Wellesley College
Massachusetts, USA 

Hosts the International Symposium

Organized by the Department of Italian Studies 
Co-sponsored by Wellesley College, Academic Departments 
and Inter-Disciplinary Programs

Visions of Struggle:  Women's Filmmaking in the  Mediterranean

November 2-3, 2007

This two-day long symposium illustrates the hybrid expressions of
modernity as manifested in the ways of being a woman in struggle in the
Mediterranean area, paying special attention to women's cinema as a form
of counter-cinema and re-interpretation of women's shifting roles.
Organized around socio-political themes, invited speakers  examine films
and documentaries denouncing and protesting against violence and abuse,
exposing hypocrisies, and addressing the consequences of cultural
conflicts and changes for women's lives in Mediterranean countries today.
Topics include: family relationships and gender roles; domestic violence
and sexual abuse; mental health and psychological disorders; traditions,
taboos, and prejudices versus rebellion and awareness; human
rights/women's rights and social/cultural injustice; women
victims/collaborators in organized crime; war crimes against women;
political militancy and resistance. 

Collins Cinema

Friday, November 2                          

4:45-5:45pm               Reception Collins
Café                                              

5:45-6:00pm               Welcome and Opening Remarks 
Flavia Laviosa, Italian Studies
                                    
6:00-6:15pm               Introduction to the Keynote Speaker           
Frances Malino, Jewish Studies and History

6:15-7:15                    Keynote Speaker 
Yosefa Loshitzky, University of East London
"Veiling and Unveiling the Mediterranean: Women's Cinema between East and
West"

7:30-7:45pm               Introduction to the Director and Producer
Flavia Laviosa, Italian Studies

7:45-8:00pm               Director 
Buthina Khoury Canaan, Majd production Co. Taybeh - Ramallah, Palestine
Presentation of Maria's Grotto, a documentary on the practice of honor
killings

7:45-9:00pm               Film Screening 
Maria's Grotto (2007, 80 min.)
Discussion with Director B. Khoury Canaan
                                    
Saturday, November 3                     

8:00-8:45am               Breakfast Collins
Café                                                           

Collins Cinema

8:45:9:00                    Opening Remarks
Flavia Laviosa, Italian Studies

9:00-10:30am             Session I          Francophone Africa, Middle East
Chair: Frances Malino, Jewish Studies and History

"The Wiles of Maghrebi Women's Cinema"
Florence Martin, Goucher College, Baltimore, Maryland           

"Opening the Chamber of Secrets: A View from the Middle East"
Lina Khatib, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

"The Occupation of Film-Making: The Work of Women Directors in Palestine"
Kay Dickinson, Goldsmith College, University of London, UK

10:30-10:45am          
Break                                                  

10:45am-12:15pm      Session II       Turkey, France, Greece,       
Chair: Salem Mekuria, Art

 "Politics of Visibility: Independent Women Filmmakers in Turkey" Asuman 
Suner, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey  "Mutilated Bodies in 
Contemporary Women's Filmmaking in France" Carrie Tarr, Kingston 
University, London, UK  "The Poetics of Gender: Two Radical Greek Women 
Directors, Antouanetta Angelidi and Kleoni Flessa" Maria Komninos, 
University of Athens, Greece  12:30-2:00pm Lunch Collins Café


2:00-3:00pm               Session III      Italy, Spain
Chair: Elena Gascon-Vera, Spanish 

"Roberta Torre and the Critique of Mafia Violence" 
Aine O'Healy, Loyola Marymount University, LA

"Private Fictions as Public Histories: Intimacy, Trauma and Melodrama in 
Take my Eyes and The Secret Life of Words" 
Belen Vidal, University of St Andrews, Scotland
            
3:00-3:15pm              
Break                                                  

3:15-4:45pm               Session IV      Balkans
Chair: Winifred Wood, Writing Program
            
"The Peacekeepers and the Women"
Marguerite Waller, University of California, Riverside

"Truth Inside the Female Body: Violence, Rage, and Transnational Feminism"
Katarzyna Marciniak, Ohio University, Athens, University of Southern
California

"Guarding the Borders: Lesbianism and Nationalism in Post-Socialist Balkan
Cinema"
Aniko Imre, University of Southern California

4:45-5:00pm               Coffee Break

5:00-6:00pm               Round Table Discussion
Guests: Yosefa Loshitzky, Buthina Khoury Canaan, Florence Martin, Lina
Khatib, Kay Dickinson, Asuman Suner, Carrie Tarr, Maria Komninos, Aine
O'Healy, Belen Vidal, Marguerite Waller, Katarzyna Marciniak, Aniko Imre
 
Faculty: Elena Gascon-Vera, Flavia Laviosa, Frances Malino, Salem Mekuria,
Winifred Wood

6:30-8:30pm               Dinner 
Wellesley College Club (speakers and invited guests)

Open to the Public