Palestinian Perspectives

Vittorio Arrigoni 1975-2011

2011-04-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Vittorio's blog: Guerrilla Radio

Interview Vittorio Arrigoni with Engl. subtitles

Vittorio Arrigoni, tre interviste inedite: Restiamo umani (in Italian)

Gaza Mourns Vittorio Arrigoni, by Refaat Alareer, April 15 2011

Remembering Vik, April 15 2011 (by Jeff Halper, ICAHD)

Juliano Mer Khamis 1958-2011

2011-04-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

Interview with Juliano Mer-Khamis, December 2010
palestinefordummies.wordpress.com

Art is freedom without force: interview with the late Juliano Mer-Khamis
April 5, 2011 - by South/South

No Child is Born a Terrorist
A 21 minute documentary about the work of Juliano Mer Khamis the half-Jewish half-Palestinian director of Jenin's Freedom Theatre who was assassinated a couple of days ago.

photo: Ann Paq / Active Stills

Apartheid Video Contest Results

2010-11-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

March 2011: Apartheid Video Contest

http://www.itisapartheid.info/

Road Map to Apartheid (winner)

www.roadmaptoapartheid.org

Israeli Apartheid 5 (finalist) / photo-montage

www.australiansforpalestine.com

Palestinian Perspectives 7th edition

2010-09-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday October 3, 2010 (in collaboration with Cinéma du Parc)
7pm - Budrus, by Julia Bacha, 2009, 70 min., English subtitles
9pm - Rachel, by Simone Bitton, 2009, 90 min., French subtitles

October 5 and 6, 2010: Nasri Hajjaj’s documentaries
Tuesday Oct. 5 - 9pm – As the Poet said, 2009, 58 min., French subtitles
Wednesday Oct. 6 – 9pm – The Shadow of Absence, 2007, 84 min., English subtitles

Thursday October 7 – 7pm – Budrus (2nd screening)

At Cinéma du Parc
3575 av. du Parc
514 281-1900
www.cinemaduparc.com
admission 11$ / 8$ youth and elders (Tuesday: admission for all 8$)

Nasri Hajjaj’s documentaries
Nasri Hajjaj was born in Ein El Helwe Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Following a 20-year career as a freelance journalist, he turned to documentary cinema. « The Shadow Of Absence » (2007) won a bronze Muhr Award at the 2007 Dubai International Film Festival. « As the Poet said » (2009) has been screened in many film festivals around the world.

AS THE POET SAID (COMME DISAIT LE POÈTE)
Lebanon 2009 – 58 min. – Original English, French, Arabic, Kurdish, Portuguese, Hebrew version - French subtitles - digibeta
Tuesday October 5 - 9pm

Written, produced & directed by Nasri Hajjaj - With the support of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and Friends Of The Welfare Association - Director of Photography Jocelyne Abi Gebrael - Music & vocals improvised by Hiba Al-Kawas - Edited by Marcello D’Aloisio - Sound Editor Rana Eid

An evocative and lyrical paean to the life and times of internationally acclaimed late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, this thoughtful film sees director Nasri Hajjaj taking us on a journey through Darwish's life. He tours the cities and towns the poet lived in, meeting contemporaries, writers and lovers of his work, and overlaying the mosaic of memories and reflections with readings of Darwish's works. This heartwarming tribute is a fitting epitaph to a man whose words and dreams have inspired a generation. The film is also a journey through Darwish's work, featuring his own poetry readings as well as those of other poets reciting his poetry: Jose Saramago, Wole Soyinka, Dominique de Villepin, Yitzhak Laor, Michael Palmer, Sherko Bekas, Ahmed Dahbour, Jumana Haddad.

Participated in the following festivals:
Internationales Dokumentarfilmfestival München
Dubai International Film Festival
Documentary Film Festival in Tunis « Doc à Tunis 2010 »
Festival international du Cinéma méditerranéen de Tétouan
London Palestine Film Festival, UK
Houston Palestine Film Festival, USA
Projection au théâtre de l'Odéon, à Paris

THE SHADOW OF ABSENCE
Lebanon 2007 – 84 min. – Original Arabic, French, Hebrew, Bulgarian version – English subtitles – digibeta
Wednesday October 6 – 9pm

Written and directed by Nasri Hajjaj - Produced by Familia Productions and Nasri Hajjaj - Directors of Photography Khaled Belkhiria and Ali Bin Abdallah - Edited by Michèle Tyan - Music by Hiba Alkawass, Sami Totah, Henryk Gorecki, Kamilia Jubran

"Born in Palestine. Died in Lebanon." "Born in Palestine. Died in Syria." "Born in Palestine. Died in Jordan." The camera pans across an endless row of white tombstones. The Shadow of Absence takes death as its subject yet in doing so presents a powerful statement about Palestinian life. Weaving elements of his own story of dislocation into the Palestinian collective narrative, filmmaker Nasri Hajjaj reverses the usual focus of the Nakba documentary by exploring the denial of the Palestinian right to death and burial in the homeland. Why can a Jew from any part of the world decree that his body be brought for burial in Israel while a Palestinian living only a few kilometers away, in the West Bank or Lebanon, cannot choose eternal rest in the homeland? The Shadow of Absence is a vivid and painful portrayal of personal and collective dislocation. The poetry, music, images and semi-poetic prose make the documentary a work of art, a song to a distant homeland, mourned in death as well as life.

