The First Movie is a tribute to the imaginative resilience of children. When filmmaker Mark Cousins traveled to Goptapa, a small Kurdish village in Northern Iraq devastated by Saddam Hussein’s regime, he discovered children who have known nothing but war. The children were given camcorders and they created their own movies filled with wonder and boundless imagination. The resulting films are the true gift of The First Movie. Get a glimpse of a different Iraq and the world through the transformative lens of a child’s eyes.

Menu

Appetizer: summag salad; Entrée: lamb & chicken kabobs, seasonal veggies, and warm pita, vegetarian option: please call 858.822.3199; Dessert: bread pudding with Irish coffee sauce & vanilla ice cream

ArtTalk

Stefan Elnabli, Panelist
Stefan Elnabli is UC San Diego Library’s Media Curation Librarian, overseeing media collections and providing strategic direction in the Library’s development and management of moving image resources. Elnabli’s engagement with visual culture spans the areas of cinema studies, archival preservation, and film programming/projection. His past appointments include positions with WNET Channel 13 Digital Archive, Anthology Film Archives, Doc Films at the University of Chicago, and digital preservation units within major university libraries including New York University, Stanford University, and Northwestern University. Elnabli holds an M.A. in moving image archiving and preservation from New York University.

Rebecca Romani, Panelist
Rebecca Romani holds an M.A. in television film and new media from San Diego State University (SDSU). She has lived and worked in Belgium, France, and Morocco. Her writing on Middle Eastern film has appeared in Cineaste Magazine and Al Jadid as well as on KPBS.org and the Levantine Review. She has also taught classes on Middle Eastern film, film noir, and other genres for SDSU Osher and led discussions at the Downtown Public Library. She is the project director of the multi-media project Arabs Anonymous No Hay Moros, which has produced film screenings, art shows and concerts by artist of Middle Eastern descent.