Maria's Grotto

Film Website
Director and Producer: Buthina Canaan Khoury
Palestine. 2007, 52 minutes. Documentary. DVD
Co-presented by Boston Palestine Film Festival
The director will be present at the screening

Honor killings, a serious issue in many Arab countries, are considered a taboo subject. The common conception is that if a woman commits adultery or any sexual act outside marriage, she brings dishonor to her family. This can only be purged by her death. A gripping portrait of women whose lives were dictated by a moral code, Maria' Grotto is a painfully true film about honor killings in Palestine. Khoury explores the issue through the stories of four women: one is wrongly accused of dishonoring her family and then murdered; the second dies after being forced by her brothers to swallow poison; the third survives repeated stabbings inflicted by her brother; and the fourth is a Hip-hop singer who dares speak out about honor killings, and faces death threats. Through these stories, Khoury denounces the magnitude of the problem. This poignant documentary portrays the women as individuals rather than stigmatized culprits. The director takes an objective stance, producing an intense, unadorned film. Co-produced by Swiss Corporation, RTBF, NFB and UNIFEM, this documentary raises awareness about the practice of honor killings around the world.

Director's Biography

Buthina Canaan Khoury (Ramallah 1966) is a Palestinian independent filmmaker who established Majd Production Company in Ramallah city in 2000. The company's main objective is to produce documentaries about crucial Palestinian issues, focusing on women's social and political problems. Khoury received her Bachelor degree in Filmmaking and Photography from the Massachusetts College of Fine Arts in Boston, in 1988. She is the first Palestinian woman to work as cameraperson, producer and coordinator covering special events in the Middle East for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and several well known European TV channels in Palestine. She has also worked as assistant director, documentary researcher and cameraperson in the films The Womand Next Door, A Woman of her Times: a Portrait of Hanan Ashrawi, and Youth of Both Sides. Women in Struggle (2004), co-produced with Lichtpunt in Belgium and Medea Fund, is Khoury's first documentary as producer and director. Screened worldwide, the documentary was awarded two prizes at the Allsmalia Film Festival and one at Amwa in Virigina, USA. Produced in Arabic, it was translated in English, Flemish, French, Greek, Japanese and Italian. Her new project, The Revolution About Taybeh Beer (in production), is a documentary about her family and their business.

Main Image designed by Jenna E. Miller, Class of 2010
Website designed by Donna Yee, Class of 2011