JACKIE SALLOUM

USA

Jackie Salloum is an Arab-American multimedia artist and filmmaker. Her projects focus on challenging the stereotypes of Arabs in the media through collage, toys, gumball machines and film. Her work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally in art galleries, museums and film festivals. Salloum's critique of Hollywood's representation of Arabs and Muslims, 'Planet of the Arabs' was awarded "Best Editor" at the Cinematexas film festival and was a 2005 Sundance Film Festival selection.

Salloum is currently working on her documentary film, 'SlingShot Hip-Hop: The Palestinian Lyrical Front', which chronicles the lives of rappers living in Palestine and Israel. It aims to spotlight alternative voices of resistance within the Palestinian struggle and explore the role their music plays within their social, political and personal lives.

Salloum received her Masters in Fine Arts from New York University and her BFA from Eastern Michigan University.

www.jsalloum.org
www.slingshothiphop.com

JACKIE SALLOUM
Planet of the Arabs
09 min, 2003

I created a film that I wish I had been exposed to as a young Arab girl growing up in the USA. Like most Americans I watched lots of Hollywood movies and TV. As a result of being exposed to the repeated negative images of Arabs I saw on the screen I subconsciously began to be ashamed of being one, but that changed.

Inspired by the book 'Reel Bad Arabs' by Jack Shaheen, where he documents over 1000 Hollywood films that have Arab or Muslim characters in which 12 were positive depictions, 50 neutral and the remaining 900 or so were negative, I decided to make 'Planet of the Arabs' to reveal the systematic racism towards Arabs and Muslims propagated by Hollywood.