Cowan and Amer Shomali’s charming documentary hybrid. Combining testimonial recollection, fictional recreation and stop-motion animation reminiscent of Shaun the Sheep, the documentary recounts the story of Beit Suhour from the perspective its activist/residents, two Israeli veterans sent to dismantle the farm and Rikva, Ruth, Lola and Goldie, four of the 18 unintentionally subversive bovines.