When Arabs Danced

Spoken: Arabic, English, French. Subtitles: Dutch, French.

Filmmaker Jawad Rhalib documents diverse creative voices in the Muslim world—including his mother, a Moroccan dancer—who seek to free themselves from bonds of stereotypes and repression. The film forgoes conventional artist-profile tropes in favor of a weave of rehearsals, conversations, performances and a trove of archival materials that remind us of the long and often sensual history of dance and music found throughout the Arab world.

Silver Stallion Fespaco 2019