Participated in the following festivals:
Prix Muhr de bronze : Dubai International Film Festival
Festival international du Cinéma méditerranéen de Tétouan
Euro-Arab Film Festival, Amman, Jordanie
L'Institut de Monde Arabe, Paris
Boston Palestine Film Festival, USA
London Palestine Film Festival, UK

BUDRUS
USA, Israel, Occupied Palestinian territories. 2010. Dir. Julia Bacha. Prod : Julia Bacha, Ronit Avni, Rula Salameh. Digital projection. 119 min.
Original Arabic and Hebrew version with English subtitles
http://www.justvision.org/budrus
Sunday October 3 - 7pm & Thursday October 7 – 7pm

Hailed in the New York Times as "this year's must-see documentary," Budrus follows a Palestinian community organizer who unites all political factions along with Israelis in an unarmed struggle to save his village from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier. Victory seems improbable until his 15-year-old daughter, Iltezam, launches a women's contingent that moves to the front lines. Together, father and daughter unleash a successful nonviolent movement that is still gaining ground today. Winner of eight major international prizes in 2010 including Audience Awards at the Berlin and San Francisco International Film Festivals, the Special Jury Mention at Tribeca, Jerusalem and Documenta Madrid Film Festivals, the Best of Fest in Nonfiction at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival and the Witness Award at SilverDocs, Budrus is produced by an Israeli, North American, Palestinian and Brazilian team of filmmakers, including the writer/editor of the celebrated film, Control Room, and the directors and producer of Encounter Point (winner of the Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal Audience Award for Best Documentary, 2006).

WINNER, PANORAMA AUDIENCE AWARD SECOND PRIZE, BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2010
WINNER, SPECIAL JURY MENTION, TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL, 2010
WINNER, AUDIENCE AWARD, SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2010
WINNER, HONORABLE MENTION FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY IN THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM AWARD, JERUSALEM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2010
WINNER, WITNESS AWARD AT SILVERDOCS FILM FESTIVAL, 2010
WINNER, HONORABLE MENTION OF THE JURY, DOCUMENTA MADRID 2010
WINNER, AMNESTY ITALIA AWARD, PESARO FILM FESTIVAL, 2010
WINNER, FOUNDERS PRIZE, BEST OF FEST, NONFICTION, TRAVERSE CITY FILM FESTIVAL, 2010
CULTURAL BRIDGE GALA, DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2009
OFFICIAL SELECTION, HOT DOCS FILM FESTIVAL, 2010
OFFICIAL SELECTION, SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL, 2010

RACHEL
France, Belgium. 2009. Dir. : Simone Bitton. Digital projection. 100 min. Original Arab, Hebrew, English with French subtitles
http://www.filmsduparadoxe.com/rachelcat.html
Sunday October 3, 2010 - 9pm

23 years old. American. Pacifist. Crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer in the Gaza Strip. Why?

RACHEL – A documentary investigation of the death of Rachel Corrie, the American pacifist crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza in 2003.

RACHEL is structured like a police investigation. It presents the testimony of witnesses from all sides : Palestinians, Rachel’s colleagues who witnessed her death, Israeli army officials and spokespersons, tank drivers, Palestinian and Israeli doctors who were involved in the case and Rachel’s parents.

Rachel Corrie was an extraordinary human being and her activism in Gaza was motivated by the injustices endured there by Palestinians. She did not want to hurt the Israeli people, but she could not accept the idea that the Israeli army was bulldozing the homes of ordinary Palestinian families in order to defend Israel’s interests.

The nobility of Rachel’s motives and actions make her death all the more unjust, heartbreaking and intolerable.

French-Israeli filmmaker Simone Bitton now lives in Paris. She has directed more than 15 documentary films. All of them attest to her deep personal and professional commitment to better representing the complex histories and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa.

“An arresting, moving film” - HOWARD ZINN
“Don’t miss it” - JUDY REBICK
“Totally honest” - L’HUMANITÉ
“An indispensable film” - LES INROCKUPTIBLES

Budrus

2010-09-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

Rachel

2010-09-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

As the Poet said

2010-09-20T15:55:00.001-07:00

Palestinian Perspectives VI

2010-04-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Remembering the Nakba (1948)

Two film screenings: May 11-12 2010
A selection of documentaries about the Nakba and its aftermath.

Cinéma du Parc
cinemaduparc.com
3575 av. du Parc, t. 514 281-1900

May 11 9pm (admission: 8$)
Over their Dead Bodies: Tantura - Arab Lotfy, Egypt-Lebanon 2008, 112 min., eng. subt.

