Dear Colleagues,
There is also the film -Hidden Faces--which starts out as a documentary
about Nawal el Saadawi (about whom the film's narrator, an Egyptian woman
living in Paris, ends up with ambiguous feelings), but also goes to an
Egyptian village for conversations with the narrator's mother, aunts, and
cousins (one of whom has not been circumcised), and so provides some sort
of cultural context for the discussion. We are taken to the home of the
narrator's brother, and see him ask his wife to put on a scarf, and
various other elements of "thick description." Perhaps the most compelling
person of all is the child-servant Sayyida, who has worked for the family
since she was four--and considers herself fairly well off--except when
tears roll down her cheeks as she describes her illiteracy.
It's a powerful film, on many levels, including on the topic of female
circumcision; here, that is one of the elements in the cultural matrix.
All best,
Miriam Dow
The film is distributed by Women Make Movies
On Thu, 6 Nov 1997, Mari Maasilta wrote:
> Originally from: Mari Maasilta <timama@uta.fi>
> Originally dated: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 07:50:56 -0800 (PST)
>
> These two films have been contrasted by several participants of the list
> and we came interested in them for our discussions about "speaking for
> other". But there is no information how to get them. Are they distributed
> by Women make Movies and what is www or email address of them?
>
> Mari Maasilta
> timama@uta.fi
>
> > One, as an African American, I have a lot of problems with "Warrior
> Marks".
> > Not to get into a long discussion of it here, but I question its
> > perspective in "speaking for" African women. Alice Walker may be a
> > wonderful writer and person, but she does not necessarily understand all
> of
> > the issues she purports to address in this film. Though technically
much
> > "rougher" I would recommend "Fire Eyes" by Soraya Mire, a Somalian woman
> > filmmaker who endured(s) female genital mutilation.
> >
>
In-Reply-To: 199711101426.GAA07457@abraham.xc.org