Film-Essay on the Euphrates Dam

The Story of 1

September 2005 •English

A humor-inflected history of the of the number one, covering military applications in ancient Rome, the measurement of distances in India, and the decimal system created by Leibnitz.

Netanyahu at War

January 2016 •English

The inside story of the bitter clash between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Amid violence in the Middle East, the film traces Netanyahu's rise to power and his high-stakes fight with the president over Iran's nuclear program.

Waltz with Bashir

June 2008 •Hebrew

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Manufactured Landscapes

September 2006 •English

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

Lebanon in Crisis

November 2020 •French

The apocalyptic blast in the Port of Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4, 2020, exacerbates anger at those in power: protests cross religious boundaries as the Lebanese people curse corruption, nepotism, gross economic mismanagement and squandering of resources. How did the Land of Cedars, a country with so much to offer, allow itself to get into such a dire situation? And will it be able to bounce back?

Stories Untold: Meet Queer SWANA Sex Workers and Drag Performers

October 2023 •English

The histories of queer people of color, especially from the SWANA (Southwest Asia/North Africa) region, remains generally unwritten. The lack of this critical representation has served as a guiding axis of Charachchi, a multimedia project created by queer Armenians. "Stories Untold: Meet Queer SWANA Sex Workers and Drag Performers" highlights the stories of queer SWANA sex workers and drag performers, bringing visibility to voices that have remained hidden within mainstream media, history, and cultural spaces.

Slave Trade in the World Today

June 1964 •Italian

The film documents modern slave trade through a number of African countries, under dictatorship rule. The filming was conducted both in public places, and sometimes with the use of hidden cameras, for high impact scenes of nudity, sex, and violence - and a few surprises, as slaves made out of peregrins to Asia, and slave traders paid in traveller checks.

Gaza-London

May 2009 •Arabic

Dams: The Lethal Water Bombs

June 2011 •English

Documentary short about the disastrous dangers of aging, ailing dams.

Far from Bashar

February 2020 •English

A few years ago, the al-Mahamids fled Bashar al-Assad and Syria to settle in Montreal. A nuanced portrayal of a courageous family coping with a seemingly interminable war, thousands of kilometres away, that continues to affect their lives.

Promises & Betrayals: Britain and the Struggle for the Holy Land

November 2002 •English

A documentary on how British double-dealing during the First World War ignited the conflict between Arab and Jew in the Middle East. The bitter struggle between Arab and Jew for control of the Holy Land has caused untold suffering in the Middle East for generations. It is often claimed that the crisis originated with Jewish emigration to Palestine and the foundation of the state of Israel. Yet the roots of the conflict are to be found much earlier – in British double-dealing during the First World War. This is a story of intrigue among rival empires; of misguided strategies; and of how conflicting promises to Arab and Jew created a legacy of bloodshed which determined the fate of the Middle East.

The Judge

September 2017 •English

A verité legal drama about Judge Kholoud Al-Faqih, the first woman appointed to a Shari'a court in the Middle East, whose career provides rare insights into both Islamic law and gendered justice.

Amin

October 2010 •English

AMIN portrays Qashqai musician Amin Aghaie, a young modern nomad and his family who despite facing steep financial, cultural and political obstacles are dedicated to their art and culture. Amin travels to remote towns and villages to record the music of the surviving masters whose numbers decline each year. His nomadic family are selling their meager belongings to help support their son's education in performance and ethnomusicology at Tchaikovsky's Conservatory in Kyiv, Ukraine, but it is not enough. Amin, desperate to finish his academic education, sells his violins one at a time just to pay for his tuition.

Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature

June 1997 •English

Documentary on water usage, money, politics, the transformation of nature, and the growth of the American west, shown on PBS as a four-part miniseries.

Uncle Saddam

July 2000 •English

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Saddam Hussein (but were afraid to ask).

The Woman Pastor

August 2023 •English

In a community of a Muslim majority, the first woman pastor in the Middle East leads a parish in one of the poorest city of the Mediterranean, in the heart of Tripoli, North Lebanon.

The Iran Job

September 2012 •English

This eye-opening documentary follows American basketball player Kevin Sheppard during his 2008-09 season playing for a professional team in Iran. Although Kevin is nervous, he makes many friends, including several politically active Iranian women.

Nasser's Republic: The Making of Modern Egypt

April 2016 •English

In 1952 a young Egyptian colonel named Gamal Abdel Nasser led a coup that became a revolution, winning the support of millions of his countrymen. Over the next 18 years he challenged Western hegemony abroad, confronted Islamism at home, established the region’s first military authoritarian regime, and faced deep divisions among the Arabs.

Three Gorges: The Biggest Dam in the World

January 1998 •English

Explores the plans for the construction of the monumental dam on China's Yangtze River, the structure that when completed in 2009 will become the Three Gorges Dam. It is slated to be 610 feet high, 1.3 miles across, creating a reservoir 400 miles and the largest power plant in the world.

Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World

October 2003 •English

An exploration into the man behind the film-inspired myth, from both Western and Arab perspectives. Thomas Edward Lawrence, a 24-year-old British spy, was a figurehead in the Arab struggle for independence. In 1916, he united Arab tribes and led them in a war against the Turks who ruled over them for 400 years. The consequences of his successes and failures sowed the seeds of conflict that continue to plague the troubled region even today.