Special Film Screening with the Washington Jewish Film Festival

Screening of Sayed Kashua: Forever Scared, with Arab Labor (Avoda Aravit)

Monday, October 18
7:30 pm | Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater
Tickets: $10, Discounted Members/Seniors/Under 25 $9

Introduction by Fred A. Lazin, Seymour and Lillian Abensohn Visiting Professor of Israel Studies, American University

DC Premiere

“I’m scared of cars, of dogs, of snakes; I’m scared of airplanes, helicopters, tanks and soldiers.  I’m scared of terrorist attacks.  I’m scared of Jews.  I’m scared of Arabs.  I’m scared that some day, they’ll put us in refugee camps.”  - Sayed Kashua, Haaretz newspaper, 2002

Award-winning author (Dancing Arabs, Let It Be Morning), columnist and screenwriter Sayed Kashua never feels like he belongs. The Jews don't like him because he's an Arab. The Arabs think he's a collaborator with the Jews. Shot over seven years, the film follows Kashua through upheavals that change his life and that of his family, creating an intimate and political portrait of an artist who pays a heavy price for the choices he makes.  The viewer is left with a sense of the complexity of identity and identification that Arabs in Israel experience.  At the same time, this is a unique story of an individual, not someone who set out to represent an entire people.
Israel, 2009, documentary, 52 minutes, Hebrew & Arabic with English subtitle
Writer/Director: Dorit Zimbalist

Presented with
Arab Labor (Avoda Aravit)
The groundbreaking television series, created and written by Kashua, was the first program to present Palestinian characters speaking Arabic on primetime. While poking fun at all sides of the cultural divide, the series explores the daily conflicts that Arabs face between the desire to integrate into the mixed society that is Israel and their own values and traditions.  One episode from the first season will be shown.
Israel, 2007, 30 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles
Director: Ron Ninio, Writer: Sayed Kashua

Presented in partnership with the 16th Street J’s Washington Jewish Film Festival.

This program is co-sponsored by The American University Center for Israel Studies, The Embassy of Israel and New Israel Fund.

See the full line up at washingtondcjcc.org/litfest.