This world, then another |
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Synopsis
"This World, Then Another" is an observational documentary about students and teachers at Al-Zahra Mosque Summer Qur'an School for Girls and Women in Damascus, Syria. The film examines in quiet detail how both religious beliefs and sense of personhood are acquired, affirmed, and embodied through memorization and study of the Qur'an. Through an emphasis on processes of teaching and learning, THIS WORLD, THEN ANOTHER opens up a larger set of questions about gender, faith, tradition, and change. The film follows 2 students and 2 teachers in their daily routines at the mosque—prayer, recitation, discussion, testing, lecture, and non-study activities. The al-Zahra Mosque Qur'an School for Girls and Women is part of a growing Islamic piety movement in which women have taken up the commitment to teach other girls and women about the Muslim faith, and taken on leadership roles within their communities. This movement has developed widely in the Middle East over the past 25 years, and has had significant social impact in the Muslim world. Within this mosque, the conservatism of the teachings exists in tandem with a measure of openness—to question, take issue, and rethink tradition, and passive acceptance of rigid scriptural interpretation, particularly around issues of gender. Both the conservatism and the openness are manifestations of the desire to engage one's faith more deeply, and to make it more resonant with daily life in a complex and rapidly changing society.
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