The OCU Film Institute's 35th Annual Film Series will continue with a screening of Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb on October 30.
Theeb takes place while the war rages in the Ottoman Empire in 1916. Hussein raises his younger brother, Theeb (Wolf), in a traditional Bedouin community isolated by the vast and unforgiving desert. The boy experiences a hastened coming of age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to a secret destination in a terrain riddled with mercenaries and Arab revolutionaries.
The screening will begin at 2:00PM at the Kerr McGee Auditorium in the Meinders School of Business at NW 27th Street and McKinley Ave. A discussion will follow the presentation for those who wish to stay. Admission is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.
ACCOLADES FOR THEEB
-“You’d never know Theeb was a debut feature from Nowar’s confident technique, and I found it astonishing, given the perfection of the performances, that all but one of the actors were Bedouin villagers who had never acted before.” Wall Street Journal
-“Sergio Leone and John Ford would likely both recognize Nowar’s film as an echo of their own Monument Valley adventures.” Austin Chronicle
-“A mesmerizing coming of age adventure in an elemental setting, Theeb becomes both more allegorical and more specific to our historical moment the more you think about it.” Boston Globe
-“Nowar, a smart, savvy filmmaker, keeps his focus narrow and the frame alert, eager to drink in not only action but nuances of culture and history.” Village Voice
-“Nowar has described Theeb as ‘an Arabic western’ in the tradition of Sergio Leone. The movie is that and more.” NY Times
-“An inversion of Lawrence of Arabia—a film told from the perspective of Arab Bedouins rather than colonial adventurers, a scrappy coming of age story rather than a grand tale of epic, colonial ambitions.” New Republic
UPCOMING FILMS
* Jan. 22, Francois Truffaut’s The Last Metro
* Feb. 5, Lasse Hallstrom’s My Life as a Dog
* Feb. 19, Asghar Farhadi’s Fireworks Wednesday
* March 5, Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent