The UA’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies will host a free film series that focuses on women’s lives within the region and their community contributions.

The “Dimensions of Women’s Lives in the Middle East” series will show the first Wednesday of every month beginning Feb. 4, and will continue throughout the remainder of the spring semester.

Christian Sinclair, assistant director of the CMES, said most U.S. audiences have only viewed Middle Eastern culture on the silver screen through the lens of an American moviemaker.

He said showing a picture that was filmed, produced and directed from within the Middle East changes the vantage point for U.S. audiences.

“The main objective is to expose people to other types of cinema,” Sinclair said, “and it’s also entertainment.”

“Jellyfish,” produced in Israel, will begin this semester’s series. According to The New York Times, “‘Jellyfish’ is the kind of movie — not quite ubiquitous, but not exactly rare either — in which the accidental connections between lonely city dwellers are given a magical glow of serendipity.”

Sinclair said anyone who reads the synopsis for “Rachida,” which will conclude the series on May 6, will probably be drawn to this impressive picture.

The film series are always based upon a central theme, and the CMES attempts to present diversity regarding the language being spoken in the feature, Sinclair added.

“Dimensions of Women’s Lives in the Middle East” not only represents each native language from the region, this series reflects what the CMES offers its students.

Additionally, UA graduate students applied to present the films being screened. The CMES students will introduce the feature in order to contextualize thematic elements, as well as moderate a short Q&A session after the movie.

The films will begin at 7 p.m. at the Manuel T. Pacheco Integrated Learning Center in Room 130. For additional details visit cmes.arizona.edu/FILM.

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