CinemaEast Film Series

Curator

2003 – 2006

Cinema East was a film screening and discussion series presented at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Film Center at New York University and organized by ArteEast as part of my work co-founding and directing the organization. At a time when contemporary cinema from the South West Asia and North Africa (aka, the problematic term Middle East) was rarely shown in the United States, the series presented both emerging and established filmmakers from the region and its diasporas. In the years following September 11 attacks, the program provided an important cultural platform for dialogue and for perspectives from the region that were largely absent from mainstream media and cultural institutions. Screenings were accompanied by conversations with filmmakers, scholars, and critics, situating the films within broader artistic, political, and cultural contexts.