Heiny Srour
Heiny Srour | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 23, 1945 Beirut |
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Known for | First female Arab filmmaker to have a film chosen for the Cannes Film Festival |
| Notable work | The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived, Leila and the Wolves |
Heiny Srour (born March 23, 1945[1]) is a Lebanese film director. She was the first female Arab filmmaker to have a film, Saat El Tahrir Dakkat or The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived, chosen for the Cannes Film Festival.[2] Srour believed that Arab society oppressed women and kept them in a subordinate role, which prevented them from opportunities to create art. Srour advocated for women's rights through her films, her writing, and by funding other filmmakers.[3]
Career
Born in 1945 in Beirut, Srour studied sociology at the American University in Beirut and then completed a doctorate in social anthropology at the Sorbonne. Her first film, Bread of Our Mountains (1968, 3', 16mm) was lost during the Lebanese Civil War.[1]
In 1974, her film The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived, about an uprising in Oman,[4] was selected to compete at the Cannes Film Festival, making Srour the first Arab woman to have a film selected for the international festival.[2][5] It is believed that her documentary film The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived was actually the first film by any female filmmaker to be screened at the festival.[6]
Srour was vocal about the position of women in Arab society, and in 1978, along with Tunisian director Salma Baccar and Arab cinema historian Magda Wassef, she announced a new assistance fund "for the self-expression of women in cinema."[3]
Filmography
Short films and documentaries
- The Singing Sheikh (1991, 10', video)
- The Eyes of the Heart (1998, 52', video)
- Women of Vietnam (1998, 52', video)
- Woman Global Strike 2000 (2000, video)
Feature films
- The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived (1974, 62',16mm)
- Leila and the Wolves (1984, 90', 16mm)[1][7]
References
- ^ a b c Hillauer, Rebecca (2005). Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers. American Univ in Cairo Press. pp. 182–. ISBN 978-977-424-943-3.
- ^ a b "Heiny Srour". The New York Times. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
- ^ a b Srour, Heiny; Baccar, Salma; Wassef, Magda (Fall 1979). "For the Self-Expression of Arab Women". Cinéaste. 9 (4): 37.
- ^ "Saat El Fahrir Dakkat". The New York Times. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
- ^ "Heiny SROUR". Festival de Cannes. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
- ^ Stone, Rob, with Paul Cooke, Stephanie Dennison, Alex Marlow-Mann. The Routledge Companion to World Cinema, Routledge; 1 edition (October 3, 2017), page 209
- ^ Armes, Roy (2010). Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East: A Dictionary. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253355188.
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