Aflama

Independent Documentary Films (work in progress)

"Lebanese Women Vote" Shot in Lebanon during the parliamentary elections June 2005. The piece follows young female political activists from the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections and their work and media campaign to encourage women to participate in political life. (work in progress) 2005

Interviews conducted: Activists and journalists make statements about the importance of women's participation in political life for the future of Lebanon. Interviews are conducted with Najat Sharafuddin, a news anchorwoman from Future TV, 5 activists from LADE, an American woman married to a Lebanese, and other young men and women voters who talk about role of women's participation in the voting and political system.

Work in progress screened at the Luna Fest, Young Women Task Force Halloween event, Washington, DC 2005 and American University Anthropology seminar 2006.

DAUGHTERS OF THE LEVANT (W/T aka From the Levant to Middle America)

"Daughters of the Levant"recounts the peddling and entrepreneurial activities of the Syrian-Lebanese women who immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s.

The early Syrian-Lebanese immigrants came to America mainly in search of economic prosperity and pursued peddling as their main occupation. Peddlers were traders who carried items in notions cases and traveled across the country selling items door to door to American homes. The Syrian-Lebanese women, in particular, excelled at peddling and initiated various entrepreneurial activities as they settled into communities and assimilated within American society.

Almost a century ago, hundreds of men and women arrived to the shores of America through Ellis Island and settled across the North East, New England; mainly in lower Manhattan and the Boston area. Others moved West reaching North Dakota, and South reaching Kentuky. They emigrated from the Ottoman territories known as the 'Levant,' (or Greater Syria and Mount Lebanon) today's Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.

Work in progress screened at American University and Docs-in-Progress, GWU (mentioned in local newspaper). Filmmaker interviewed on WPFW summer 2004, Washington, DC.

Funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Humanities Council of Washington, DC and the Arab American Institute Foundation.

Film synopsis.

More about this documentary.

Prominent Arab American women.

Other independent documentary productions:

A Lebanese Touch in Washington: the Embassy of Lebanon," American University, 2001. 9'22"

Honorable Mention at the Hometown Video Festival 2002. Aired on Channel 33 over ten times and was screened at American University. (Click here for Production Stills.)

"Arabic Bazaar," documentary about arts and crafts from the Arab world, Channel 33, 2001. 22'

"Qana" English version, aired a number of times on Channel 33, 2001. 10'

Production Crew:
for local independent film productions and for Channel 33, Arlington, VA, 2000-2001:
Studio Director/Audio/Camera/CG for studio shows: "Inclusive Outreach," "Arlington Kids in the Arts," "Arlington PM" "Arlington Live," "Health Choices," "Blah Blah Blah," "Patriarch Sfeir".