masahat - مساحات

Arabisk høstkveld: "What happens to a displaced ant"
2021-09-22 17:30 - 19:00 (Europe/Oslo) | Deichman Holmlia, Holmlia Senter vei 16, Oslo, 1255, Norway
تدعوكم مساحات بالتعاون مع مكتبة هولمليا لحضور الفيلم الوثائقي “ماذا يحدث لنملة مشردة” للمخرجة شيرين أبو شقرا.
“ماذا يحدث لنملة مشردة” (٢٠١٧، ٤٢ دقيقة) هو فيلم مستوحى من تجربة المخرجة أثناء مشاركتها في مهمة إنقاذ، امتدت لخمسة أشهر، مع منظمة أطباء بلا حدود لمساعدة اللاجئين على عبور البحر الأبيض المتوسط. يدور الفيلم الوثائقي-الروائي حول تبادل رسائل بين ممرضة تعمل في المجال الإنساني، وحبيبها المؤرخ المعماري. بعد الفيلم سنقوم بحوار مفتوح حول الفيلم مع الحضور.
الدخول مجاني و مفتوح للجميع، لكن التسجيل مطلوب لمحدودية الأماكن: holmlia@deichman.no
أهلاً وسهلاً بكم!
هذه الفعالية هي ثاني أمسية من سلسلة أمسيات ثقافية عربية ننظمها في مساحات بالتعاون مع مكتبة دايكمان هولمليا كل رابع أربعاء من الشهر خلال خريف ٢٠٢١
Velkommen til gratis filmvisning What Happens to a Displaced Ant + åpen samtale med publikum. Samtalen foregår på norsk og arabisk.
«What happens to a displaced ant» (2017, 42 min) er inspirert av regissørens fem måneder lange redningsoppdrag for Leger Uten Grenser i Middelhavet, og hennes møte med flyktninger der. Dokufiksjonen er en epistolær korrespondanse mellom en sykepleier i det humanitære feltet – og hennes elsker, en historiker og arkitekt.
Gratis inngang og åpent for alle, men begrenset antall plasser!
Påmelding kreves: holmlia@deichman.no
Eventet er den andre “Arabisk høstkveld” i en rekke arrangert av Masahat i samarbeid med Deichman Holmlia! Disse vil foregå hver fjerde onsdag i måneden i løpet av høsten 2021.

Arna's children
2021-10-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Kunstnernes Hus, Wergelandsveien 17, Oslo, 0167, Norway
Arna was an Israeli anti-occupation activist, married to a Palestinian, and the founder of the Jenin Refugee camp Freedom Theatre. The Arna’s Children film documents the return of Arna’s son to the refugee camp. He discovers that some of the playful children he knew, once gasping for cultural expression in a suffocated environment, were either killed by the Israeli army or joined the Palestinian armed resistance movement.
One of Arna’s Children that we follow in the film is Zakaria Zubaidi, who has recently made international headlines, together with other five Palestinian political detainees, upon their escape from the Israeli Gilboa prison.
The movie offers a bleak but poignant view into the life of Zubaidi and the future of Palestinian generations deprived of freedom.
Masahat, in collaboration with Palestinakomiteen and Kunstnernes Hus invite you to the film screening followed by a panel discussion on the role of culture and theatre in Palestine and conditions of Palestinian detention.
Panelists

Line Khateeb, Leader of Palestinakomiteen & Masahat Chair of the Board
Other guests TBC

Ten Years After the Arab Spring - Oslo World
2021-11-06 16:30 - 18:00 | Kunstplass, Akersgata 1, Oslo, 0158, Norway
Ten years ago, Arab protesters reclaimed the public space for the first time in decades, sparking an explosion of defiant artistic and cultural expressions against the authoritarian powers. A decade on, the reality has drastically changed in many Arab and European cities in the aftermath of exile, violent crackdown, conflicts, mass displacement and dispossession of millions of Arab citizens. In this event, we will first screen Odorless Blue Flowers Awake Prematurely, a short film by Panos Aprahamian. Then we will have an open discussion with Jeffrey Karam about the aftermath of the disastrous triumph of counter revolutionary forces in the Arab world. We will think together about to survive and fight back, what possibilities of resistance still exist and what political labour can we engage to bring change about?

The discussion will be led by Rana Issa.

Dr. Jeffrey G. Karam, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Lebanese American University; Associate, Middle East Initiative, Harvard University; and EUME Fellow of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and FU Berlin. Karam is a scholar and activist between Beirut and Berlin. He is the author and editor of numerous publications, including The Middle East in 1958: Reimagining A Revolutionary Year (London: I.B. Tauris and Bloomsbury, 2020). Karam is likewise the co-editor of the forthcoming book, The Lebanon Uprising of 2019: Voices from the Revolution, which I.B. Tauris and Bloomsbury will publish in 2022.
About the film
“Odorless Blue Flowers Awake Prematurely” is the dystopia-as-documentary rather than as fiction. For many inhabitants of this world, the apocalypse is not a future possibility but a historical reality. The short documentary essay explores Beirut’s overlooked and marginalized areas that were also affected by the blast on August 4, 2020. These areas sit on both sides of the Beirut river’s banks. The river became a conductor for the blast’s wave due to its length and the fact that it is devoid of barriers. The film refers to the 4th of August, 2020, as the day the world ended. Yet, reality in this area kept on in an apocalyptic state: a global pandemic, deadly pollution, desolate neighborhoods, financial meltdown, resource scarcity, and food shortage.
It’s as if the explosion came to announce the end of the world. There is nowhere to go, no refuge, no scent to the flowers that grow over human limbs, and nothing to be said for the end of the world. Even the river that never ceases to flow to the sea is dead. In this moment of staggering impotence, how does one make a film about the end of the world? Silence is perhaps darkness’ last friend.
This event is organized in collaboration with Oslo World and Kunstplass

War in Ukraine: The Earth is Blue as an Orange
2022-04-27 18:00 - 20:30 | Vega Scene, Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo, 0182, Norway
Does art have power during war?
Art does have power – it cracks the ice between us; it facilitates the processing of trauma. It gives witness to all that is funny, joyful and faced with laughter in the midst of remarkable darkness.
Director Iryna Tsilyk

Single mother Anna and her four children live in the front-line war zone of Donbas, Ukraine. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, the family is managing to keep their home as a safe haven, full of life and full of light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, motivating them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war.
The creative process raises the question of what kind of power the magical world of cinema could have during times of disaster. How to picture war through fiction? For Anna and the children, transforming trauma into a work of art is the ultimate way to stay human.
The film gives us a strong sense of what it is like to live in a war zone and how difficult it can be to leave.
To live between two worlds
As we are writing this text over 10 million Ukrainians have become refugees and more than 3 million have left the country. For the refugees who find safety abroad, the war is in a way over, but on the other hand it’s not. While they themselves are safe, they are still closely connected with people living in the midst of the war. To live ” between two worlds” like this can be traumatic in itself. How are Ukrainians dealing with this and what can be learnt from the experiences of exiled Syrians?
In the talk after the screening we want to focus both on the situation for refugees from an ongoing war, and on the power of documentary films to create empathy for the victims of war, and how films can be an extremely important addition to the news media.
Panel

Oleksandra Hrybenko (28) is from Donetsk, Ukraine. She is currently working as a PhD Fellow at the Faculty of Journalism and Media Studies at Oslo Metropolitan University researching the safety of women journalists reporting on the conflict in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2014 she has worked as a journalist and field producer for international media reporting on the conflict in Ukraine.
Osama Shaheen (31) is a journalist for the Norwegian newspaper Bergens Tidende and founder of the Arab language magazine DER. He is a stateless Palestinian and came to Norway from Syria in 2015.
Moderator: Zeina Bali, Masahat.

