by Meriam Sabih
The Censored Women's Film Festival at the parallel session of the United Nation's CSW 2017 featured short films and documentaries from women around the world that were banned or censored for being too bold.
Two of the features were "His Cucumber" from Egypt and "Screaming Silence" from Afghanistan. Egyptian film, “His Cucumber” by Sharine Atif focuses on the sexual harassment women face on Egyptian streets. When faced by a harasser who thinks the victim will simply walk past him, the protagonist answers back that he must first expose himself and show her what he has to offer and let her make the decision whether she would wish to proceed further.
A short experimental film from Afghanistan was featured, “Screaming Silence” by Fatima Hussaini. This film was about the defiance of a wife. Everyday her husband would leave his dirty shoes outside and expect her to clean them before he would leave the house every morning. Everyday the shoes got increasingly more dirty until one day they were full of mud and the wife gives up cleaning them. Instead she simply leaves them dirty. When the husband see his filthy shoes he is forced to try to clean them but to no avail. It seems he realizes the tough job of cleaning them. After that day when he forced to clean his own shoes he takes care of his shoes and does not dirty them. The film is symbolic of powerful defiance which is subtle as “screaming silence”. Her act of defiance changed the way he behaved, pointing to the fact that if women stopped acquiescing without protest their situations would continue but defiance, even a silent one, can bring about a strong message to change the status quo.
Two of the features were "His Cucumber" from Egypt and "Screaming Silence" from Afghanistan. Egyptian film, “His Cucumber” by Sharine Atif focuses on the sexual harassment women face on Egyptian streets. When faced by a harasser who thinks the victim will simply walk past him, the protagonist answers back that he must first expose himself and show her what he has to offer and let her make the decision whether she would wish to proceed further.
“Your darkest luck today is that I agreed,” she answers back boldly. “Your words didn't dirty me, I'm responding to what you said,” she continues.The harasser was not expecting to be confronted and although he deemed it acceptable to catcall and use dirty, abusive language, he became uncomfortable when it is used by the same woman on him. When the man is confronted by the woman regarding the virality of his own sexuality he immediately becomes uncomfortable. The same words which were OK for him to use were seen as "dirty" if used by the woman who must remain pure and simply listen to the sexual exploitation. If she uses her own decretion and turns the tables on him the dynamics change. This short film was a creative look at the exploitative gaze with which women are viewed as objects rather then people with feelings and how that gaze can be turned around.
A short experimental film from Afghanistan was featured, “Screaming Silence” by Fatima Hussaini. This film was about the defiance of a wife. Everyday her husband would leave his dirty shoes outside and expect her to clean them before he would leave the house every morning. Everyday the shoes got increasingly more dirty until one day they were full of mud and the wife gives up cleaning them. Instead she simply leaves them dirty. When the husband see his filthy shoes he is forced to try to clean them but to no avail. It seems he realizes the tough job of cleaning them. After that day when he forced to clean his own shoes he takes care of his shoes and does not dirty them. The film is symbolic of powerful defiance which is subtle as “screaming silence”. Her act of defiance changed the way he behaved, pointing to the fact that if women stopped acquiescing without protest their situations would continue but defiance, even a silent one, can bring about a strong message to change the status quo.
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