We are delighted to present ‘Theeb 2014’, from the evocative film program curated by researcher and scholar Rasha Salti.

Inspired by the themes explored in Abdullah Al Saadi’s Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia, the program invites audiences to reflect on the intricate interplay between remembrance and forgetting, evoking profound connections to collective and personal histories.

Theeb (2014)

Director: Naji Abu Nowar

Genre: Narrative

Language: Arabic and English

Duration: 100 minutes

Synopsis:

Set in 1916, on the eve of the great Arab revolt, in the Arabian desert, Theeb and his older brother Hussein (Hussein Salameh) are bedouins, learning how to survive under the auspices of their oldest brother, the Sheikh (Hmood Ali). Hussein teaches Theeb how to shoot a rifle and how to properly slaughter a goat. One dark evening, the tribe welcomes a group of men and a mysterious British soldier, Edward (Jack Fox), as guests under their tent. Edward is on a mission to reach his regiment by the Roman Well, and is in need of local guides to help him reach his destination. The road they must take is known as The Pilgrim’s Trail, but as the Sheikh tells them, it’s populated by more raiders than pilgrims since it’s been abandoned to make way for a railway. In honor of their father, whose reputation brought the travelers to the Sheikh’s camp, Hussein is commissioned to lead Edward and his guides through the barren wilderness. Theeb, with a mix of curiosity and fear of being separated from Hussein, decides to follow them.

About the Curator: 

Rasha Salti is an independent Curator and freelance Writer, working and living between New York and Beirut. After receiving a BA in Fine Arts from Georgetown University, she earned a graduate degree in Liberal Studies from the New School for Social Research in New York (2000). Her work has been published widely in international newspapers, magazines and journals as well as catalogs for arts festivals and events. In 2005 she earned the Phillip Shehadi award for new writing on the Middle East.

Her involvement with art and cultural practice began at the Theatre de Beyrouth, an independent cultural space that was a marker for the city’s post-war cultural landscape. On moving to New York she began collaborating with ArtEast, a pioneering non-profit arts organization, and in 2005 she was appointed director of CinemaEast Film Festival, a biennial of recent films from the Middle East, North Africa and their diasporas. In 2006 she curated a retrospective of Syrian cinema at the Lincoln Center and edited and translated Insights into Syrian Cinema: Essays and Conversations with Filmmakers (Rattapallax Press, 2006). She writes about artistic practice in the Arab World, film and general social and political commentary. Her work has been published widely in international newspapers, magazines and journals as well as catalogs for arts festivals and events. In 2005 she earned the Phillip Shehadi award for new writing on the Middle East.