In collaboration with Oslo Dokumentarkino, DocuDays Ukraine, The Ukrainian Association in Norway, Human idff, Harbitz Consulting and Vega Scene.

Wild Relatives - Film + discussion
2022-09-22 17:00 - 19:15 | Kunstnernes Hus, Wergelandsveien 17, Oslo, 0167, Norway
Welcome to the film screening of Wild Relatives (2018, 64′) followed by a conversation between Reem Shadid and Edwin Nasr titled Slow violence and ecological erasure in artistic practices from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
Program

17.00-18.05: Film screening
18.05-19.15: Discussion and Q&A

Language: English

The film: Wild Relatives (2018, 64’)
Directed by: Jumana Manna
Country: Germany, Lebanon, Norway | Year: 2018 | Languages: Arabic, Norwegian, English | Subtitles: English
Duration: 64 min
Deep in the earth, beneath the Arctic permafrost, seeds from all over the world are stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to provide a backup should a disaster strike. Wild Relatives starts from an event that has sparked media interest worldwide: in 2012 an international agricultural research center was forced to relocate from Aleppo to Lebanon due to the Syrian Revolution turned war, and began a laborious process of planting their seed collection from the Svalbard back-ups.
Following the path of this transaction of seeds between the Arctic and Lebanon, a series of encounters unfold a matrix of human and non-human lives between these two distant spots of the earth. It captures the articulation between this large-scale international initiative and its local implementation in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, carried out primarily by young migrant women.
The meditative pace patiently teases out tensions between state and individual, industrial and organic approaches to seed saving, climate change and biodiversity, witnessed through the journey of these seeds.

Masahat Screens: Let’s hope it rains
2022-09-25 14:00 - 16:30 | Vega Scene, Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo, 0182, Norway
On the last day of Masahat festival 2022, join us for “Let’s hope it rains”, a film program on a long and lazy Sunday afternoon, because one thing is certain: the Middle East is thirsty, but mostly for political will.

Masahat Screens, a contemplative and critical film program curated by Dalia Alkury, invites you to four creative climate fictions and documentaries to help us face the big elephant in the desert. The first three films will take us to the dry deserts of the UAE, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, while the last one quenches our thirst at a thousand year old cedar forest in Lebanon with a poetic, post-human narrative. You will leave with some more insight on who else we can blame for our climate dystopias and violent ecologies of today.
🌍 Language: English
Program

Welcome by Racha Helen Larsen, Festival and Program Director at MIRAGE festival.
How to Kill a Cloud (2021, 81′)
NIUN (2018, 7′)
Matters of Time (2019, 6’)
Dreams of a Wandering Octopus (2022, 22′) followed by Q&A with the director Mira Adoumier, moderated by Egil Håskjold Larsen.

Masahat Screens 2022 is in collaboration with Oslo Documentary Cinema and Mirage – Art of the Real International Film Festival.

Photo credit: still from NIUN (2018, 7’), directed by Ahaad Alamoudi.

This event is part of Masahat’s annual festival for Arab arts and culture taking place during 20-25 September 2022 around different venues in Oslo.

Buy tickets

About the films
How to Kill a Cloud (2021, 81′), Finland, Denmark
Directed by Tuija Halttunen
Scientist Hannele Korhonen has one ultimate passion: to be the best at what she does and be recognised for it. Her life changes dramatically when she is awarded a 1,5 million USD research grant by the United Arab Emirates to participate in their ambitious project to stimulate rainfall over the notoriously arid region. The opportunity to get proper funding and do good sounds amazing. But, gradually Hannele learns that the financiers have their own agenda. Her enthusiasm morphs into an ethical dilemma and inner conflicts. If she succeeds to make it rain is she giving means to rule the clouds? What is the ultimate price of ambition?
NIUN (2018, 7′), Saudi Arabia
Directed by Ahaad Alamoudi
Alamoudi’s video NIUN (2018), made in collaboration with American artist Michael Mogensen, is inspired by thirteenth-century Persian physician, geographer, and writer Zakariya al-Qazwini’s story, Awaj bin Anfaq, considered one of the first works of science fiction, about an alien who visits Earth to study the oddities of human behavior. The video follows two protagonists (NIUN 1 and NIUN 2) who claim the desert as their own and begin to lay down the foundation for a new civilization. Together, the pair devise seven essential components to ensure a prosperous future: energy, water, mobility, biotechnology, entertainment, technology, and manufacturing. The outlanders chant mantras—ardi (“my land”), noor (“light”), hajira (“traveller”), and hajirati (“my rock”)—which, for the artist, reinforces the importance of language and open communication in cultivating the future.
Matters of Time (2019, 6’), Jordan
Matters of Time (2019, 6’), Jordan
Direction & Production – Abeer Seikaly
“Bedouin women have long been charged with assembling the tribes’ Beit-al-sha’ar (house of hair), weaving yards of tent material from the hair of goats and the wool of sheep. With limited resources, weaving has been their means of self-expression in the face of societal submission for centuries, architects silenced in a world of men. For them, responding to the environment has never been an intellectual exercise; it is their way of life. Unlike the structures of stone and concrete which could one day be deserted, left as ruins in the shifting sands, the Beit-al-shaar is a symbol of their voices, an ever-inhabited mobile home within which their daily lives unfolds.
This piece aims to reveal this kind of ‘matriarchal architecture’ and its purposeful and centuries-old social weaving process; an adaptive environmental response to the harsh climate of the Jordanian Badia. However, with the encroaching impact of tourism to their territories, the bedouin tribes of Wadi Rum have increasingly abandoned their pastoral existence to engage with the emergent economy and influx of travellers. This shift has manifested in the most extraordinary ways, as men are called out to build concrete structures and erect ‘supposed’ eco-lodge bubbles, while the women-held knowledge of adaptive environmental tent-craftsmanship is hidden away, held captive behind another block in the patriarchal wall.”
Dreams of a Wandering Octopus (2022, 21′), Lebanon
Directed by Mira Adoumier
I watch you disappear behind the rocky hill as you walk lightly away, looking for your way back through the forest we got lost in. You asked: Do we come to nature to preserve our limits or to surpass them? Three voices unfold over three screens as a woman plunges into the depth of an enchanted thousand-year old cedar forest.

