SCREEN

Session VII:

Recycle (Jordan): What makes a terrorist? In Zarqa, Jordan’s second largest city with close to 1,000,000 people, it is a much-debated question. Zarqa’s political Islamists are a powerful force in this industrial center, and Zarqa was the birthplace of Abu Musa al Zarqawi, the brutal leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia before being killed by American forces in 2005. Many in town knew al Zarqawi, many in his family remain, and Zarqa continues to be a source of new recruits to the jihad’s cause. Inspired by his reporting on al Zarqawi and Al Quaeda for international news agencies, filmmaker Mahmoud al Massad returned to Zarqa, where he grew up, to make Recycle. With ravishing cinematography that belies the unforgiving landscape, Jordanian/Palestinian filmmaker al Massad charts the daily life of a religious Islamic man trying to survive in one of Zarqa’s poorest neighborhoods. With a deceptively calm demeanor, the film slowly unravels the hidden agents of terrorism as poverty, humiliation, lack of opportunity and religious doctrine defining the daily rhythms of a man and his family, against the backdrop of an age of jihad that spans the globe. This film is co-presented with San Francisco International Film Festival.

The Road to Fallujah (Iraq/USA): Mark Manning is the only westerner to live with the people of Fallujah, Iraq immediately following the November 2004 battle that destroyed their ancient and holy city. With unique access to both sides of the conflict, The Road to Fallujah gives a voice to the people directly involved and affected by the war. The film gives a detailed analysis of the circumstances that led to the siege of Fallujah, the actual events of the siege itself, and the consequences of the battle that have shaped the present situation in Iraq and beyond. With a clear presentation of the reality on the ground in Iraq, the film provides a human perspective of U.S. policy in the Middle East, offering a new direction towards solutions to the current crisis and a guide for future foreign policy decisions. This film is co-presented with Arab Film Festival.

Welcome to North Korea (Czech Republic/North Korea): In its catalog, a Czech travel agency offers a “journey into the unknown,” a tour of North Korea. This spring was the second time since 1990 that a group of Czech tourists set foot in the DPRK. The film follows twenty-seven Czechs who have decided to spend approximately 2,600 Euros on a sightseeing tour of a country that cultivates a cult of personality, maintains concentration camps for its citizens, and doesn’t hide its development of nuclear weapons. Foreign visitors are only allowed a view of a carefully prepared illusion, thoroughly supervised by “guides.” What is more, the North Korean system is starkly reminiscent of the Czech tourists’ own past. Which emotions do these travelers experience: sympathy, nostalgia or, in contrast, happiness that “we already have this behind us?” How does a Czech person, after being accustomed to eighteen years of freedom and democracy, come to terms with the directives and restrictions of a totalitarian system? This film is co-presented with the Center for East Asian Studies, Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, and Center for Asian American Studies.