A symbolic examination of how men treat women in most of the Middle East from a young woman’s perspective. This is a moving women’s rights statement that rejects the objectification of women and the violence that often accompanies it. The film does not call for direct confrontation but instead calls for female inner strength to overcome the repression. Powerful images, voiceover comments, and pointed questions convey layered meanings, complemented by a classical musical score that adds depth and sensitivity. Transfixing from start to finish, Perspective takes a brilliant outside-the-box approach and delivers a clear, strong, and inspiring message.
Community Partner
Sarah Smadi, Hala Alyusuf, Cyrine Mah, Dania Makhlouf, Israa Alshaer, Nawal Osama, Natalie Badran
Iraq/Jordan
2021
English
Domestic Violence, Gender or Sexual Violence
Featured in:
International Shorts: Morality Plays
Morals are being challenged on many fronts. The protagonists in this program of short films are all faced with difficult moral choices and they don’t always make the right decisions.
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The Tree of Life
The Tree of Life follows Jack as he reflects on his 1950s Texas childhood and the death of his younger brother. Deeply spiritual and poetic, Malick’s film moves through grief, memory, time, and space. And there are dinosaurs.
Sometimes, I Imagine Them All at a Party
Fourteen years ago, Daniela Magnani Hüller survived an attempted femicide by a schoolmate. Now a filmmaker, she revisits the events surrounding that fateful incident, creating a moving collage of interviews, personal recollections, and archival material.
Image: © Bildersturm
Queen at Sea
An academic is pitted against her stepfather in a moral crisis over the care of her mother, who lives with dementia. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the 2026 Berlinale.
Image: © Seafaring
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s
The Story of Documentary Film – The 2000s enters a decade shaped by 9/11, war, fear, and politics. Through films such as The Cove and Grizzly Man, these chapters trace the documentary medium's encounter with modernity as it begins to unravel.
Image: © Iraq in Fragments, 2006, dir. James Longley, USA, Daylight Factory Typecast-Pictures
Credits
Executive Producer
Alaa Algburi
Producer
Yousef Yousef
Screenwriter
Alaa Algburi
Cinematography
Suzan Nsoor
Editor
Suzan Nsoor
Art Director
Nilover Shehadat
Director
Alaa Algburi
Alaa Algburi was born in Baghdad, Iraq and currently lives in Amman, Jordan. She has degrees in both filmmaking and English literature, and experience in writing, directing, cinematography, and editing for film and TV commercials.