Salon Marie Rose: Queer Arabs in Exile
2022-11-05 15:00 - 22:00 | Melahuset, Mariboes gate 8, Oslo, 0183, Norway
English
العربي
English
Welcome to Salon Marie Rose: Queer Arabs in Exile, a day including a pop-up library, films on loop, finger food, poetry and readings hosted by Frida Marida and ending with a stand-up comedy show with Shaden (comedy show in Arabic only). Salon Marie Rose is taking place at Melahuset on Saturday 5 November from 15.00 to 22.00.
A queer Arab exilic pop-up social gathering space in Oslo, Salon Marie Rose is commemorating the memory of the beautiful and mountainous queer artist, poet and writer Etel Adnan (1925-2021) who passed away in November 2021, and takes its inspiration from her novel about the Lebanese civil war “Sitt Marie Rose”.
Adnan’s composite and diasporic identities that include Greek and Syrian parents, Lebanese upbringing, American and French exiles has been a towerting inspiration for queer Arab arts and literature for more than five decades. Adnan’s multidisciplinary practice, emancipatory and whimsical in form and content, coupled with her cosmopolitan national and gender identities provide a prismatic backdrop for Salon Marie Rose as a queer Arab exilic pop-up social gathering space in Oslo.
العربي
نرحب بكم في صالون ماري روز: مساحة كويرية في المنفى. نلتقي خلال يوم كامل مع مكتبة مؤقتة، عروض أفلام، قراءات وشعر ومأكولات خفيفة. تستضيف الصالون فريدا مريضة وتنتهي الأمسية بعرض كوميدي لشادن. (العرض ستاند آب كوميدي بالعربي فقط).
نلتقي في صالون ماري روز يوم السبت 5 نوفمبر/تشرين الثاني في ميلا هوسيه من الساعة 3 عصراً حتى الساعة 10 مساءً.

يحتفي صالون ماري روز بذكرى الفنانة والشاعرة والكاتبة الجميلة إيتيل عدنان (1925-2021) التي رحلت عن عالمنا في نوفمبر الماضي، ويستوحي الصالون اسمه من رواية عدنان عن الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية “ست ماري روز”.
شكلت حياة ايتيل عدنان المنطوية على عدة هويات مركبة من أبوين من أصول سورية ويونانية، وتنشئتها في لبنان ومن ثم حياتها في المنفى في فرنسا وأمريكا، مصدر إلهام للفن والأدب العربي الكويري على مدى العقود الخمسة المنصرمة. يتكئ صالون ماري روز على إرث إيتيل عدنان الفني التحرري وغير المألوف في الشكل والمضمون ويستوحي من هوياتها الجندرية والقومية المتعددة محاولة لخلق مساحة ثقافية واجتماعية في المنفى للالتقاء والتعارف والنقاش.
Program
البرنامج
Program
Program
Salon Marie Rose (matiné)
FREE entry – Language: English and Arabic

15.00: Salon Marie Rose is open
15.00-18.00: Mingling & a pop-up library & films on loop with possibility of buying books by and about queer arabs curated for this event

Salon Marie Rose (soirée)
Get ticket – Language: English and Arabic

18.00: Opening by Frida Marida & serving finger food
18.15-18.45: Poetry reading in memory of Etel Adnan reading by Rana Issa, Hanna Asefaw, Raphael Amahl Khouri and Suneela Mubayi.
19.00-19.50: Film screening: Ismyrna (2016, 50 min) Directed by Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige
20.30-21.45: Stand-up comedy show with Shaden (in Arabic only)

After six sold-out shows in Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam and more than 80 sold-out shows in Beirut, Shaden will be performing her latest special _All Hell Broke Loose_ in Oslo for the first time ever at Melahuset on Saturday, 5. November!
البرنامج
البرنامج——–صالون ماري روز (ماتينيه)الدخول مجانياللغة: عربي وانكليزيالساعة 15.00: يفتح صالون ماري روزالساعة 15.00-18.00: صالون ماري روز مفتوح للزيارة ومشاهدة عدة أفلام معروضة على مدار الساعة، وزيارة مكتبة مؤقتة مع إمكانية شراء كتب كويرية عربية تم انتقاؤها لهذه المناسبة صالون ماري روز (سواريه)لشراء البطاقةاللغة: عربي وانكليزيالساعة 18.00: فريدا مريضة تفتتح صالون ماري روز سواريهالساعة 18.15-18.45: قراءات وأشعار في ذكرى إيتيل عدنان من قبل رنا عيسى، سونيلا موباي، ورافايل خوريالساعة 19.00-19.50: عرض الفيلم الوثائقي سميرنا (2016، 50 دقيقة)الساعة 20.30-21.45: عرض كوميدي بالعربي مع شادن (اللغة: عربي)
شادن ستقدم عرض الستاند أب كوميدي «لقد انتا* الوضع كلياً» في أوسلو لأول مرة يوم السبت 5 نوفمبر/تشرين الثاني في ميلاهوسيه!
قدمت شادن هذا العرض مع أوكوورد كوميدي في بيروت في أكثر من 80 عرضاً تم بيع بطاقاتهم بالكامل في العام الجاري. بالإضافة إلى جولتها الأوروبية الحديثة على مدار ستة عروض تم بيعها بالكامل في برلين وباريس وأمستردام.
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Film program during Salon Marie Rose
Films on loop during Salon Marie Rose (matiné)
Marco (2019, 22′)
Marco (2019, 22′)
Directed by Saleem Haddad
Language: English & ArabicSubtitles: English
Omar has been living in London for a decade. He spends his days working in the City, and his nights ignoring phone calls from his family back in Lebanon. One evening, restless after another pleading voicemail from his mother, he invites over Marco, a Spanish student newly-arrived in London, who’s doing sex work to earn some extra cash. But when Marco arrives, Omar can’t shake the feeling that something’s not quite right about the young man. As their night together progresses truths are revealed, defences are lowered, and Omar discovers the lengths that Marco has gone to to arrive in London.
Run(a)way Arab (2018, 12′)
Runaway Arab (2018, 12′)
Directed by Amrou Al-Kadhi
Language: Arabic
Subtitle: English
NAZEEM is a 26 year old Middle Eastern drag queen who names herself QUEEN ZA DREAM – she is preparing for a show with the utmost gravity, with an outfit evocative of an Egyptian deity.Interwoven with this is the story of NAZEEM as a genderqueer 8 year-old boy, and the close bond he has with his Iraqi-Egyptian mother, HALIMA. Whilst flamboyant and in many ways a drag queen herself on the surface, HALIMA is governed by the strict expectations of gender in Arab society.When a young NAZEEM transgresses these boundaries, HALIMA reacts in a way that is utterly confusing to him. Only though his drag, is the adult NAZEEM able to keep sacred the memories of his mother before this painful moment, and hold on to their connection.
Another Dream (2019, immersive)
Directed by: Tamara Shogaolu
Another Dream, a hybrid animated documentary and VR game, brings the gripping, true love story of an Egyptian lesbian couple to life. Faced with a post-revolution backlash against the LGBTQ community, they escape Cairo to seek asylum and acceptance in the Netherlands.
Film screening during Salon Marie Rose (soirée)
ISMYRNA (2016, 50′)
Ismyrna (2016, 50)
Lebanon/France/UAE 2016Directed by Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil JoreigeLanguage: FrenchSubtitles: English
Joana met the artist and poet Etel Adnan at the end of the 1990s. They quickly grew close, bound by links to a city they had never been to: Smyrna formerly, Izmir today. Joana’s paternal Greek family were forced into exile from Smyrna by the Turkish armies after the end of the Ottoman Empire. Etel’s Greek mother, was born in Smyrna, married to a Syrian officer of the Ottoman Army and exiled to Lebanon after the fall of the empire. Etel and Joana lived in an imaginary Smyrna, today Izmir, without ever setting foot there. At present, both find themselves engaged in questions around the transmission of history, and interrogate their attachment to objects, places, the constructions of imaginaries and mythologies without images. Their personal experiences, their stories serve as a background to the region’s changes after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the evolution of the borders questionning the notion of identity and belonging.

