Middle Eastern Studies

In this two-part tour through the streets of Lebanon, a colorful Palestinian cab driver offers offhand insight into the region’s fraught political and social climate through boisterous serenades and excitable outbursts.

Pulling from real events and court documents in the wake of the 2015 Paris terror attacks, Also Known As Jihadi follows a young man's journey to radicalism not through his actions, but through his surroundings. 

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's The Wild Pear Tree follows in the great tradition of family dramas like Death of a Salesman and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and weaves an evocative tale of creative struggle and familial responsibility with inspired performances, sumptuous imagery and surprising bursts of humor. 

Reality for the kids who live in Sderot, an Israeli town that neighbors the Gaza strip, is a constant reminder that they are in the midst of a deadly conflict. Kids of the Rocket Siren melds verite, interviews and archival to document the kids who have grown up with rocket shelters, sirens and deadly blasts.

A groundbreaking documentary trilogy directed by Iran's most prominent documentary filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei, Youth Behind Bars: The Iran Trilogy, with incredible humanity, captures the lives, dreams and hopes of Iran's imprisoned youth.

A stark testimonial of the previously unseen and unheard, award-winning Starless Dreams plunges us into the lives of young teenage girls sharing temporary quarters at a rehabilitation and correction center on the outskirts of Tehran. An unforgettable cinematic portrayal of restored innocence and humanity Starless Dreams is the last installment of the groundbreaking documentary trilogy Youth Behind Bars: The Iran Trilogy.

Following his harrowing documentary, It's Always Late for Freedom, director Mehrdad Oskouei continues his exploration of a male juvenile detention facility near Tehran. Last Days of Winter follows these young men in the days leading up to the Iranian New Year, as they take stock of their lives.

Acclaimed filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei provides a rare glimpse into an all-male juvenile detention facility in Iran. It's Always Late for Freedom is the first film of Oskouei's trilogy documenting troubled youth in Iran, preceding The Last Days of Winter (2011) and Starless Dreams (2016).

A gripping and timely snapshot that provides a glimpse into the plight of Syrian refugees, 50 Feet from Syria uncovers the humanitarian efforts of a Syrian-American orthopedic surgeon who travels to the Turkish border to volunteer to operate on victims of the civil war.