Arab Women Say What?!

Arab Women Say What?!, by Egyptian-Canadian filmmaker Nisreen Baker, presents Arab women as we’ve never seen them before.

Nermeen, an Egyptian Canadian, flies to Egypt to help her ailing mother, returns to Edmonton, and shares with us her poem about feeling exiled. She introduces us to her friends from different Arab countries, who “love to laugh”: Nedra, Carmen, Aya, Sanaa, Tereza, Laylan and Hala. They are outspoken and daring Arab-Canadian women who don’t shy away from showing their strengths and vulnerabilities. And in this textured film, the women take agency in telling their stories by documenting their lives on cellphones during the pandemic.

Through a mosaic of eight windows, the women offer us a big window into their lives, revealing their unique perspectives, sharing personal experiences and claiming their narratives. Amid discussions, arguments and jokes, they deconstruct their patriarchal culture and grapple with challenging—and often taboo—issues, with Aya’s singing punctuating these conversations. Aya, a Syrian Canadian, tells us how she used her oud (Arab lute) “as a weapon” during the Syrian war.

When the women finally get together at Nedra’s house, emotions run high and the discussion becomes political. The politics later stops, but the jokes and jabs never do, as they share a mouth-watering feast for Ramadan Iftar, even though some of them are not Muslims. Over colourful desserts, however, the conversation turns into a search for identity and a place to belong.