The Arts Center and Film and New Media Program at NYU Abu Dhabi present
Barakah Meets Barakah
Film Screening
Sunday, April 9 @ 7:30pm
Past Event
The NYUAD Arts Center and Film and New Media Program present the popular and critically acclaimed film Barakah Meets Barakah.
In this brilliant and witty Saudi rom-com, Barakah, a lowly municipal employee whose job is to enforce public space regulations, falls in love with Bibi, an independent-minded Instagram star and adopted daughter of a wealthy family. When the couple attempt to date, they find the simple matter of even sharing a moment together laden with challenges, as they run into the country’s strict social customs and rules on behavior in public space.
A gem of a film, not only because it comes from a country where filmmaking is rare, Barakah Meets Barakah uses the light-hearted, humorous genre of romantic comedy to lend a sharp critique of restrictions on public space and culture in Saudia Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Directed by Mahmoud Sabbagh as his debut feature, Barakah Meets Barakah is supported by a strong cast, the two lead roles played by Hisham Fageeh and Fatima Al-Banawi. It has toured to popular and critical acclaim at film festivals throughout the world, premièring at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Ecumenical Jury Prize.
The film screening will be followed by a Q&A with lead actor and co-producer Hisham Fageeh.
Hisham Fageeh is a Saudi actor/producer and comedian. He plays the leading role in BARAKAH MEETS BARAKAH, which he co-produced. He is also the creator of the viral video NO WOMAN, NO DRIVE, a satirical take on Saudi Arabia’s ban on women drivers. In addition, he has written and produced many other popular shows and videos, such as KHAMBALAH and FOLAIM. A graduate of Columbia University, Hisham trained in improvisational comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York. His YouTube series “Hisham’s Weeklies” led him into the Saudi stand-up comedy circuit and thereafter stand-up comedy tours in the US and UK.
Shohini Chaudhuri is a film activist and Visiting Professor of Film, NYU Abu Dhabi. Her expertise is in World Cinema, particularly film and human rights. Her most recent book is Cinema of the Dark Side: Atrocity and the Ethics of Film Spectatorship (2014). She is currently working on a new book project on “Crisis and Creativity,” which deals with freedom of expression and cinema. She has previously curated film programmes for The Mosaic Rooms, London, and has organized public film events for the NGO Amnesty International.