DocHouse Thursdays brings the best in documentary filmmaking from around the world to UK audiences, presenting an intriguing variety of untold stories that rarely make the headlines, and the recent screenings of Ariel Nasr's The Boxing Girls of Kabul, Juila Meltzer and Laura Nix's The Light in Her Eyes and Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray's Unfinished Spaces were no exception.The Boxing Girls of Kabul follows three Afghan girls as they train to compete in international boxing tournaments and represent their country on the world stage for the first time. Things have come a long way since the days of Taliban rule, when women were barely allowed out of the house, never mind permitted to take up sport and travel to far-flung destinations. But despite relative progress, the current setbacks the girls face are twofold: the lack of facilities required to train to the highest standard (the first time they step into a boxing ring is during a tournament), and the repressive, traditionalist attitudes that are wielded against them as they gain notoriety.
Whilst Nasr's film sheds light on women attempting to push against the traditions laid down by Islamic law, The Light in Her Eyes (trailer below) follows a rather different trajectory, examining the rise of Islamic worship in Syria. Huda Al-Habash has dedicated her life to educating young women in the teachings of Islam, and set up her first Qur'an memorisation school aged just 17. The film provides an insight into the school at Damascus' Al Zahra mosque over the course of one summer, when around 1000 girls attended. It explores Huda’s philosophy that patriarchy stems not from religion, but rather from entrenched cultural values, as she argues that women can fully embrace the strictures of Islam whilst being entitled to the same freedoms as men.
As the title implies, it's a contentious and perhaps contradictory position - at the hijab ceremony the girls sing "Now she is veiled, there is light in her eyes". However, Nix and Meltzer allow the viewer to make up their own minds about whether Huda’s views are unavoidably fundamentalist, or in fact a radical step forward for women in Syria. The film was shot before the recent uprisings in the country, and one can’t help but wonder whether the revolution will eventually lead to a more empowered voice for women (as occurred in other Arab spring countries), or whether Huda’s dreams of seeing women rule the country will be crushed under the weight of political upheaval and the violence of the uprising.
However, when Castro began to cosy up to the Soviet Union, and the ideals of the revolution began to change, Porro and his colleagues were forced to fall in line. The school was almost complete until Castro ordered building to stop, and elsewhere in Cuba, up sprung the concrete blocks characteristic of the Soviet era. Unfinished Spaces is a soundly made factual documentary. The footage is vividly cut with archives from the revolution, and interviews with the charismatic creators at the centre of it all. Yet, whilst there was plenty of talk on the unique energy of Cuban artistry, it seemed an injection of artistry in the making of the film itself was somewhat lacking, and the makers could have gone further in exploring the space and its continued purpose to 'give birth' to young artists.
For more info about DocHouse Thursdays, visit dochouse.org.
Claire Ramtuhul