Tickets

Salon Marie Rose is a project by Masahat for Arab Culture in Exile, in collaboration with Skeiv Verden, Oslo World and Melahuset.
Guests الضيوف

Reclaiming History
2023-09-22 17:00 - 20:30 | Deichman Bjørvika, Oslo, 0150
انضموا إلينا يوم الجمعة 22 سبتمبر/أيلول في ثاني أيام مهرجان مساحات لأمسية ممتعة في مكتبة دايكمان بيورفيكا نناقش فيها الحق في استعادة التاريخ، وسياسات الأرشيف في مصر والنرويج.
Join us on Friday 22 September, the second day of Masahat festival, for an insightful & inspiring evening at Deichman Bjørvika to talk about the right to history, archives, and heritage politics from Egypt and Norway.
البرنامج
17:00 – 18:45 عرض فيلم سلطة بلدي إخراج ناديا كامل (2008, 105′)
19:00 – 19:30 محاضرة: استعادة التاريخ: الشعب، السلطة والأرشيف مع خالد فهمي
19:30 – 20:30 نقاش: خالد فهمي مع ميشيل تيسدل، تدير الحوار رنا عيسى
Program
17:00 – 18:45 Film screening: “Salata baladi” (Egyptian salad) dir. Nadia Kamel (2008, 105′)
19:00 – 19:30 Lecture: “Reclaiming History: People, Power, and Archives” with Khaled Fahmy
19:30 – 20:30 Discussion: Khaled Fahmy and Michelle A. Tisdel led by Rana Issa
اللغة: انكليزية
الدخول مجاني، ولكن يتطلب التسجيل مسبقاً للحصول على بطاقة
هذه الأمسية بالتعاون مع مكتبة دايكمان بيورفيكا ومركز الدراسات الإسلامية والشرق أوسطية في جامعة أوسلو.
Language: English
Free entry, but registration required.
This event is in collaboration with Deichman Bjørvika and the Centre for Islamic and Middle East Studies, UiO
Reserve your free ticket | لحجز البطاقات المجانية
When people move to a new country, they bring their home country’s history with them. But what history is that, and how well do you really know those who came before you? Masahat invites you to take a deep dive into history writing and the struggle to own your own, everyday history. Are you sure you actually know the whole story?
LECTURE: “RECLAIMING HISTORY: PEOPLE, POWER, AND ARCHIVES” WITH KHALED FAHMY
How do you take ownership of your own history after being written out of it for generations? In Norway, we have tried to find out how we can democratize history writing and cultural heritage policy to include diverse stories where the majority and minority populations are represented. Whether we have succeeded in this process is up for debate.
In the Arab world, schools, museums, and national archives celebrate the state’s history and “great men”, while the people’s history is erased and forgotten. Based on his research in the Egyptian National Archives, the Egyptian historian and academic Khaled Fahmy will reflect in his lecture on his own attempt to break this silence by telling the story of the average Egyptian.
DISCUSSION: KHALED FAHMY AND MICHELLE TISDEL
After the lecture, Khaled Fahmy will meet Michelle A. Tisdel for a conversation on identity, history writing, and the meeting point the archives, cultural heritage and definitional power in narrating history in Norway and the west. The conversation will be moderated by Rana Issa.
FILM SCREENING: “SALATA BALADI” (EGYPTIAN SALAD), (2008, 105 minutes)
This documentary explores the complex cultural and religious heritage of the Egyptian filmmaker Nadia Kamel’s own family. Her mother has Jewish and Christian Italian origins, and converted to Islam when she married Kamel’s Turkish-Ukrainian father. Accompanied by her 80-year-old mother and her 10-year-old Palestinian nephew, Kamel embarks on a journey to Italy and Israel in an attempt to tell the story of an Egypt that no longer exists.

Masahat Screens
2023-09-24 14:30 - 19:00 | Vega Scene, Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo, 0182, Norway
Masahat Screens
Join us on the last day of Masahat festival for a thought-provoking and inspiring Sunday at VEGA Scene with film screenings, conversations, mingling and more.
The day starts with the screening of Bloody Beans (2013, 80 mins) directed by Narimane Mari, which won the top prize at the prestigious documentary festival CPH:DOX. In her hybrid documentary, Mari experiments with how children can appropriate a complex history while they try to reenact the colonization and the Algerian War of Independence.
Later in the day, we will have Orwa Nyrabia, Artistic Director of IDFA, as our main guest at Masahat Screens. Under the title “Decolonize the Gaze”, Nyrabia will talk about his vision and work at IDFA since he became the Artistic Director in 2018, then he will be joined by Anne Szefer Karlse to continue the conversation and discuss how major festivals and cultural institutions can address the questions of representation, equity and inclusion.
We then end the day with a short films program curated and introduced by Maha Maamoun.
Program

PART I: Bloody Beans. Buy tickets HERE.

14:30-16:00: Bloody Beans (2013, 80 mins) dir. Narimane Mari

PART II: Conversation + short films. Buy tickets HERE.

16:00-17:15: Decolonize the Gaze with Orwa Nyrabia in conversation with Anne Szefer Karlsen
17:15-18:00: Mingling + finger food with Orwa Nyrabia and Masahat Screens guests
18:00-19:00: Litanies against fear (55 mins), a short films program curated and introduced by Maha Maamoun

Bloody Beans
(Loubia Hamra) Narimane Mari I France, Algeria | 2013 | 77 min
Language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
Already an established producer before she turned to directing, Narimane Mari is part of an exciting wave of experimental cinema coming from Algeria. Her debut feature, Bloody Beans, won the top prize at the prestigious documentary festival CPH:DOX, though to call it merely a “documentary” is reductive: described in Film Comment as an “expressionistic hybrid,” Mari’s film is a comedy, a tragedy about the past, and a portrait of colonialism in the present. Shot over nine days, with limited rehearsals and almost no reshoots, Mari’s film is set at some unspecified point during Algeria’s War of Independence, and explores the legacy of France’s brutal 132-year occupation of the country through the eyes and energies of children from the Bab El Oued and Bologhine neighborhoods of Algiers. The results are less “kids say the darndest things” than something akin to an hallucinatory experience, the surreal atmosphere aided by a score from Zombie Zombie.

