film

At Little Green Footballs I ran across: Cut From Different Cloth

Last month one of the local PBS affiliates broadcast a powerfully understated documentary on the state of women in Afghanistan, by Olga Shalygin and Kris Orloff, titled: Cut From Different Cloth: Burqas & Beliefs.

It follows a 27-year old American woman named Serena living with an Afghan family, as she comes to understand what it means to be a woman in a society where the Islamic autarchs reign. I have no idea what Olga and Kris’s politics are, but I highly recommend their film. In one memorable sequence, Serena goes on a shopping expedition with her friend Hasina dressed in a burqa, and ends up breaking down in tears.

Here’s an excerpt; this is Hasina’s brother, explaining his perspective on the proper behavior for women. Everyone’s laughing nervously, but the subtext is deadly serious. Women are killed when they violate these rules—often by their own families.

Often by brothers like Samim.

Then, I did a quick search with Google and found Islamic films spark discussion from a March 2006 screening at Texas A&M.

The film presented an incomplete view of women in Islam, said Fatima Al-Nammari, a graduate student from Jordan studying architecture.

“(It was) an ethnocentric perspective on the lives of chosen women in Afghanistan,” Al-Nammari said. “It could have been helpful in developing the women’s movement there, had it been approached differently.”

Looks like it may be worth watching. Thanks LGF!

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