ALIF Movies this Weekend

Whatever Works
Attempting to impress his ideologies on religion, relationships, and the randomness (and worthlessness) of existence, lifelong New York resident Boris Yellnikoff rants to anyone who will listen, including the audience. But when he begrudgingly allows naive Mississippi runaway Melodie St. Ann Celestine to live in his apartment, his reclusive rages give way to an unlikely friendship and Boris begins to mold the impressionable young girl’s worldly views to match his own. When it comes to love, “whatever works” is his motto, but his already perplexed life complicates itself further when Melodie’s parents eventually track her down.

Language: English

Who: ALIF students
When: Friday May 18 at 6 PM
Where: ALIF Riad

The Mirror
A young girl leaves school and discovers that her mother is not outside waiting. She boards what looks like the correct bus, but eventually realizes that she has gone the wrong way. A friendly driver begins to help the now irritable child. Suddenly she stops and announces “I don’t want to play this part anymore.” The story surprisingly becomes about making a film. The actress continues to be filmed without her knowledge.

Language :Arabic with English subtitles

Who: ALIF students
When: Saturday May 19 and Sunday May 20 at 6 PM
Where: ALIF Riad

Moneyball

Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.

You can see the trailer Here

Who: ALC & ALIF and university students
When: Friday May 18 at 3 PM
Where: ALC Room Six

The Hammam as Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Morocco

Naima Lahbil, Moroccan Professor of Economics and current consultant with ADER-FES on the HAMMAMED project will talk about the importance of the Hammam in Moroccan everyday culture and experience.

                        Naima Lahbil dancing in the Hammam!

The project is working on restoring and maintaining the architectural and historic integrity of some of the important hammams in the medina.

Professor Lahbil has long been a champion of the cultural and historic heritage of Fes Medina and worked with UNESCO and the World Bank on many projects.

This lecture will give students some insight into the Moroccan hammam experience as well as an opportunity to learn more about the direction and goals of the historic restoration projects in Fes.

Click Here to know more about the HAMMAMED project

When: Monday, May 14 at 5 PM
Where: Room 1 at the ALC
Who: ALC, ALIF & university students and the general public

Another Earth at ALC-Fes ALIF

In the framework of its cultural activities, the U.S. Embassy is organizing a series of film screenings with the Sundance Institute’s Film Forward Program. Another Earth will be shown at the American Language Center in Fez this Thursday, followed by a discussion with the film’s director, Mike Cahill.

On the night of the discovery of a duplicate planet in the solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident.

Click Here to see the trailer

When: Thursday, May 10 at 6 PM
Where: ALC annex, across from the ALC
Who: ALC, ALIF & university students and the general public

ALIF Movies this Weekend

A Passage to India
When liberal-minded English ladies Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested arrive in India, they’re shocked by the extreme racial prejudice that exists there. Fortunately, kind Dr. Aziz rises above the intolerance and guides the women on a splendid tour of the mysterious Marabar caves. But the outing turns tragic when Adela suddenly comes running from one of the caves–scratched, bleeding and terribly frightened. News of the incident quickly spreads across the whole of India…igniting a powder keg of tension just waiting to explode. “A rich tapestry woven of the clash between two cultures” (Newsweek), A Passage to India is supreme entertainment and a visual wonder that is truly spellbinding.

Langue: English

Who: ALIF students
When: Friday May 11 at 6 PM
Where: ALIF Riad

RESISTANCE[S]
The RESISTANCE[S] DVD compilation is a panorama of contemporary experimental creativity from this region of the world. The artists presented on this DVD (Zoulikha Bouabdellah, Taysir Batniji, Mounir Fatmi, Lamya Gargash, Usama Alshaibi, Jayce Salloum, Frédérique Devaux and Waël Noureddine) are all international travellers. Their identities have been shaped by the cultures they’ve encountered during forced or voluntary states of migration and exile. Using images to lead the narrative, each artist, no matter the style or medium, succeeds in raising fundamental questions relating to humanity, politics and aesthetics. The relationship between past and present, between tradition and modernity, geographical distance and culture gaps, the status of women in today’s Arab societies, the image of these societies as portrayed by the media, as well as a number of political concerns are all central themes of this program.

Language :Arabic with English subtitles

Who: ALIF students
When: Saturday May 12 and Sunday May 13 at 6 PM
Where: ALIF Riad

Movies at ALIF Riad This Weekend

Anonymous
Set in the political snake-pit of Elizabethan England, Anonymous speculates on an issue that has for century’s intrigued academics and brilliant minds such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Sigmund Freud, namely: who actually created the body of work credited to William Shakespeare? Experts have debated, books have been written, and scholars have devoted their lives to protecting or debunking theories surrounding the authorship of the most renowned works in English literature. Anonymous poses one possible answer, focusing on a time when scandalous political intrigue, illicit romances in the Royal Court, and the schemes of greedy nobles lusting for the power of the throne were bought to light in the most unlikely of places: the London stage.

Langue: English

Who: ALIF students
When: Friday May 4 at 6 PM
Where: ALIF Riad

The Tornado
Beirut, civil war. There are checkpoints, arbitrary executions, car bombs, machine guns, handguns, funeral processions, ambushes, hot heads, vendettas, and revenge. Cruelty and death are everywhere. Akram, who’s been studying in Russia, is back in Beirut on holiday and plans to visit his mother in his home village. But can he get there? He spends time with friends in the city; they tell stories of death. Danger is on all sides. Driving down the street may lead to murder. Touches of the surreal appear: are they real, are they dreams? Can Akram survive? If so, at what cost?

Language :Arabic with English subtitles

Who: ALIF students
When: Saturday May 5 and Sunday May6 at 6 PM
Where: ALIF Riad

Grapes Of Wrath

The ALC-Fes Film Club is showing this film as a part of the Fringe Festival of the 32nd Annual Steinbeck Festival.

A poor Midwest family is forced off of their land. They travel to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.

You can see the trailer Here

Who: ALC & ALIF and university students
When: Friday May 4 at 3pm
Where: ALC Room Six

New Arrivals in the ALC Fez Bookstore

Title: Islam and America: Building a Future without Prejudice
Author: Anouar Majid
Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
Price: 410 dhs

In his book Islam and America: Building a Future without Prejudice, AnouarMajid argues that the current resentment and hostility between the U.S. and the Muslim world should be understood through the often-overlooked history between the two. Majid combines personal stories and historical narratives to offer a clear and critical view of both American and Muslim cultures to suggest a path towards future peace. He believes that in knowing the history of both conflict and collaboration these two nations faced, can help promote the goodwill to a peaceful future.

Title: Freedom and Orthodoxy: Islam and Difference in the Post- Andalusian Age
Author: Anouar Majid
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Price: 285 dhs

Freedom and Orthodoxy argues that the “clash of civilizations” that is supposed to be a feature of the post-Cold War environment is not necessarily caused by the dogma of world religions or cultural incompatibilities but by the inflexible and hegemonic universalisms that have characterized world history since 1492—a cultural outlook that Majid terms post-Andalusianism.Majid suggest a philosophy that reattaches individuals and societies to their cultures and heritages, and connects hen to the rest of the world in solid, on-alienating, meaningful ways.

Title: Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa
Author: Emily Benichou Gottreich and Daniel J. Schroeter
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Price: 215 dhs

Jewish Culture and Society in North Africa is a rich source for the presence of Jewish culture in the Maghreb. Scholars from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Israel, and the United States shed new light on Jewish life and Muslim-Jewish relations in North Africa through the lenses of history, anthropology, language, and literature. The history and life stories told in this book illuminate the close cultural affinities and poignant relationships between Muslims and Jews, and the uneasy coexistence that both united and divided them throughout the history of the Maghreb.

Title: Screens and Veils: Maghrebi Women’s Cinema
Author: Florence Martin.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Price: 195 dhs

In her bookScreens and Veils: Maghrebi Women’s Cinema,Florence Martin studies seven distinctive cinematic works from three nations of the Maghreb: Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. These cultural texts are produced by a diverse group of women filmmakers such as AssiaDjebar, Farida Benlyazid, and YaminaBachir-Chouik.Themovies under study reflect colonialism, patriarchy, undocumented immigrants, sexuality, identity, and the social mores that have dominated the political, social, and economic spheres in the Maghreb.

ALIF Movies This Weekend

Warrior
An ex-Marine haunted by a tragic past, Tommy Riordan returns to his hometown of Pittsburgh and enlists his father, a recovered alcoholic and his former coach, to train him for an MMA tournament awarding the biggest purse in the history of the sport. As Tommy blazes a violent path towards the title prize, his brother, Brendan, a former MMA fighter and a public school teacher, returns to the amateur ring to provide for his family. Even though years have passed, recriminations and past betrayals keep Brendan bitterly estranged from both Tommy and his father. But when Brendan’s unlikely rise as an underdog sets him on a collision course with Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront the forces that tore them apart, all the while waging the most intense and winner-takes-all battle of their lives.
Language : English

Who: ALIF students
When: Friday April 27 at 6 PM
Where: ALIF Riad

Amir Addalaam
(The prince of darkness)

Adel is an ex-pilot who lost his vision in an accident and taken to a mysterious pension for the blinds. However, he continues to fight all the hardships and lead an ordinary life as an ordinary man. For the sake of being a hero, regardless of his deficiency, he plunges into an adventure of fantasy, emotion and humour. He, then, finds himself a confronting a mysterious terrorist group who were planning on killing the President of the Republic.
Language :Arabic with English subtitles

Who: ALIF students
When: Saturday april 28 and Sunday April 29 at 6 PM
Where: ALIF Riad