Type: Documentary
Director: Bassam Haddad
Year: 2006
Time: 135 minutes
Produced by: Asmahan Haddad
Written by: Bassam Haddad
Edited by: Bassam Haddad
Language: Arabic, English, French, Hebrew & Spanish with English subtitles
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From the Director of About Baghdad
Armed with a camera and a laptop, Arab-American filmmaker Bassam Haddad (About Baghdad) scours the globe in an effort to break down mass media-imposed barriers on information and find answers to some of the most persistent questions generated by the "War on Terror." Through no less than 95 interviews with high-profile politicians, Middle East experts and with people on the streeet, Haddad strives to open a dialogue between neoconservatives in Washington, DC and the so-called Arab "terrorists" they obsess about.
The director engages in what can best be described as "laptop diplomacy." He allows the film's subjects to view each others' interviews on his laptop, after which they respond to each others' allegations. The resulting documentary series turns a critical eye on current American perceptions regarding the hypothetical link between "Arabs" and "Terrorism," while cutting to the heart of the historic and ongoing conflict of ideas between the Arab World and the West.
*Episode 1: Terrorism The first episode in the series deals primarily with the dominant discourse on terrorism in the USA, Europe and Israel. It also features dissident voices from these countries and from throughout the Middle East. The focus here is on individual and group terrorism.
*Episode 2: State Terrorism The second episode deals with “state terrorism,” providing the critics of the dominant discourse on terrorism with an opportunity to bring to bear what they think is missing from that discourse. Invariably, critics emphasize that, while individual and group terrorism is abominable, it is state terrorism that produces the largest number of victims and so should be dealt with more stringently than individual or group terrorism.
*Episode 3: Terrorism and Resistance The third and final episode in the series deals with the often thin line between terrorism and resistance. A clear divide emerges between those who support the “War on Terrorism” and those who critique it. The debate turns on a number of questions, including the right to resist occupation/oppression, what/who can be considered a legitimate target of resistance, and where can/should resistance take place in order for it to remain legitimate. In this episode, and irrespective of one’s politics, the link between state violence and individual/group violence becomes increasingly apparent.
Arabs and Terrorism was filmed on location in Egypt, France, Holland, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Spain, Syria, the United Kingdom and the USA.
This film is available with a Digital Site License (DSL), which allows colleges, universities, or libraries to encode, locally host, and stream the film to their community on a closed, password-protected system.
Rental Information
This film is available from AFD for public screenings and television broadcast. For information regarding rental rates and formats, please contact [email protected] for institutional/non-theatrical screenings, or [email protected] for theatrical, festival, television, or other bookings.
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