Overview
- The first book-length study of Mai Masri, one of the world's most well-known Arab women filmmakers
- Includes previously unpublished primary documents representing a wide breadth of Masri's work
- Details work based on first-hand testimonies and observation over many years with Masri and those involved in her work
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Arab Cinema (PASTARCI)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Reviews
“A panoramic primer on the films of Mai Masri, renowned for their sensitive and honest visualization, through the eyes of women and children, of the everyday intimacy, dignity, courage, and fragile humanity amidst the searing pain of war and the relentless grinding of structural violence. In sparing prose fortified by long periods spent with Mai and her closest collaborators, Brittain’s walk-throughs of the films create an irresistible urge to (re)experience these extraordinary works of art.”
--Professor Beshara Doumani, Brown University“The trailblazing Palestinian cinema of Mai Masri is at last introduced to the English reader in this riveting homage by journalist Victoria Brittain. In chronicling films produced since the 1980s to the present, the book offers a much-needed overview of Masri’s engaged documentation of war in ways that reveal its intimate dimension of loss and grief, highlighting the ‘poetry of everyday life.’”
—Ella Shohat, author of On the Arab-Jew, Palestine, and Other Displacements
“All Palestinian voices are important, and Mai Masri’s is among the most eloquent, through her beautiful films. Victoria Brittain is supremely qualified to tell her story.”
--Ken Loach, film director
“I love Mai’s work. In fact, she is one of the reasons I became a director myself.”
--Hany Abu-Assad, film director
“This book pays tribute to renowned Palestinian film-maker Mai Masri whose films across Palestine and Lebanon tell (his)stories of unheard people in the two countries. The book is an intimate account of Masri as an artist, a woman, a friend and an activist whose work evolved over time, but never faltered in telling the story of those forgotten by history, the Palestinians. Relying on deep analysis of some of Masri’s work, research as well as extensive interviews, Victoria Brittan brings to life the ambitions, the struggles and the rootedness of one of the Arab world’s most important contemporary female film-makers. It is an important and relevant resource for those interested in culture and film as well as scholars of the Arab world.”
--Dr. Dina Matar, Head, School of Interdisciplinary Studies and Chair, Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS University of London
“In this stunning rendering of Mai Masri’s filmmaking achievements, Victoria Brittain vividly depicts the harrowing realities of Palestinian existence that form the backdrop for these works of cinematic artistry. Best of all, this book will make readers passionately eager to experience Masri’s films for themselves.”
--Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus in International Law, Princeton University
“In this book, Victoria Brittain has managed to capture not just Mai's remarkable life and cinematic achievement but also the intensity of daily reality and the struggle for justice that characterised the life of a whole generation.”
--Haifa Zangana, novelist and editor of Party for Thaera: Palestinian women writing life (2017)
“This book provides a welcome account of and introduction to Mai Masri’s valuable opus, much of it produced with her late husband, the Lebanese filmmaker Jean Chamoun. It is a visual history of our Palestinian times over more than 30 years, both at home in Palestine and in one of the Palestinians’ dearest homes away from home, Beirut. Mai is nothing if not courageous in her work, facing danger to capture stories of every-day survival and challenges to adversity in haunting images. Essential reading for those who care about justice and the future of this tortured part of the world.”
--Nadia Hijab, Board President, Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Love and Resistance in the Films of Mai Masri
Authors: Victoria Brittain
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Arab Cinema
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37522-5
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-37521-8Published: 15 February 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-37524-9Published: 15 February 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-37522-5Published: 14 February 2020
Series ISSN: 2731-4898
Series E-ISSN: 2731-4901
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXXII, 144
Topics: Directing, Middle Eastern Culture, Global Cinema and TV, Documentary, Global/International Culture