Preceded byshorts:Yellow Nylon Rope (Yasmina Bouziane, 1993). A meditation on identity between sisters, between cultures.Bouziane, a Moroccan living in the U.S., attempts to 'fill the chasmbetween East and West' where her selfhood can thrive. (15 mins, Color,3/4" video, From the artist). I Wet My HandsEtched and Surveyed Vessels Approaching Marks Eyed Inside (RoulaHaj-Ismail, Lebanon, 1992). An ambitious first work thatpoetically examines the place of women in Middle East culture as both afact of history and a metaphor of liberation. (13 mins, Color, VHS, FromJayce Salloum) Refused entry to most publiccelebrations because of gender, the women of Algeria have created acounter-culture in subterranean parties where they dance unveiled. Here,away from the sight of men, they savor an earthiness seldom exhibitedelsewhere, while swaying to the strains of all-woman orchestras. ALittle for My Heart... is a portrait of one such orchestra whichparadoxically includes two gay men whose presence is quietlyassimilated. The meddahatts, the women musicians, are held to be offallen character-many are divorced, or formerly ostracized-but are muchin demand. The music they perform is rai, a form of disreputable folkthat speaks candidly of love and loss and yearning, subjects not to beuttered publicly. During these cloistered parties, the celebrantsrelease the repressed.-Steve Seid