Camera/Woman

Sunday, June 16, 2013

US premiere! Filmmaker in person!

With enthusiastic musicians and ornate wedding parties setting the stage, we meet Khadija, a Moroccan divorcee who works as a camerawoman at weddings in Casablanca. Her mother and brother strongly disagree with her choice of occupation, complaining that Khadija is out until all hours and a source of gossip for the neighbors. Already ashamed that Khadija is divorced, they simply want her to remarry. But Khadija is the breadwinner in the family and she won’t bow to their demands. The fairy tale world of the wedding parties plays in sharp contrast to the difficulties of marriage and the reality of divorce. Together with her best friend Bouchra, also a divorcee, Khadija talks candidly about the issues they face and the competing forces at play in the lives of women in Morocco and beyond.

preceded by:

GOING UP THE STAIRS

Married at age nine, Akram was so fearful of displeasing her husband that she left school before she learned to read. Now a grandmother living with her husband Heidar in Tehran, she has found her calling: painting. Akram’s children organize an exhibition in Paris for her and she hopes Heidar will give her permission to go. Like many couples married for decades, they bicker back and forth and Akram’s sarcastic sense of humor shines through. A charming portrait of an artist, Going Up the Stairs also provides an enlightening glimpse inside a traditional Iranian marriage.

Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami—Iran—2011—51m

Presented in association with Alwan for the Arts, www.alwanforthearts.org, Equality Now, www.equalitynow.org, The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, www.iranhumanrights.org and New York Women in Film and Television, www.nywift.org

Human Rights Watch has reported on a range of obstacles to women’s equality and protection from violence in the Middle East and North Africa. In March 2012 a 16-year-old Moroccan woman apparently took her own life after being forced to marry a man who may have raped her. Human Rights Watch investigated the case and urged Moroccan authorities to enact a meaningful law on domestic violence and repeal a penal code provision that, in practice, has allowed men accused of raping or having sex with minors to avoid prosecution if they wed their victims.

hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/morocco/

Additional screenings take place at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, click here for more information.

 

• Country Morocco
• Language In Arabic with English subtitles
• Rating NR
• Running Time 59 minutes
• Director Karima Zoubir

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.