WE ARE NOT PRINCESSES | Feb 29
WE ARE NOT PRINCESSES | Feb 29
WE ARE NOT PRINCESSES is a documentary film about the incredible strength and spirit of four Syrian women living as refugees in Beirut as they come together to tell their stories of love, loss, pain and hope through the ancient Greek play, Antigone.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 29 | 7:00 PM
$8 suggested donation
With intimate footage and stunning animation, We Are Not Princesses follows how this group of women find laughter and purpose behind the scenes, as they come together to perform the ancient Greek play, Antigone. In 2014, the Open Art Foundation put together a theater workshop with Syrian women refugees in Beirut to create a space for community and to provide tools to help the women process their trauma as a result of the ongoing conflict in Syria. This film focuses on the strong, resilient, and often hilarious Syrian women who are moving forward in spite of the ever-worsening situation back home.
Whether they are gossiping at a seaside café or engaging in long-forgotten pleasures at a night-time fairground, these poignant scenes are where intense discussion and transformation take place. Smoking cigarettes and wearing makeup become acts of rebellion against societal and patriarchal authority. And never far from the surface are the horrifying backstories which brought the women to Beirut. Mona tells of the death of her child; Fedwa hyperventilates as she attempts to rehearse the story of her son whom she was unable to bury; Heba remembers her starving brother’s last wish for noodles and yogurt. These stories provide context for the Syrian war, and also establish the women's point of access into the story of Antigone, a story through which the women begin the work of processing their personal and national traumas. We focus not on what Syria has lost, but on what it still has—strong women picking up the pieces of their broken society and moving forward.
Directed by Bridgette Auger and Itab Azzam, 74 mins, Lebanon, UK.
www.wearenotprincesses.com
“Every frame of We Are Not Princesses evinces a generosity of spirit, a love of beauty and a thirst for justice. Syrian mothers, daughters and sisters-in-exile in Beirut candidly confided their sacrifices and yearnings to filmmakers Itab Azzam and Bridgette Auger, and their trust has been beautifully repaid with a documentary that is elegant yet unpretentious, rigorously crafted yet heartfelt to its core. Plus the unexpected bonus of touching animated sequences.”
