Holding Fire (2020) by Hana Elias, Eleonore Voisard

Saturday | 25 Sept 2021 | 16:30 – 18:50h | Get your tickets right here!

Location: Podium Mozaïek, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Click HERE for more info

Film director: Hana Elias, Eleonore Voisard | Year: 2020 | Runtime: 25 min |  Genre: Short documentary | Subtitle(s): N/A | Language(s): English, arabic

DUTCH PREMIERE

Synopsis 

NL | Holding Fire is een korte documentaire die een kijkje achter de schermen biedt over het werk van een ‘grassroots’ moslimactiviste in Zuid-Brooklyn in een tijd van ongekende islamofobie. De film volgt het traject van de opkomende Jemenitisch-Amerikaanse activiste Somia Elrowmeim, een immigrantenvrouw van kleur, die de verwachtingen binnen haar eigen gemeenschap uitdaagt om hogere machtsposities te bereiken. Het biedt actuele inzichten in activisten die overstappen naar de politiek, terwijl vrouwen van kleur vechten om de toekomst van hun gemeenschappen te bepalen.

ENG | Holding Fire is a short documentary that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the work of a grassroots Muslim activist in South Brooklyn during a time of unprecedented Islamophobia. The film follows the trajectory of rising Yemeni-American activist Somia Elrowmeim, an immigrant woman of color, challenging expectations within her own community to reach higher positions of power. It provides timely insights into activists transitioning to politics, as women of color fight to determine the future of their communities.

Programme

Contacts

Director’s biography: Hana Elias

Hana Elias is a Palestinian American journalist and documentary filmmaker from New York. She is
an associate producer with Left/Right TV, has worked as an Associate Producer with PBS Frontline, and freelances as an editor and videographer on Indie documentaries. Her first short documentary, The Rooftops of Jerusalem, followed Palestinian youth fighting for the freedom to practice parkour on the rooftops of Jerusalems old city. Hana has a masters from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and was selected for the documentary specialization where she completed her short Holding Fire with the support of the Pulitzer center.

Director’s biography: Eleonore Voisard

Eleonore Voisard is a filmmaker and journalist from Paris with a masters degree in journalism from Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris. She worked for the French news agency AFP and production companies in France and the Middle East, covering topics such as gender, migration and religion. She is currently working as a video editor for the BBC in New York.