Origin: Palestine, USA, Canada, Qatar, Denmark, UK | Documentary | Director: Amber Fares | 80 minutes

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Speed Sisters
Amber Fares 2015 Documentary 80 min. Palestine, USA, Canada, Qatar, Denmark, UK.
Arabic spoken subtitles in English

The Speed Sisters are an all-female, Palestinian automobile racing team
that compete on the West Bank's professional car racing circuit.

Background

The team was first formed in 2009, with support from the British Consulate
in Jerusalem. Because the British Consulate in Jerusalem funded a race car
for them, the team decorate the car with both Palestinian and British
flags. Karen McLuskie, a British Consulate representative and head of the
British effort to sponsor women's car racing in the Palestinian
territories, has said that she believes that 2011 "will be the Speed
Sisters' year. They will show more power and more ladies will join the
team," The women compete in regular races against men, including the Speed
Test, an annual race that began in 2005.
Team captain, Suna Aweidah, described the racing team as "a dream come
true," although she acknowledged that her "family was not happy for me to
start participating in this kind of sport." Team member Mona Ennab can
boast that she was "the first girl to make the race here in Palestine." The
head of the Palestinian Motorsport Federation, Khaled Khadoura, says that
the women are serious competitors, and that he is "very proud to see our
young women today taking an interest in race car driving, and training in
order to improve themselves." One member was ranked among the top ten
racers on the Palestinian circuit.
The team, which has already broken stereotypes in a male-dominated society,
is breaking more by welcoming Sahar Jawabrah, its first member to wear the
hijab, or Islamic head scarf. Safety-conscious, she covers the hijab with a
helmet when racing. But women who drive race cars are not applauded in all
quarters. With auto racing growing in popularity throughout the Muslim
world, some Muslim clerics have condemned it for being frivolous and un-
Islamic. Others call it haram, or forbidden according to Islamic law. One
shopkeeper in Ramallah told a reporter that it is not an appropriate sport
for Palestinian society, and that he, "would not allow my wife, my sister
or my daughter to race."
In 2013, Anthony Bourdain took a ride with the Speed Sisters in his series
Parts Unknown.
In 2015, a documentary film Speed Sisters was released detailing the
exploits of the racing crew

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNC9FAtHkyU
http://www.speedsisters.tv/

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View trailer