Nation Estate. 2013. Palestine/Denmark. Directed by Larissa Sansour. 9 min.
This science fiction short envisions a dystopian outcome to conflict in the Middle East: all of Palestine is enclosed in a monumental skyscraper, complete with elevator jingles that advertise the water source of the week. Combining live action and computer-generated imagery, the film follows a female protagonist with clinical precision as she returns to her apartment on the “Bethlehem” floor.
Al Bahr min ouaraikoum (The Sea Is Behind). 2014. Morocco. Directed by Hicham Lasri. In Arabic, Berber; English subtitles. 88 min.
Tarik, a cross-dressing troubadour who performs traditional dances, is shunned by those around him. Crippled by inertia, he is unable to feel emotion even when faced with the man who killed his family. Larbi, the family horse who pulls the cart on which Tarik dances, won’t take another step. And word has it the drinking water has been contaminated. Of _The Sea Is Behind_’s setting, the Morocco of an undetermined, post-9/11 future, little more is known. Ravishingly cool black-and-white images and a score of Moroccan rock music complete the entrancing, paranoid atmosphere. Philip K. Dick and David Lynch meet the original Mad Max movies (which the director cites as a reference point) in this vision of a fundamentally ravaged, post-apocalyptic society. Yet Tarik’s (false) persecution as a homosexual offers a link to contemporary Morocco, where homosexuality is still a criminal offense. That is but one point of entry in this palimpsest of a film, which offers layers of dark poetry about today and tomorrow.