Salami, Khadija al-
(1966–)

Independent Yemeni filmmaker Khadija al-Salami is a pioneer both as a documentary filmmaker and as a woman in media. Although employed at the Yemeni embassy in Paris, she makes regular trips to Yemen to film. A number of her films have been featured in international festivals.

PERSONAL HISTORY

Al-Salami was born in 1966 to a family of modest means in the central Yemen highlands town of Ma'bar. Her childhood coincided with North Yemen's civil war (1962–1970), in which her father was a soldier and which created the Yemen Arab Republic. Most of her childhood was spent in the capital, San' a, where she excelled in school.

Following a brief and traumatic arranged marriage at the unusually young age of eleven, Salami resumed her schooling. At fourteen she began working after school, first at the local telephone exchange, but she quickly seized the opportunity to pursue her fascination with broadcasting when she found work at the government radio station. Because she appeared younger than her years she was asked to develop and host a weekly children's television program. This marked a turning point in her life.

While appearing on television, al-Salami continued her secondary school studies. She spent a month in Cambridge studying English, inspiring her desire to continue her studies abroad. At age sixteen she was awarded a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) scholarship to study in the U.S. After an intensive English course at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., she moved briefly to the University of Michigan. She finally settled at Mount Vernon College for Women (now part of George Washington University), from which she received her B.A. in communications in 1985. Additionally, she took courses in filmmaking at the University of Southern California.

Following graduation al-Salami returned briefly to Yemen but soon moved to Paris to escape family pressures. She returned to the U.S. to continue her studies. In 1990 she earned a master's degree in film and video production from American University.

Although filmmaking has been her avocation al-Salami and her American husband, Charles Hoots, live in Paris where she has served as press counselor, and later director of the communication center, at the Yemeni Embassy. With her husband, she has written an autobiography, The Tears of Sheba (2003).

BIOGRAPHICAL HIGHLIGHTS

Name: Khadija (Khadijah) al-Salami

Birth: 1966, Ma'bar, Yemen

Family: Husband, Charles Hoots

Nationality: Yemeni

Education: B.A., Mount Vernon College for Women, Washington, D.C., 1985; M.A., American University, Washington, D.C., 1990

PERSONAL CHRONOLOGY:

• 1977–1982: Television broadcaster
• 1984–1990: Student
• 1990: First film, Femmes du Yémen
• 1993–2005: Press counselor, Embassy of the Republic of Yemen, Paris
• 2002–2005: Director of the Yemeni Communication Center, Embassy of the Republic of Yemen, Paris
• 2007: Awarded France's Medal of Honor at rank of knight by President Jacques Chirac for the role of her documentary films in presenting social and humanitarian issues

INFLUENCES AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Al-Salami's primary stated aim has been to use her films to present the many facets of Yemeni life to a global audience. In pursuit of this objective, she has made films on the remote, culturally unique island of Socotra, among the remaining Jews in the far north, with the culturally unique Munabbih on the Saudi border, and in the eastern deserts of Marib and the Hadramawt.

Al-Salami's life experience underlies her films, which she uses to raise questions about and challenges to Yemeni culture. Although she might not describe herself as a feminist, the theme of gender inequality and the filmmaker's advocacy of social change are clear. She is a strong voice for Yemeni women.

Al-Salami's first film, her master's project, was Women in Yemen (1990). It gives insight into her interest in improving the lives of Yemeni women. Based on interviews with five women, the film exposes the challenges faced by rural and urban women.

Women and Democracy in Yemen (2004) was filmed as political parties were selecting candidates to run for parliament in 2003. A few determined Yemeni women confront an array of obstacles, such as gender stereotyping and party politics, as they vie for their parties' nominations for seats in Yemen's parliament. The film follows women on the campaign trail as they try to gain support for their candidacies and contend with officials' obfuscation.

A Stranger in Her Own City (2005) is the story of thirteen-year-old Najima, a girl who refuses to conform to cultural norms. At a time when she is expected to begin wearing the veil, she is happy playing soccer or bicycling like the boys in her neighborhood. Najima's appeal is her outspoken rebellion, which in the end is smothered by local culture.

Amina (2006) tells the story of infamous Amina al-Tuhayf who, at age fifteen, was accused of killing her husband and sentenced to death. She spent nine years in prison where she is filmed. Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Salih, who screened the film, was moved to commute Amina's death sentence. Although this film reveals both positive and negative aspects of women's lives in rural Yemen, the Ministry of Culture has banned it.

Stylistically, al-Salami's films are extremely straight-forward—the impression is that the viewer is seeing Yemen exactly as is the filmmaker. This is her goal; she states that her aim is to show people as they really are. Al-Salami often works by herself with a handheld camera, but hers are not home videos. The films exhibit excellent production values characterized by sharp focus and creative framing. More importantly, al-Salami has a clear point of view. By giving voice to her subjects, she expresses herself in a disarming yet forceful manner.

THE WORLD'S PERSPECTIVE

Al-Salami is developing a strong reputation as a filmmaker. This is evident by the inclusion of her films in film festivals. A Stranger in Her Own City has been featured in at least ten film festivals in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East and has been broadcast worldwide. Al-Salami's career has been aided by her connections in French television, which has aired most of her films, but it has been hurt by limited distribution.

LEGACY

While al-Salami has succeeded in bringing Yemen to the wider world, it is too soon to assess her influence, especially in Yemen. Her touristic and historical films have been shown on Yemeni television, but those focusing on women's issues have not.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hillauer, Rebecca. Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2005.

Hoots, Charles, and Khadija al-Salami. The Tears of Sheba. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley, 2003.

Sakr, Naomi. Women and Media in the Middle East: Power Through Self-Expression. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004.

Stevenson, Thomas B. Visions of Yemen: A Filmography. Westbury, New York: American Institute for Yemeni Studies, 2003.

FILMOGRAPHY (PRIMARY FILMS)

Femmes du Yémen (Women of Yemen, 1990)

Hadramout, carrefour des civilisations (Hadramawt: Crossroads of Culture, 1991)

Le pays suspendu (A Country in Limbo, 1994)

Terre de Saba (Land of Sheba, 1997)

L'Île de l'homme au pied d'or (The Island of the Man with the Golden Foot, 1998)

Yémen aux mille facettes (Yemen of a Thousand Faces, 2000)

Les Femmes et la démocratie au Yémen (Women and Democracy in Yemen, 2004)

Une Étrangère dans sa ville (A Stranger in Her Own City, 2005)

Amina (2006)

                                          Thomas B. Stevenson

WE MUST SPEAK OUT AND ASK QUESTIONS

I am trying in my book and in my films to cover sensitive issues. In our Yemeni culture, women are not allowed to express themselves freely, not even about daily life. They are not allowed to speak in public. But if we want our society to change, we must speak out and ask questions.

      QUOTED IN CHRIS KUTSCHERA, "YEMEN: A YEMENI WOMAN'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM." THE MIDDLE EAST MAGAZINE (JUNE 2006). AVAILABLE FROM HTTP://WWW.CHRIS-KUTSCHERA.COM/A/KHADIJA.HTM.