The mother of Moroccan-Belgian filmmaker Jawad Rhalib (Le Chant des Tortues, Les Damnés de la Mer) was a belly dancer. In a not so distant past, this Arab dance symbolised sensuality and femininity. Fundamentalists, in the name of Allah, then labeled dancing, music and other artistic expression as unclean. Rhalib was taught that he should be ashamed of his mother. What are the effects of this radical turnaround for dancers and artists in the Arab world? Will they continue and fight for the freedom of expression or will some self-censorship seep into their work? With testimonies from the Belgian playwrights of action zoo humaine, actress Hiam Abbass (Insyriated), Iranian-Belgian playwright Sachli Gholamalizad and his own mother, Jawad Rhalib shows how artists throughout the Arab world oppose and seek to an answer to this attack on (artistic) freedom.