Leila and the Wolves

Leila and the Wolves (Leila wa al ziap), 1984

Lebanon-UK | DVD, Color, 90’ | Arabic
Director: Heiny Srour

Drawing on the Arab heritage of oral tradition and mosaic pattern, Leila and the Wolves explores the collective memory of Arab women from Palestine to Lebanon and their hidden historical role throughout the past 50 years. Through the eyes of Leila, a Lebanese student dissatisfied with the official, colonial, male-dominated version of history, the film reconstructs a new history in which women’s daily, monotonous, and silent sacrifices are as much a part of that history as are men’s military “heroic” actions. With its rather bold style, both in political and aesthetical terms, this film is a turning point in the history of feminist filmmaking in the Middle East, and plays an important part in the shaping of “Third Cinemas.”