Cinema & Middle East

The public as well as the media show a great interest in the Middle East. Especially the events of September 11th and the rather diffuse "War on Terror" increased the attention to the region.

Through films like Paradise Now , Waltz with Bashir , or Caramel a growing public outside the region has access to stories from the Middle East. A large number of smaller productions are presented at festivals and used for more educational reasons in seminars and special events. Taking a closer look at this selection of films they all deal with subjects like war and occupation, women and oppression, or terror and war and hence reproduce a reduced and clichéd view on the region.
Do different films exist? Who is producing them? Where can we watch them? How does the industry of images work? On these pages you find samples of seminars, lectures, and curatorial works that critically deal with the representation and reception of films from and about the Middle East.