Litanies against fear
A short films program curated by Maha Maamoun.
An anxiety runs deep in these films. It animates the bodies of the protagonists circumambulating their phantom homes and this film program. Contemporary experiences of separation from home-be they physical or psychological experiences, find their roots and resonances in narratives of forced displacement, colonialism and rising fascisms old and new.

Only When All the Poison Has Gone (The Healing of Emily Ruete) (2023, 18 min) dir. Doa Aly

Only when all the poison has gone (The healing of Emily Ruete) is an audio-video installation based on the memoirs and letters of Emily Ruete, born Salamah bint Said bin Sultan, Princess of Oman and Zanzibar (1844-1924), as introduced by E. Van Donzel in An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds: Memoirs, Letters Home, Sequels to the Memoirs, Syrian Customs and Usages. Emily/Salamah was prevented from returning to her homeland after eloping with a German merchant. This film seeks to turn the unconscious processes in Emily’s writing into a conscious awareness of movement, through choreography, to create an immersive field of healing feminine energy, a meditation, using her character as an effigy in a cathartic experience, for and by her.

30KG Shine (2017, 20 mins) dir. Shadi Habib Allah

30KG Shine (2017) is a video installation that examines various states of existence-object, body and spirit – and how they exchange roles and share enmeshed forms of agency. Paying homage to a 1930s urban myth about a ghost that haunted the Old City of Jerusalem, the film records how an elderly woman, currently living where the fable is set, secures her home and family heritage by leading life in confined quarters, often at the expense of her own livelihood and health. The work also features footage of a ‘tunnel cemetery’ being constructed to house 22,000 displaced corpses; these bodies claim presence and ownership of the place where they will lie.

Capital (2023, 17 mins) dir. Basma al-Sherif

Referencing the Italian “white telephone” films of the late 1930s and 40s, that were considered as precursors to fascist propaganda films, al-Sherif’s latest film reflects on the grotesque via a purview of contemporary urban planning projects and their promise of comfort and docility.

Decolonize the Gaze with Orwa Nyrabia
2023-09-24 16:00 - 18:00 | Vega Scene, Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo, 0182, Norway
Decolonizing the documentary has been a recurring theme at IDFA, the world’s largest documentary film festival, since Orwa Nyrabia became the Artistic Director in 2018. Under his leadership, the festival has been tackling the difficult questions of representation, equity and inclusion.
Who has the power to represent and narrate? How can arts and cultural institutions challenge hegemonic powers, amplify marginalized voices and foster a more equitable and representative cultural landscape?
In this conversation, we ask Orwa Nyrabia to talk about his experience and vision leading IDFA. Afterwards, he will be joined by Anne Szefer Karlsen to continue the discussion on the critical role major festivals and established cultural institutions can play in reshaping the cultural narrative, acknowledging historical injustices, and embracing diversity and inclusion.

This event is in collaboration with Mirage, Human IDFF, Oslo Dokumentarkino and Fritt Ord foundation.
This conversation is part of Masahat Screens where we spend the last day of Masahat festival at VEGA Scene.

Masahat Screens Program:
PART I: Bloody Beans. Buy tickets HERE.

14:30-16:00: Bloody Beans (2013, 80 mins) dir. Narimane Mari

PART II: Conversation + short films. Buy tickets HERE.

16:00-17:15: Decolonize the Gaze with Orwa Nyrabia in conversation with Anne Szefer Karlsen
17:15-18:00: Mingling + finger food with Orwa Nyrabia and Masahat Screens guests
18:00-19:00: Litanies against fear (55 mins), a short films program curated and introduced by Maha Maamoun.

Vigil for Palestine
2024-09-20 19:00 - 20:00 | Eidsvoll Plass, Eidsvoll Plass, Oslo, Norway
We are approaching one year of a perpetrated genocide in Gaza with no immediate ceasefire in sight and with mounting threats that a regional war would break out. We are angry and resentful of our impotent politicians and institutions who have so far not stopped the sale of arms to the Zionist entity or took any concrete measure to divest from the Israeli settler regime, which we view as complicity with genocide and with any escalations into a regional war taking place. We invite activists and Palestine supporters to join us in a nightly vigil to grieve our Palestinian martyrs, the incarceration and torture of Palestinian children, women and men, and the massive destruction and erasure of Palestinian lives, ecologies and culture. This protest vigil is for us to share our anger and grief in front of the Parliament. This vigil will showcase solidarity with Palestine through artistic commissioned works by Norwegian, Arab and Palestinian cultural practitioners.
Program

Opening address: Kari Veiteberg, Bishop of Oslo
Political address: Line Khateeb, Leder av Palestina Komitee
Moment of Silence
Screening on Stortingets wall of Videos for Palestine by Video Tract for Palestine
Collective, Mira Adoumie, Islam Shabana
Poetry Readings by Bendik Vada, Ninthu Paramalingam, Mahmud Beshtawy
Carnivalesque Performance “Songs of Anemone” by Farah Azrak.

This vigil is a collaboration between Palkom, Aksjonsgruppa for Palestina and Masahat. The artistic program is made possible through a generous grant from KORO.

Masahat screens
2024-09-22 14:30 - 18:00 | Vega Scene, Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo, 0182, Norway
Masahat Screens 2024 will present films from the Arab world that explore themes of protest, life under occupation and the struggles of life in exile curated by Mira Adoumier, and a second part with films from Sudan curated by Khalid Albaih.
The program consists of three parts:

kl. 14:45 Mahdi Fleifel short films – Life in Exile | Tickets
kl. 16:45 Five Broken Cameras | Tickets
kl. 18:45 Masahat: Films from Sudan | Tickets

PART I
14:45 PART I (total 1hr 29 mins): is a selection of four short films by the award-winning Danish-Palestinian filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel

20 Handshakes For Peace (2015, 5 min)
A Man Returned (2017, 30 min)
3 Logical Exists (2020, 14 min)
I Signed the Petition (2018, 10 min).

The short films will be followed by Some Strings, a selection of videos by filmmakers and artists from around the world, each contributing with a cinematic gesture in honor of the late poet and teacher Refaat Alareer’s poem “If I must Die”.
PART II

16:45 PART II (total 1 hr 30 mins)

The Palestinian farmer Emad buys his first camera in 2005, when his fourth son is born. The family lives in the village of Bil’in, where over the years Israeli settlements occupy larger and larger parts of the land. The camera captures the son’s upbringing, surrounded by bulldozers, soldiers and ever-higher walls.
5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal film about citizens questioning non-violent ideals in the struggle against an oppressive regime. Through Emad’s camera lens, we follow the family and the village’s demonstrations over five dramatic years.
This screening is presented by Masahat in collaboration with Oslo Dokumentarkino.
PART III

Curated by Khalid Albaih, the second part of the program presents a powerful collection of films that speak to resilience, defiance, and the enduring human spirit.
The program will feature a selection of four short documentaries: Journey to Kenya by Ibrahim Snoopy (2020, 29 min), Brick of Life by Razan Mohamed (2022, 12 min), Nas Shagala by Klozium Studios (2013, 16 min) and The Art of Sin by Ibrahim Mursal (2017, 45 min). These documentaries offer intimate, poignant glimpses into the lived experiences of Sudanese individuals, exploring themes of displacement, exile, and personal and collective struggles under oppressive regimes that led to the devastating two-year war in Sudan. The screenings will be followed by a Q&A between the filmmaker and curator Khalid Albaih and Ibrahim Mursal.

