Heiny Srour, pioneer of Arab cinema, honored with film screenings

Heiny Srour, an 80-year-old Lebanese Jewish filmmaker, is recognized as the first woman from the Third World to have a film selected at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974. Her work focuses on making women visible in historical struggles. Two of her pioneering films, 'Leïla et les loups' (a poetic fresco on history seen through Lebanese and Palestinian women) and 'L'heure de la libération a sonné' (shot in 1971 during the Dhofar War against British troops in Oman), are being screened at multiple venues. Screenings include Paris (Cinéma Espace Saint Michel), Geneva (CinéLux, September 10), Lyon (Théâtre l'Élysée, September 28), Hérouville-Saint-Clair (Café des Images, September 30), Toulouse (Utopia Borderouge, October 9), Fameck (Festival du film arabe, October 2-12), Bordeaux (Utopia, November), Montreuil (Le Méliès, November 23), Geneva (Rencontres cinématographiques Palestine, November 29), and Vesoul (Majestic, January 23-February 3). The films provide insight into the Middle East post-October 7.