Love, not war, was the focus of a movie about the Middle East last night, as the Griffith Film Theater played host to The Prince, a romantic drama written and directed by Tunisian filmmaker Mohamed Zran.
The film follows Adel, a lowly floral shop worker, in his quest to meet his literal "lady in red," Donia, a workaholic single mother who manages the local bank.
The film was followed by a question and answer session with Zran. Although his English was, by his own admission, "comme ci, comme ca," Zran was able to engage in an elaborate discussion of his film with the aid of a translator, Duke Professor of Arabic Miriam Cooke.
"I was trying to show how globalization is starting to fragment this close-knit structure," Zran said. "If globalization is happening and it's moving so fast, why can't we make it do all the things it's doing in a more human way?"
Zran is currently touring the country with his film. The trip marks the director's first visit to the United States, which he noted was, in reality, much different than the myths that abound in his home country suggest.
"Many people from our region see it- as a country of power, of wealth, of dreams. I feel that we're the same. We have the same preoccupations, the same concerns," Zran said.
One notable difference, however, was the self-imposed isolation and workaholic tendencies of most Americans.
"There doesn't seem to be a social life [in America]," he joked. "In Tunisia we live next to each other; to get from one place to another here, it's really far."
Cooke and the college-aged audience, however, proceeded to reassure him that Americans do, in fact, have social lives.
The Prince is one of six films featured in the ongoing, nationwide film series, No Visa Required. Co-sponsored by the Tribeca Film Institute-the nonprofit wing of the Tribeca Film Festival-and ArteEast-an organization devoted to promoting Middle Eastern art and artists-The Prince came to Duke after its U.S. premiere in New York Saturday.
"The images that most Americans see of the Middle East are of violence. [This series] is attempting to show the human side." said Annie Leahy, Program Director of TFI. "Sitting in a dark room watching a movie, we're all the same."
Although shown mostly in "areas of tension," Duke was selected for its ongoing efforts to bring Middle Eastern films to the screen.
Brought to Duke by the Film/Video/Digital Program and the The Modern Middle East FOCUS program, the small audience was composed mostly of FOCUS students.
Those in attendance, however, were quite surprised by their first glimpse into Middle Eastern filmmaking.
"I really enjoyed it. I expected it to be more conservative," said junior Melissa Moriarty, who is currently enrolled in Arabic 63.
Freshman Maria Daudji echoed the sentiment. "They focus so much on everyday life," she said.
No Visa Required returns to Duke Nov. 14 with I Love Cinema, an Egyptian film that Leahy describes as Cinema Paradiso meets Footloose.
The screening will again be followed by a discussion with the film's director, Oussama Fawzi, and likely also the film's female star, the "Egyptian Julia Roberts," Leila Alawi.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.