On Thursday, September 26 at 6:30 PM, at the University Theatre, ODU will screen filmmaker Susan Youssef’s latest feature film, Marjoun & The Flying Headscarf. Ms. Youssef will be in attendance and participate in a Q&A with the audience after the screening. The film was an Official Selection at the 2019 Miami International Film Festival, has screened at the Arab Film Festival hosted by the Arab American National Museum, as well as by the Austin Film Society, and was selected among a handful of films supported by the National Endowment for the Arts sponsored Southern Circuit Tour. It has also screened at Yale University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and Wesleyan College, among other institutions. This will be the film’s Hampton Roads premiere. Please find more details about the film and filmmaker below. While the screening is free, tickets may be reserved at ODUArtsTix.
About the Film:
A teenager in Arkansas searches for identity in the headscarf and a motorcycle in the aftermath of her father’s imprisonment. Set in 2006, the film explores the results of Arab and Muslim Americans being increasingly detained for “guilt by association”. The film links the civil rights struggle of Arab/Muslim Americans with that of African Americans through Marjoun’s attendance of Central High School. It weaves her story into the lineage of the Little Rock Nine. This film is set also at Magnolia Grove Monastery in Mississippi. This Zen Buddhist monastery has been established in the tradition of the friendship of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, bringing together the themes of civil rights movements and interfaith practice. This is an expansion of the short film by the same title that was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival.
About the filmmaker:
Susan Youssef is the writer/director of two dramatic features, a documentary, and seven shorts that have been official selections of film festivals such as Venice, Toronto International, and Sundance, as well as have been programmed in museums including Tate Modern, New Museum, and Museum of Modern Art – New York. She is a Fulbright Fellow, Princess Grace Award Winner, and 21st Century Fox Director Fellow. Susan has been a Guest Speaker at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, the State Department, and many other institutions around the world. Prior to filmmaking, she was a schoolteacher and journalist in Beirut.
Marjoun & The Flying Headscarf
Directed by Susan Youssef
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Screening: 6:30-8:30 PM
Q&A with Susan Youssef following the screening
Location: University Theatre (4700 Hampton Boulevard)
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, VA 23523
Free parking: Hampton Boulevard and 45th Street garage (floors 3-5)