Den gamle nye Levanten: Film + samtale
2025-03-14 17:00 - 19:00 | Vega Scene, Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo, 0182, Norway
As part of HUMAN International Documentary Film Festival, this event presents a program of short films curated by Masahat, followed by a panel discussion with Nadim Khoury, Rana Issa, and Zeina Bali.
In recent months, the Levant has witnessed dramatic upheavals: an ongoing genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, Israel’s war on Lebanon and the assassination of the Hezbollah leadership, and the fall of Assad’s 54-year rule in Syria. At the same time, we keep hearing about Netanyahu and Trump’s plans to redraw the map of the Middle East.
But how has this map evolved over the past half century?
Through film screenings and conversation, we take a historical look at the spirals of violence, wars, and militarization that have shaped Levantine society for more than 50 years. With a post-nationalist perspective, we want to shed light on the regional lines that have characterized the small nations of the Levant.

Read more & buy tickets

Short film program

Swords Take Me
In one of his poems, poet Mohsen al Ha’eri, speaking in the voice of Imam Hussein (the son of Imam Ali and, after his father, the second of the twelve Shi’a Imams) prior to his martyrdom in the battle of Karbala, says: “If the religion of Mohamed shall not prevail but through my killing/ Then O swords take me”. This video attempts to look at the mythological and metaphysical aspects of Lebanon’s July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
2012, 30 minutes, arabic speech with english subtitles.
Director: Marwan Hamdan.

Step by Step
Step by Step is a reflection of the foundations of Syrian society under Assad rule. Ten years before filmmaker Ossama Mohammed received international recognition with Stars in Broad Daylight (1988) and 36 years before his award winning film Silvered Water – Syria Self Portrait 2014), he captured the dire state of Syria in this short documentary.Through the film’s experimental style, a harsh reality emerges closer to the surface. The apparently harmonious countryside turns out to be choking and violent. The effects of this are clearly demonstrated as a soldier talks about his childhood, in between the impressions of village life. Freedom and innocence have made way for a disturbing, fanatical loyalty to the state. Is this a reflection of the foundations of Syrian society under Assad’s rule?
1979, 24 minutes, arabic speech with english subtitles.
Director: Ossama Mohammad.

Detail 4
Inauguration of the Meir Kahana bible school in Tapu’ah, one of the most extreme Jewish settelements in the occupied territories.
2004, 5 minutes, hebrew speech with english subtitles.
Director: Avi Mograbi.

Interview with Ghassan Kanafani
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine spokesman Ghassan Kanafani interviewed by Richard Carleton, Beirut 1970.
1970, 7 minutes,
Director: Unknown.
About the directors
Marwan Hamdan is a Lebanese filmmaker and artist whose works explore Beirut’s political and social modern history, with a particular focus on religion, mythology, belief and systems of power. Filmography: “News from Rmeileh (2018), “Offside” (2015), “On Earth As It Is In Heaven” (2014), “Separation Anxiety” (2013), “O Swords Take Me” (2012).
Ossama Mohammad is a Syrian filmmaker, screenwriter and lecturer. His fiction and documentary films “Silvered Water” (2014), “Sunduq al Dunya” (2002) and “Nujoom Al Nahar” (1988) have all been selected for the Cannes Film Festival. His films have been banned in Syria, but have received critical acclaim and several awards internationally. In 2015, he received the Prince Claus Award. Ossama currently lives in exile in Paris.
Avi Mograbi is an Israeli filmmaker and video artist, born in 1956 in Tel Aviv, where he lives and works to this day. Mograbi is one of Israel’s most acclaimed filmmakers, and is best known for his unwavering commitment to social, cultural and political justice in the Middle East, as well as his experimental and innovative cinematic language. Mograbi’s documentaries have been programmed by festivals around the world, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Rome, New York, FID Marseille, Vision du Reel and San Francisco, among others.
The final filmmaker is unknown, but here is a little about the journalist who interviews in “Ghassan Kanafani”: Richard George Carleton (July 11, 1943 – May 7, 2006) was an Australian television journalist, who eventually produced films abroad, such as in Indonesia (he was the only journalist allowed to visit the newly “integrated” East Timor) and in the Middle East.

Collaborating with Gazan Artists today
2025-09-18 10:00 - 12:00 | Kunstnernes Hus, Wergelandsveien 17, Oslo, 0167, Norway
Kunstnernes Hus — September 18, 10:00–12:00

The genocide in Gaza has devastated every aspect of Palestinian life. No one in Gaza is safe, and no one who has witnessed this crime will ever forget it. In the gap between those who witness and those who endure the violence directly, urgent questions arise: How do we speak about Gaza? How do we act in solidarity with its people?

In Norway, Palestinian artists have been especially attentive to these questions—reflecting on how our artistic and cultural expressions often fall short of conveying the Gazan experience of genocide. The panel we have invited consists entirely of artists who have redirected their practice and resources to stand with colleagues and friends in Gaza. Their goal is clear: to ensure that Gazan artists break through the siege and mass killing, and speak in their own voices despite ongoing attempts to silence them.

This conversation asks: What does it mean to collaborate with artists in Gaza today? What does it mean to make art during a genocide? And how does the extermination of Palestinians compel us to rethink our artistic tools, languages, and practices?

Panelists

Motaz Al Habbash
A Palestinian artist, producer, and curator residing in Norway. He primarily works with video and runs the mentoring program Here and There and the art and culture platform It is hard to be Arab. His current film project The Donkey of October 7th—in collaboration with Mustafa Nabieh—focuses on the situation of donkeys in Gaza. His work includes the installation Stolen Well (Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, 2024) and the seven-hour live program with Gazan artists Gaza (a)live (2016).

Carmel Alabbasi
A Palestinian visual artist whose practice spans video, sound, writing, sculpture, and installation. With a background in journalism and social anthropology, and an MFA from KHIO (Oslo), Carmel’s work explores absence and disappearance, confronting colonial and patriarchal erasures of people, spaces, and identities.

Dahaleez Collective
A research art collective founded in Gaza in 2021 by artists and researchers Khaled Jarada, Rahaf Batniji, Salman Nawati, Majdal Nateel, Carmel Al-Abbasi, Mahmoud Abu Wardeh, and Mahmoud Al-Shaer. Originating with the project Geography of Divine Magic at Beit Al-Ghussein Cultural and Heritage House, the collective examines Palestinians’ temporal and spatial realities under siege. Dahaleez develops collaborative and analytical tools to envision liberation and reconstruction of Palestine.

