Conceptually, the point of the event cannot be to provide a comprehensive overview of current cultural production in the various countries of an extremely contrast-rich and multifarious region. Rather, the aim is to trace several levels of reflection, taking the artists’ works as a starting point, with an eye to the discourses of the recent and more distant past.

The dramatic current situation (with the Iraq War and the unsolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict) must not mislead us into grasping for the simplifying explanations (Islamism, Terrorism) to which the media like to take recourse. On the contrary, we must demand more precision and accuracy in information and analysis.

Speaking at our forum will be experts on the societies, cultures, and political problems of this region who will engage in dialog with filmmakers and photographers who document the developments and ruptures in the region forthrightly and exactly, moreover, with other cultural producers who deliver a realistic, present-oriented, and powerful driving force for critical, high-level reflections. Other discussants and actors are the “culture smugglers” and activists who work to make contemporary productions from the region better known and distributed.