RENÉE BERGAN WILL GIVE A PRESENTATION ON WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN AND A WORKSHOP IN MIDDLE EASTERN MUSIC AT BARD COLLEGE ON MAY 13 AND 14
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.-Renée Bergan-a documentary filmmaker and performer of Middle Eastern music and dance-will give two talks at Bard College on Monday, May 13, and Tuesday, May 14. Both are free and open to the public.
On Monday, May 13, at 6:00 p.m., in the Weis Cinema of the Bertelsmann Campus Center, Bergan will discuss her recent trip to Afghanistan and the current conditions there, with an emphasis on how they affect women. She will show an excerpt from her upcoming documentary, Sadaie Zan: Women's Voices from Afghanistan. Bergan spent one week in Afghanistan and one week in Pakistan visiting various United Nations and NGO (nongovernmental organization) aid groups. She visited various women's groups, particularly the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, as well as refugee camps, schools, and victims of U.S. bombings.
On Tuesday, May 14, at 3:00 p.m., in the Red Room of the Bertelsmann Campus Center, Bergan will give an introductory lecture on Middle Eastern music. She will discuss its scale system and introduce percussive rhythms, song, and dance. The lecture will include video and audio examples, culminating with a brief dance by Bergan.
Renée Bergan received a degree in film from the University of California, Santa Barbara (USCB) in 1994, after which she worked in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara on various feature and documentary film projects. In 1999 she decided to go out on her own and pursue the arduous task of being an independent documentary filmmaker. She is currently working on three separate projects, one of which is about her recent trip to Afghanistan. In addition to filmmaking, Bergan explores Middle Eastern music in dance, song, and percussion. While attending UCSB, she became involved with the UCSB Middle Eastern Ensemble and has been performing with it for the last 10 years. In 1998, she spent six months in Cairo, Egypt, to pursue her studies of this music. Bergan continues to perform with members of the UCSB Middle Eastern Ensemble throughout California.
These programs are presented by the Dean of the College, Student Activities, Human Rights Project, the Anthropology Program, the Division of Languages and Literature, and the Muslim Students Organization at Bard.
For further information about the lecture on Afghanistan, call the Human Rights Project at 845-758-7332, e-mail [email protected], or visit the website www.bard.edu/hrp. For further information on the Middle Eastern music lecture, call Jeffrey Lidke at 845-758-7364 or e-mail [email protected].
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