Ayman Azraq
A filmmaker, photographer, and mixed-media artist. His short film The Passport has screened at the National Museum of Cinema (Turin), Cologne International VideoArt Festival, and elsewhere. His work includes Oslo Syndrome (Autumn Exhibition, Oslo; Dubai International Film Festival; London Palestinian Film Festival), the collaborative installation WALL-1, and the documentary Into My Lungs (Kunstnernes Hus, 2022). His mixed-media installation The Lost Tapes of a People’s Tribunal 1982 was exhibited at Fotogalleriet (2023/24). In 2023, he launched the Artist to Artist Project, a digital residency supporting Gazan artists, culminating in the exhibition For You at Tenthaus and Podium. He has also exhibited at Nitja Center for Contemporary Art and Rogaland Kunstsenter.

Drew Snyder (Moderator)
An art historian and curator based in Oslo. He is Senior Curator at Public Art Norway – KORO, where his work includes major public art projects at the Government Quarter and Museum of the Viking Age. He is also engaged in discursive initiatives such as investigations of public art in the context of Truth and Reconciliation in Norway and Sápmi, and the Oslo-based Artist to Artist residency program facilitating dialogue with Gazan artists. Snyder holds a PhD in art history, theory, and criticism from the University of California, San Diego.
Photo credit: Svein Erik Tøien

Grønlands Maidan: Home Not for Sale.
2025-09-20 12:00 - 16:00 | Grønland
Street Party Against the Gentrification of Grønland

Practical Information
📍 Meeting point: Botsparken → ending at Olafiagangen🕛 Time: 12:00–16:00🌿 Open to all — free public event

A festival day of ritual, people’s march, stories of solidarity and resistance, textile workshops, games, and music in the streets of Grønland.
Grønland is Oslo’s cultural crossroads—a neighborhood where diverse communities and newcomers from Norway and across the world have lived, worked, and thrived for generations. Today, greedy developers and their political enablers threaten to erase this history, displace communities, and sell our streets to the highest bidder.
We say no.
Join us at Olafiagangen for a day of celebration and solidarity—because the soul of a neighborhood lives in its people.

The march starts 12:00 at Botsparken. It ends 12:30 at Olafiagangen with speeches from Reduser Husleia, Leieboerforeningen and Nordic Black Theatre.
We march to protect Grønland from the growing pressure of real estate speculation: higher rents, unstable leases, and gentrification that risks pushing away families, businesses, and organizations that have long been the heart of this neighborhood.
Artist Waldane Walker will guide us through a powerful MAS (masquerade), leading a ritual procession to cleanse the neighborhood from greedy developers and city planners who seek to displace us by building homes only for those who can afford them.
✨ March with us, raise your voice in the chants, and help protect the soul of Grønland from gentrification.💚 Come show your love for the neighborhood.

Program
📍 Start: Botsparken → End: Olafiagangen🕛 Time: 12:00–16:00

Botsparken → Olafiagangen
12:00–12:30 | Our Home, Our Neighbourhood: People’s March for GrønlandA march against gentrification, led by artist Waldane Walker a MAS (masquerade), leading a ritual procession to cleanse the neighborhood from greedy developers.

Olafiagangen
12:30–12:45 | SpeechesWith contributions from Reduser Husleia, Leieboerforeningen, and Nordic Black Theatre.
12:30–16:00 | The Solidarity Patchwork – Threads of ResistanceWith Latin-Amerika Gruppen (LAG Norge). Add your own stitched story to a collective quilt of global solidarity.
12:30–16:00 | Veggietales (work in progress)By Aleksander Varadian. A visual artwork on gentrification using fruits and vegetables from Grønland’s markets.
12:30–16:00 | No Silence in the Arts for GazaBy Stefanie Reinhart. An exhibition of 700+ small artworks in Palestinian colors — expressions of grief, hope, and resistance.👉 The full exhibition can be viewed at Mama’s Café / Frivillighetens hus until October 11.
13:10–13:25 | FlashmobWith Nordic Black Theatre.
13:30–15:30 | Third SpaceBy Dahleez Collective. An audio-narrative interweaving memories, absence, and presence from Gaza. Guests: Bisan Nateel, Asem Nabih, Fidaa Al-Hasanat – Majdal Nateel.
14:00–16:00 | Kurak WorkshopWith Peri Orunbaeva. Learn the Kyrgyz textile tradition of Kurak. Drop-in workshop, limited spots.@
14:00–16:00 | StedsvevenBy Tenthaus (Helen Eriksen, Samira Jamouchi, Ebba Moi). A participatory textile project exploring Grønland–Tøyen’s identity.

Dattera til Hagen
13:30–15:00 | Reading Circle: The War Against HospitalitiesWith Rene Gabri and Ayreen Anastas. A discussion on colonialism as a war against hospitality, with texts, zines, and dialogue.

Nordic Black Theatre
14:00–15:00 | Concert: Ramy EssamIn collaboration with Kawakibi Foundation.

In collaboration withNordic Black Theater · Oslo Museum · Tenthaus · Dattera til Hagen · Safemuse · Kawakibi Foundation · Leieboerforeningen · Atelier Kunstnerforbundet

The Frida Marida Show x Dragon Blood by Only Slime
2025-09-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Det Norske Teatret, Kristian IV’s gt.8, Oslo, 0164, Norway
Practical Information
📍 Venue: Det Norske Teatret📅 Date: September 20, 2025
🕔 Program:

16:30 → Dragon Blood by Only Slime

19:00 → The Frida Marida Show (duration: 1.5 hours)

🌍 Language: English🎟️ One ticket gives you access to both performances.
This performance is for Adults only

A Night of Fantasy, Music & Radical Hospitality

Masahat, in collaboration with Ultima, Det Norske Teatret, Karmaklubb and Only Slime, proudly presents The Frida Marida Show.
With support from Masahat and as part of the RAWABET project, Frida transforms a car steering wheel into a drum, tracing her personal journey — from a young man in Lebanon dreaming of music, to a woman, singer, and songwriter in Oslo. Life’s unexpected turns echo in rhythm and sound.
The evening opens with Dragon Blood by Only Slime, unfolding inside an immersive dinner-style installation: chandeliers, tables instead of rows, and performers moving among the audience. Everyone becomes part of the artwork. Guests are encouraged to wear imaginative, fantasy-inspired costumes.
At 19:00, Frida takes the stage with five musicians, two dancers, and a set of out-of-the-box concepts. She embraces Masahat’s 2025 theme of hospitality by singing in eight languages — inviting audiences into a shared cultural space across borders.
The night culminates with the launch of Frida Marida’s groundbreaking music video Fri Da Nipple — where six electronic boob-triggers become live instruments. Sound, body, and technology merge in a drag performance that redefines both music and art.

This event is presented in collaboration with Rawabet — a collective initiative led by Ettijahat – Independent Culture and implemented in partnership with GEZMATAZ, VOCE, coculture, Masahat, and Transversal Project.
Rawabet is supported by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) under the Creative Europe programme. The views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Masahat Screens & Sudanese Evening
2025-09-21 15:30 - 17:30 | Vega Scene, Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo, 0182, Norway
📍 Location: VEGA Scene, Oslo📅 Date: Sunday, September 21, 2025🕔 Time: 15:30–17:30 (films + discussion) → followed by Sudanese Evening (food + music)🎟️ Tickets: includes access to Masahat Screens + Sudanese evening

We close this year’s Masahat Festival at VEGA Scene, in collaboration with Oslo Documentary Cinema, with an inspiring program that moves from film and dialogue to an evening of food, music, and celebration of Sudanese culture.

