Of all the car-related documentaries to come out in recent years, one of the films we’ve been most excited about has been Speed Sisters, which chronicles the story of the first all-woman racing team in the Middle East. At last, it’s making its U.S. debut this weekend at the DOC NYC festival in New York.
Speed Sisters is director Amber Fares’ look into how this small group of women in Palestine have been working to break into a world that’s even more male-dominated than it is in the rest of the world.
What’s racing like in the West Bank? It’s whatever you can make it. These racers deal contend with both military checkpoints, daily struggles Americans only read about in the news, and society’s expectations for what women “should” be doing in order to race and make their dreams a reality.
Like Havana Motor Club—the documentary about grassroots racing efforts in Cuba, which was shown at this year’s Jalopnik Film Festival—Speed Sisters is about what it takes to make the love of cars blossom in an unlikely place. Sometimes, that takes unlikely people as well.
Here’s the trailer for the film, and you can see a Jalopnik-exclusive racing clip up top.
Later this week we’ll have a closer look at Speed Sisters as well. And if you’re at DOC NYC this weekend, you should definitely go see it.
Contact the author at patrick@jalopnik.com.