This Living of Others: Of Rogues, Pogues, Dismantled Geographies and Outcast Histories is a series of medium and short film and videos inpired from a poem by Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963), Turkish dissident poet and writer, deemed a foundational modernist voice. He spent most of his adult life in jail because of his political affiliations and died in exile in Moscow. The ‘Axis of Evil’ and ‘War on Terror’ have reconfigured geographies and their correspondent human scapes, international conventions of basic rights, covenants of sovereignty and constitutional protections have been paralyzed. Under their diktat, living, dreaming a meaningful life has become a rarified privilege. The value of their subjects’ life, taxed alternately with roguishness or poguishness, has become dispensible, quantifiable in integers of dead, injured, detained, displaced… In this series, filmmakers and video artists use fiction and non-fiction, narrative and non-narrative form to tell stories or cast characters systematicaly outcast from ledgers of citizenship, basic rights and the script of History. By virtue of the prevalence of film and video as the most accessible media to imagine and transcribe a being in the world, these films and videos are the living record of their subjects and characters having lived or being alive. The series articulates along six programs, includes videos and films of short and medium lengths, from the Arab world, Turkey and Iran, and their diasporas, spanning from 1979 until 2008. Curated by Rasha Salti and organized by ArteEast, This Living of Others is premiering at Art Dubai

Click here to read the poem

Click here for program notes

Program and Schedule:

Of Rogues and Pogues (Running Time: 19 minutes)
The Poster by Samer Barqawi (Syria, 2008, 40 seconds)
Let’s Dance (Dansons) by Zoulikha Bouabedellah (Algeria/France, 2003, 5 minutes) © Zoulikha Bouabdellah – Courtesy la B.A.N.K, Paris
We Will Win by Mahmoud Hojeij (Lebanon, 2007, 8 minutes)
The Wash (Vaskeriet) by Hisham el-Zouki (Syria/Norway, 2006, 6 minutes)

Screening date and time:
Tuesday March 17, 2009 (Patrons’ Preview + Press): 12:00 pm – 12:20 pm
Wednesday March 18, 2009: 12:00 pm – 12:20 pm
Saturday March 21, 2009: 10:00 am – 10:20 am

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Of Rogues and Pogues (Running Time: 110 minutes)
Straight Stories (Part 1) by Bouchra Khalili (Morocco/France, 10 minutes)
My Lost Home (Ma Maison perdue) by Kamal el-Mehouti (France, 2002, 19 minutes)
A Woman Alone (La Femme seule) by Brahim Fritah (Morocco/France, 2004, 23 minutes)
Bruitage by Hrayr Eulmessekian (Lebanon/Armenia/US, 2004, 58 minutes)

Screening date and time:
Tuesday March 17, 2009 (Patrons’ Preview + Press): 12:30 pm – 14:20 pm
Wednesday March 18, 2009: 12:30 pm – 14:20 pm
Thursday March 19, 2009: 16:00 pm – 17:50 pm
Friday March 20, 2009: 14:00 pm – 15:50 pm
Saturday March 21, 2009: 10:30 am – 12:20 pm

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Of Dismantled Geographies (Running Time: 99 minutes)
Step by Step (Khutwa Khutwa) by Oussama Mohammad (Syria, 1979, 25 minutes)
You, Wagih (Toi, Waguih) by Namir Abdel-Messeeh (Egypt/France, 2006, 29 minutes)
Two Bows (Do Kamancheh) by Bahman Kiarostami (Iran, 2004, 45 minutes)

Screening date and time:
Tuesday March 17, 2009 (Patrons’ Preview + Press): 14:30 pm – 16:10 pm
Wednesday March 18, 2009: 14:30 pm – 16:10 pm
Thursday March 19, 2009: 18:00 pm – 19:40 pm
Friday March 20, 2009: 16:00 pm – 18:40 pm
Saturday March 21, 2009: 12:30 am – 14:10 pm

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Of Dismantled Geographies (Running Time: 61 minutes)
One in a Million (Wahed fel-Milion) by Nadine Khan (Egypt, 2007, 12 minutes)
About the Sea by Sobhi al-Zobaidi (Palestine, 2005, 5 minutes)
Transit by Taysir Batnji (Palestine/France, 2004, 8 minutes) © Taysir Batniji – Courtesy La B.A.N.K, Paris
Everywhere Was the Same by Basma el-Sharif (Palestine, 2007, 12 minutes)
Jerusalem HD by Ammar el-Beik (Syria, 2007, 24 minutes)

Screening date and time:
Tuesday March 17, 2009 (Patrons’ Preview + Press): 16:20 pm – 17:20 pm
Wednesday March 18, 2009: 16:20 pm – 17:20 pm
Thursday March 19, 2009: 19:50 pm – 20:50 pm
Friday March 20, 2009: 18:50 pm – 19:50 pm
Saturday March 21, 2009: 14:20 am – 15:20 pm

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Of Outcast Histories (Running Time: 67 minutes)
A Video in Red, Green and Black by Sobhi al-Zobeidi (Palestine, 2007, 0.5 minutes)
Merely A Smell (Mujarrad Ra’iha) by Maher Abi Samra (Lebanon, 2007, 10 minutes)
Rifat by Emin Elper (Turkey, 2007, 17 minutes)
The Day I Became my Mother (Annem Olgugum Gun) by Faysal Soysal (Turkey/Iran, 2007, 12 minutes)
(Posthumous) by Ghassan Salhab (Lebanon, 2006, 28 minutes)

Screening date and time:
Tuesday March 17, 2009 (Patrons’ Preview + Press): 17:30 pm – 18:40 pm
Wednesday March 18, 2009: 17:30 pm – 18:40 pm
Wednesday March 18, 2009: 18:50 pm – 20:00 pm
Friday March 20, 2009 : 20:00 pm – 21:10 pm

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Of Outcast Histories (Running Time: 72 minutes)
Lebanon War (Lebanon Slash War) by Rania Stephan (Lebanon, 2006, 47 minutes)
We Will Live to See these Things (US/Syria, 2007, 47 minutes)

Screening date and time:
Tuesday March 17, 2009 (Patrons’ Preview + Press): 18:50 pm – 20:05 pm
Tuesday March 17, 2009 (Patrons' Preview + Press): 20:10 pm - 21:25 pm
Wednesday March 18, 2009: 18:50 pm – 20:05 pm
Friday March 20, 2009: 20:50 pm – 22:05 pm
Saturday March  21, 2009: 15:30 pm – 16:45 pm

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In Collaboration with freeDimensional
Introduction of Action Lab on Migration by Todd Lester & screening of Iraqis in Egypt

Screening date and time:
Tuesday March 17, 2009 (Patrons’ Preview + Press): 21:45 pm
Wednesday March 18, 2009: 20:30 pm
Saturday March  21, 2009: 17:00 pm