Part One: Masahat Screens
Program

– In Fields of Words (2022, 70 mins) | Lebanon | dir. Rania Stephan
– The Other Side of Beauty (2024, 11 mins) | Morocco, Sudan | dir. Sami Saif Sirelkhatim
– Gaza Artists (2024, 16 mins) – | Palestine | dir. Mustafa al-Nabih

Following the screenings, there will be a discussion with Syrian author Samar Yazbek.
About the films
In Fields of Words (2022, 70 mins) | Lebanon | dir. Rania Stephan
A filmic dialogue between Syrian writer-in-exile Samar Yazbek and Lebanese filmmaker Rania Stephan, asking what role cinema and literature can play in the face of war, death, and violence. Shot between 2013 and 2019, the film documents the course of the Syrian revolution and civil war while exploring the question: “Can literature and cinema capture this tragedy?” Combining image, sound, and Yazbek’s words, Stephan creates a poetic and political testimony of our time. Winner of the Best Film Award at the 2022 Villa Medici Film Festival.

The Other Side of Beauty (2024, 11 mins) | Morocco, Sudan | dir. Sami Saif SirelkhatimThe story of a Sudanese photographer who finds beauty in his homeland’s stars and landscapes, while also facing the violence of war and genocide in Darfur. His images reveal truth to the world, but at great personal cost—through imprisonment, torture, and repression.
Gaza Artists (2024, 16 mins) – | Palestine | dir. Mustafa al-Nabih
A short documentary produced by Arji foundation, written and directed by Mustafa Al-Nabih. It offers a window into the lives of Palestinian artists in the Gaza Strip, amid ongoing displacement and the difficult conditions they endure. The film takes us on a journey with three artists from different generations, all of whom were displaced from Gaza and now live in the city of Rafah in the south of the Strip. We follow their daily lives, struggles, and the impact of continuous displacement on their creativity and personal lives, through genuine human moments, aside from the usual images of destruction. It seeks to reveal the human side of those who continue to live, dream, and create despite all that has been lost. This film is a cry to the world: Gaza is being annihilated, but we love life, and we resist with love and art. Every moment here bears the imprint of war; every smile is a victory.

Part Two: Sudanese Evening: Food, Music & Stories
After films and discussion, the festival continues with a Sudanese Evening at VEGA.
✨ Tasting menu of iconic Sudanese dishes by chef Mohammed Mustafa.✨ Solo concert by young Sudanese-Norwegian talent Yasir Moa, a songwriter and storyteller blending classical tunes with rhythmic, danceable sounds.
This evening is curated in collaboration with Khalid Albaih and Naoures Rouissi.

My Father and Qaddafi, film + talk with Hajer Sharief
2026-03-06 20:00 - 22:00 | Vega Scene, Hausmanns gate 30, Oslo, 0182, Norway
My Father and Qaddafi بابا والقذافي
USA, Libya I 2025 I 88 minutes I Language: English, Arabic, French I Subtitles: English I Age limit: 15 I Director: Jihan
We are glad to partner with HUMAN International Documentary Film Festival on the screening of My Father and Qaddafi followed by a conversation with with Hajer Sharief on Friday 6th of March kl. 20.00 at VEGA Scene. Zeina Bali, Managind Director of Masahat will lead the talk.
About the film:
A daughter’s search for her missing father, Mansur Kikhia, former foreign minister and UN ambassador in Qaddafi’s Libya.
The filmmaker, Jihan, was only 6 years when her father suddenly disappeared from a human rights conference in Cairo in 1993. Her mother, a strong character in the film, buys a video camera for the family after the father’s disappearance.
Through home videos and other archival material, the director reflects back on who her father was, and travels to find answers among her father’s relatives and friends, who remind us of the backdrop of his disappearance; the brutal regime of Qaddafi and Libya’s history as a colony.
A brilliant and captivating documentary about a daughter’s personal longing for her father as much as the histories and politics of the collective struggles of the Libyan people longing for their freedom.

Masahat på Arabiske filmdager
2026-03-22 15:15 - 22:45 | Vika Kino, Ruseløkkveien 14, Oslo, 0251, Norway
Masahat har gleden av å samarbeide med Arabiske Filmdager som går av stabelen 19. – 22. mars på Vika kino. Arabiske filmdager er en liten, men viktig festival. I en tid der mange mennesker i regionen lever med konflikt og uro, er festivalen et rom for refleksjon, samtale og fellesskap. Festivalen byr på de beste filmene fra og om den arabiske verden. Enten det er store filmer som har vunnet prestisjetunge filmpriser, eller små filmperler som fortjener å bli løftet fram i lyset. Med et mangfold av filmer er det duket for spennende arrangementer og interessante samtaler gjennom hele festivalen.
Rana Issa, kunstnerisk leder i Masahat, står for introduksjonen før to filmvisninger:

– Søndag 22.3 kl. 15.15: Intro før Do You Love Me (2025, 1t 15m, Lana Daher)
Filmen blander fortid og nåtid gjennom 70 år av Libanons audiovisuelle minne, og er en vakker refleksjon over landets tilstand.
– Søndag 22.3 kl. 20.45: Intro før A Sad and Beautiful World (2025, 1t 50m, Cyril Aris)
Over tre tiår er Nino og Yasmina knyttet sammen av en magnetisk tiltrekning. De blir nødt til å spørre seg selv: Skal vi bygge en familie i Libanon, eller forlate hjemlandet midt i en pågående krise?

Filmkveld: The Present og Leila and the Wolves
2026-03-25 19:00 - 21:00 | Det Norske Teatret, Kristian IV’s gt.8, Oslo, 0164, Norway
Vising av den Oscarnominerte kortfilmen The Present og Leila and the Wolves, vinnar av den største prisen under Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival.
Kortfilm: Al-hadiya/ The Present/ (2020) الهدية
På bryllaupsdagen sin legg Yusef og den vesle dottera hans ut på tur på Vestbreidda for å kjøpe ei gåve til kona hans. Mellom soldatar, segregerte vegar og kontrollpostar – kor lett vil det vere å dra på handletur?
Regissør Farah Nabulsi Av Farah Nabulsi, Hind Shoufani
Varar i 24 minutt
SPRÅK Arabisk, engelske tekstar

Langfilm: Leila wa al ziap/ Leila and the Wolves / ليلى والذئاب (1984)
Filmen vev saman rekonstruksjonar, arkivopptak og eventyrsekvensar for å skape eit vitnemål om historia til libanesiske og palestinske kvinner og dei politiske kampane i det tjuande hundreåret.
Regissør Heiny Srour
Varar i 1 time og 30 minutt
SPRÅK Arabisk, engelske tekstar/English surtitles

Filmkveld er arrangert i samarbeid med Det Norske Teatret som en del av “Palestinaprogrammet“, som foregår i forbindelse med oppsetningen av «Gjenferdet inn».
