Category Archives: Film and Video

Obsession: Potent, Powerful, Provocative

Danish Cartoon Controversy, Election 2008, Film and Video, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Islamophobia, Journalism and Media

Potent, powerful, and provocative. That’s what Nordstrom department stores have to say about Obsession, Calvin Klein’s cologne for men. These qualities are shared, no doubt, by another Obsession, a DVD currently being distributed by the Clarion Fund (http://clarionfund.org/), a nonprofit shell organization devoted to propagandizing against Islam. Subtitled “Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” copies of Obsession have been distributed as “paid advertising” in dozens of American newspapers, including the Charlotte Observer and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Desperate for cash, traditional print media are not very fussy about their advertisers these days. Ann Caulkins, the publisher of the Charlotte Observer, told the paper’s religion reporter that the DVD met the newspaper’s criteria for ads: “We’re all for freedom of expression, freedom of speech. This is in no way reflecting our opinions, but it is something we allow,” she said, adding that the newspaper would not allow material that is racist, profane, or “offers graphic images of body parts,” which at least distinguishes the paper from anything in the CSI television franchise. Continue reading Obsession: Potent, Powerful, Provocative →

Pro-McCain Group Dumping 28 Million Terror Scare DVDs in Swing States

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Election 2008, Film and Video, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Islam in Europe, Islamophobia, Israel, Terrorism Issue


Sally Lopez of Lemoyne, PA displays a copy of the DVD that came in the mail.

by Erik Ose, The Latest Outrage, September 12, 2008

This week, 28 million copies of a right-wing, terror propaganda DVD are being mailed and bundled in newspaper deliveries to voters in swing states. The 60-minute DVDs, titled “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” are landing on doorsteps in a campaign coinciding with the 7th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Funding is coming from a New York-based group called the Clarion Fund, a shadowy outfit whose financial backers are The program was originally shown on Fox News in the days leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections, and right-wing activist David Horowitz toured the country screening the film on college campuses during 2007. Mainstream religious groups have called Obsession biased and divisive. It cuts between scenes of Nazi rallies and footage of Muslim children being encouraged to become suicide bombers. Continue reading Pro-McCain Group Dumping 28 Million Terror Scare DVDs in Swing States →

Maverick Rolls the Dice

Election 2008, Film and Video, Luke R. E. Publican, YouTube Watch

John McCain is running for President as the maverick, not any old maverick but “the” maverick frozen in American popular culture. The original Maverick was an ABC television show that ran from 1958-1962, starring James Garner as an inveterate (rather than a veteran) and not very chaste gambler. You have probably seen some of the reruns even if you did not see it in your living room (as I did) almost a half century ago, and, of course, you can always go to You Tube. Here is how the nostalgia site for the show describes the Black and White version of the Red, White and Blue riverboat gambler:

Maverick told the story of Bret Maverick, a card shark who lived during the Old West era. The show was originally a straightforward tale of his adventures, but it evolved when the writers began adding comedy into the scripts. Bret quickly became the television western’s first mercenary, a character who would help the forces of justice only if he stood to profit from doing so. Continue reading Maverick Rolls the Dice →

Milking the Camel

Animals, camels, Film and Video, Islamic Sciences, Orientalism, United Arab Emirates

One of the most common Orientalist tropes about the Middle East is the image of the camel, the ship of the desert. Bernard Lewis angered Edward Said by comparing one of the Arabic terms for revolution (thawra) to a camel’s rising, a point made in the old Arabic lexicons. But the camel strikes back on Sharjah Television. On the program “Medicine and Islam” the benefits of camel’s milk are spelled out, including some rather grand claims.

The video on Islamic Tube is accompanied by the following article from the Khaleej Times:

SHARJAH. A research body here is seeking global tie ups to produce drugs to treat deadly diseases including Aids from the unique antibodies found in camel`s milk. Continue reading Milking the Camel →

Lebanon Cluster Bomb

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Film and Video, Lebanon, Shi'a

Screening and Discussion:
Sneak Preview Screening of Jawad Metni’s “Lebanon Cluster Bomb”

To mark the 2nd anniversary of Israel’s brutal war on the people of Lebanon, Alwan for the Arts and Deep Dish TV present four evenings of films from Deep Dish TV’s new eight part television series NOTHING IS SAFE. The screenings are on consecutive Wednesdays July 23, July 30, Aug 6, and Aug 13.

July 30, 2008 Program
Free and Open to the Public
A sneak preview of Jawad Metni’s new feature documentary “Lebanon Cluster Bomb”

LEBANON CLUSTER BOMB
Sneak preview (2008, Jawad Metni, 90 min)

LEBANON CLUSTER BOMB follows the men and women of South Lebanon who were hired and trained to clear unexploded cluster munitions after the July 2006 war. The Israeli Defense Forces dropped nearly 1 million of these dangerous weapons across 40 million square meters of South Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands failed to explode, and continue to kill and maim civilians 2 years after the war. The film is a primer on the cluster munition problem in Lebanon, but much more so an intimate portrait of those struggling to rebuild their lives after the devastating 2006 war. The under-represented of South Lebanon are given voice here, as they work shoulder to shoulder to return the land back to their fellow Lebanese. Continue reading Lebanon Cluster Bomb →

Move Over, You Tube

Film and Video, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Islam in Europe, Islam: Introduction, Qur'an, YouTube Watch

You Tube boasts one of the largest audiences on the web. There are plenty of videos put up by Muslims and many of these are in languages other than English. On July 11 there were 643,000 hits for the search “Islam” on You Tube. But move over, You Tube, and make room for Islamic tube, which has carefully selected videos on Islamic themes. You can find Quranic recitation, debates, numerous sermons and lectures and some rather raw anti-Zionist (and decidedly anti-Semitic) diatribes. This is a significant resource, but like all websites, should be consulted with caution.

Virtual Vengeance

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Film and Video, Palestine, Terrorism Issue

There are more online shoot-em-up games than a person can shake an MK-37 at. The enemies are always the ‘bad guys,’ including Muslim terrorists, who might as well be Nazi or Japanese kamakazi pilots. Of course, video gaming (unlike duck hunting) is all fantasy, I am told. Isn’t it better to shoot fake bullets and rip apart digital bodies online than harm real people (or ducks)? Surely it is. So, if you are interested in seeing the tables turned and are concerned about the usual representation of Palestinians as terrorists, you may find the following video of interest. And remember, it is of course only fantasy.

Picturing Damascus

Architecture, Film and Video, Photography, Syria

Visual archives abound on the Middle East and a growing number of these now appear on the Internet. One of these is mideastimages.com, which hosts a variety of historic photographs focusing on the cities of Aleppo, Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Istanbul, Jerusalem and Palmyra. Here is a postcard mailed from the Thomas Gate post office in Damascus during the Ottoman period. It depicts the Flower of Damascus Theatre, owned by Habib Shamas, in the Marje Square. In 1912 this theatre hosted the first movie played in Damascus. The theatre was converted to a Cinema in 1918. (Source: DAMASCUS BY Dr. K. SHIHABI 1986)