Director: Erika Cohn

Runtime: 76 min

Production: Idle Wild Films

Release Date: April 13, 2018

Official Website: www.thejudgefilm.com

The Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (LUCIS) presented a film screening of The Judge on May 31^st.  This vérité film documentary, co-produced by Erika Cohn (In Football We Trust), depicts the story of Kholoud Al-Fiqah and her position as judge in a Palestinian Shari’a court in the West Bank. The screening preceded by a short introduction by Dr. Nadia Sonneveld. After the film screening, Dr. Sonneveld provided a commentary on the film and opened the floor for discussion.

About the director

Erika Cohn is an Emmy award winning director and producer who is recognized as a top documentary filmmaker. Her film The Judge premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Cohn has stated that she herself is drawn to producing works about the intersection and tension between religion, culture and identity, as well as narratives about strong women.

About Nadia Sonneveld

Dr Nadia Sonneveld works at the department of Islam Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands and has an academic background in anthropology, Arabic, and law. The common factor in all her research activities is the focus on gender and law in the Muslim world, particularly in Egypt and Morocco. Previously, she was a guest scholar at the School of Oriental Studies (SOAS) in London, and Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. She authored Khul‘ Divorce in Egypt: Public Debates, Judicial Practices, and Everyday Life (2012), and has co-authored Women Judges in the Muslim World: A Comparative Study of Discourse and Practice, with Monika Lindbekk (2017), and Women and Social Change in North Africa: What Counts as Revolutionary? with Doris Gray (2018).

Source: Leiden University