Ben and Ara
by Nnegest LIKKE
7:30pm – 9:00pm on May 4, 2018
About the movie
English — Ben Johnson is a struggling PhD candidate in the school of philosophy. It is his seventh year and this is the semester that he must finish his dissertation or all his work will be for nothing. He tries to jolt himself into action but soon tires of the activity. He takes a break and visits a local art gallery opening where he runs into a fellow PhD candidate. Her name is Ara. She is everything he is not: a successful, focused student about to get her doctorate, and a devout Muslim (he’s fervently agnostic). She has sought some refuge that night in the art gallery as well. By happenstance (or fate) Ben catches her eye. They recognize each other instantly as they’re in the same department. From this first meeting, the winds of fate set in and what follows is an unlikely romance between two people from different worlds.
French — Ben Johnson, un candidat au doctorat en difficulté à l’école de la philosophie, a du mal à terminer sa thèse jusqu’à ce qu’il rencontre Ara, une femme musulmane travaillant également sur son doctorat dans le meme département. Une histoire d’amour improbable s’épanouit entre ces personnes de mondes très différents qui explorent les possibilités et les limites des relations interreligieuse, interraciale et interculturelle.
About the director
French — Nnegest Likke est une cineaste passionnée dotée de 10 ans d’expérience professionnelle en écriture et réalisation à Hollywood. Elle travaille actuellement à la postproduction de son 3e long métrage « Everything but A Man », avec Monica Calhoun, Camille Winbush et Jimmy Jean-Louis.
