Middle Eastern Studies Program presents: A Balloon to Allah

060 Eggers Hall

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When the Norwegian-Turkish filmmaker Nefise Özkal Lorentzen was little, she used to send letters to Allah by balloon. Now she wants to send a new balloon to change the role of women in the Muslim culture. By following her grandmother's path as a 'sufi', she embarks on a journey to rediscover the Islam of her mother's mother. The film switches between her actual journey and her dreams. She experiences the diversity of Cairo, Istanbul and Oslo by drinking tea with the Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi, finding hope and inspiration in the life of the 90-year-old author Gamal al-Banna and meeting a young Salafist. On her journey through the labyrinth, it dawns on Nefise that Islam is not the only place to search, but that there are correlations between the three Abrahamic religion and the oppression of women. Written by Integral Film. (IMDB.com)

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Exterior of Maxwell in black and white when there was no Eggers building

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To mark our centennial in the fall of 2024, the Maxwell School will hold special events and engagement opportunities to celebrate the many ways—across disciplines and borders—our community ever strives to, as the Oath says, “transmit this city not only not less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

Throughout the year leading up to the centennial, engagement opportunities will be held for our diverse, highly accomplished community that now boasts more than 38,500 alumni across the globe.

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