The Black Lines

Inside a hammam - a public bathhouse, an ancient tradition of bathing long associated with the east - the documentary-maker Camilla Magid examines the secrets and dreams of two Syrian women who have made controversial choices, despite their religiously , conservative backgrounds. Eman, 30, comes from a traditional family. She has sixteen brothers and sisters. Her father has two wives. Her sisters all married sons of her father¿s brother, but Eman is different and lives by herself in a city far from home. Through her intimate self-portraits and poetry she reveals her innermost thoughts about herself, surprising images and ideas behind a public personae of headscarves and loose clothing. Her hammam companion is Rima, a 27-year-old law student. At 9, she was the first girl in her family to insist on wearing the headscarf. Ten years later she took it off for good, a decision that ostracised her from her father and family for more than two years. This honest documentary gives rare insight into the lives of young women in an Arab society undergoing rapid change.