Caravanserai: Film Screening with Introduction by the Filmmaker

Join the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas for a film screening at the Fayetteville Public Library with acclaimed independent film director Hakim Belabbes.

Hailing from the small town of Boujad in central Morocco, Hakim Belabbes graduated from Mohamed V University in Rabat with a degree in literature. Belabbes obtained a graduate degree in Film and Video from Columbia College in Chicago, where he now teaches film direction and production.  An accomplished independent director who divides his time between Morocco and the United States, Hakim Belabbes’ film awards include the Grand Prix at the Moroccan National Film Festival in January 2011, Muhr Best Feature in December 2011 at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, and Honorable Mention at the Bangkok Film Festival. He has served on the documentary jury of the Doha Tribeca Film Festival among others.

For Caravanserai, Hakim Belabbes will present two of his celebrated short films:

“A Nest in the Heat” is a personal and challenging look at issues of separation, independence, and return that chronicles Hakim Belabbes’ journey from his home in Chicago to visit his family and hometown of Boujad. The film explores the domestic spaces and religious rituals of intra-family relationships, especially when compounded by one member’s break with traditional values.   “Whispers” follows a man’s obsessive search for his lost childhood through the dark alleyways and desolate cemeteries of Belabbes’s Moroccan hometown.

Both pieces will provide a framework for thought-provoking screenings and discussions led by a respected Moroccan filmmaker.  Question and answer time will follow.

This presentation is sponsored by the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas in conjunction with Caravanserai: A Place Where Cultures Meet, and is free and open to the public.

Visit http://mest.uark.edu/caravanserai or call 479-575-2175 for more information.