“KARAMA HAS NO WALLS”: One of the two films screened in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute for Advanced Study campus, “Karama Has No Walls” is set amidst Yemen’s 2011 uprising. The film illustrates the nature of the Yemeni revolution in stark contrast to the violations of human rights that took place on Friday, March 18, 2011. Juma’at El-Karama (Friday of Dignity) marks a turning point in the Yemeni revolution as the killing of 53 protestors shook the nation and propelled hundreds of thousands more to flock to the square in solidarity with their fellow citizens.

The Institute for Advanced Study continues its film series, “From the Banned Countries: a Film Series” curated by the School of Social Science and the School of Historical Studies with the screening of two Yemeni films from award winning Canadian/Yemeni filmmaker Sara Ishaq. The screenings will take place on Wednesday, December 13, starting at 4 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute for Advanced Study campus. The first, Karama Has No Walls, (2012, 26 minutes) was nominated for an Academy Award in the Short Subject category. The film is an eyewitness account of Yemen’s revolution in 2011 that began with a peaceful protest against (now former) President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Friday of Karama, March 18, 2011, saw an end to the peaceful protest.

The second film, The Mulberry House (2013, 65 minutes) was also shot in Yemen during the revolution. It has been screened at the Muher Competition in the Dubai
International Film Festival and was an official selection of the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2013. Sara Ishaq, born and raised in Yemen, moved with her Scottish mother to Scotland when she was 17. She returned ten years later to Yemen with a desire to explore and film her homeland only to encounter the Yemeni Arab Spring. The two screenings will be followed by a discussion with Professor Steven Caton, Khalid Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud Professor of Contemporary Arab Studies from Harvard University, who previously was a Member in the School of Social Science.

The screenings of Karama Has No Walls and The Mulberry House will be held Wednesday, December 13, 4 p.m. at Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. All are welcomed to attend. For more information: library.ias.edu/hs/filmseries.