May 12 9pm (admission: 11$ / 8$ for youth and elders)
Zahra - Mohammad Bakri, Palestine 2009, 63 min., original arabic version, fr. subt.
preceded by:
Arthur Balfour and Me - Charlotte Cornic, U.K. 2007, 11 min., original english version, fr. subt.
and followed by:
Strangers in my Home - Sahera Dirbas, Palestine 2007, 37 min., original arabic, hebrew, english version, eng. subt.

With the support of: Cinéma du Parc, CJPP (Coalition pour la Justice et la Paix en Palestine), Tadamon, AMP (Aide médicale pour la Palestine), NCCAR-CNRCA (National Council on Canada-Arab Relations), PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity), Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, CJP-UQAM

OVER THEIR DEAD BODIES: TANTURA, THE FORGOTTEN MASSACRE
Director: Arab Loutfi – Egypt-Lebanon, 2008 - 113 minutes

This film explores testimonies from surviving residents of Tantura, a Palestinian village just south of Haifa, which was “cleansed” by Jewish Haganah forces in May 1948. Many Palestinians were killed and hundreds were imprisoned. Those who survived fled to the nearby village of Fureidis, which was spared destruction when Jewish residents of nearby towns interceded on its behalf. Other survivors became refugees in the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Arab Lotfy lives in Cairo, has made 30 films since graduating from Egypt’s High Cinema Institute in 1976, and has conducted workshops on women’s issues in Jordan and Canada.

ZAHRA
Director: Mohammed Bakri - Palestine, 2009 - 63 minutes

Zahra, a Palestinian native of a village in Galilee, is the central character in this documentary which tells the story, through a lyrical narrative, of how the Palestinian population of Israel has been radically transformed from a majority to a disenfranchised minority in their own homeland.

Mohammed Bakri is a distinguished Palestinian actor and filmmaker whose documentary “Jenin, Jenin” won Best Film at the 2002 Carthage International Film Festival.

ARTHUR BALFOUR AND ME
Director: Charlotte Cornic - Scotland 2007 - 11 minutes

This is a personal story about how the actions of a politician born in 1848 on a sumptuous family estate in Scotland continues to affect the life of a young woman born in a refugee camp in Lebanon in 1971 and now seeking asylum in Glasgow.

Based in Glascow, Charlotte Cornic sees documentaries as a powerful tool for change and community empowerment. She directed "Arthur Balfour and Me" in collaboration with Fatima Helow with the support of Scottish Screen and British Film Council.

STRANGER IN MY HOME
Director: Sahera Dirbas - Palestine 2007 - 37 minutes

The story of eight Palestinian families who have been turned into refugees in their own city. After forty years they recall the events that occurred in the Moghrabi Quarter of Jerusalem during the war of 1967. Each family goes to West Jerusalem to see the house which was taken from them in 1948.

Sahera Dirbas was born in Haifa in 1964, has published three books about destroyed Palestinian villages, and works as a freelance TV producer & independent researcher for foreign TV networks.

Zahra

2010-04-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Calls for entries

2010-02-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

London Palestine Film Festival (UK): http://www.palestinefilm.org/
Boston Palestine Film Festival: http://www.bostonpalestinefilmfest.org
Toronto Palestine Film Festival: http://tpff.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/tpff-2010-submissions-form-now-live/

On behalf of "itISapartheid.tv"
You are invited to submit short videos [less than 5 minutes] on the theme of Israeli Apartheid. Videos should reflect the nature, realities, and/or consequences of the apartheid policy in Israel and the occupied areas.
Deadline June 20, 2010.
Details: http://itisapartheid.tv

Palestinian Perspectives V at Cinémathèque québécoise

2009-10-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

Activists and Combattants
Arab Women in Resistance
(Palestinian Perspectives, 5th edition)
Oct 21-30, 2009 : Cinémathèque québécoise

What are the historical conditions that compel women to join social and political movements, to engage in liberation struggles, to join the ranks of resistance -- sometimes as leaders -- shaking up the very representations that reinforce essentialist and reductionist notions of woman’s place in society?

Arab Women in Resistance is a programme of documentaries rooted in recent Middle Eastern and North African history. Through their stories and conversations, women from Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, and Lebanon tell of their political commitment and make us share their lived traumas as they speak of the love they have for their country, for freedom, and for human dignity.

In these films, women living in the midst of war and revolution have joined with men to combat feudalism, subjugation, and colonialism. They have experienced invasions and bombardments, faced military occupation forces, been dispossessed of their land, homes, and property, and experienced exile. They have seen their fathers, brothers, husbands, and children imprisoned, disappeared, assassinated, or killed in combat.

Just as The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo, 1966) revealed the crucial role played by women in the fight for national liberation, these films retrace the histories of women involved in social, political, and even armed struggle. These women have been in prison and exposed to death and torture. Some have acted in ways that might seem disturbing to us, but these are in accord with the logic of the colonial wars in which they’ve been engaged: their violence is a response to the violence of colonialism itself.

Film can elucidate life in different ways, allowing us to slip into other people’s skin, inciting us to adopt another perspective and to question our society’s hierarchy of moral values. Which is more monstrous: structural injustice or people who break laws to put an end to that injustice?

PROGRAM OF THE FIFTH EDITION

Wednesday October 21

6:30pm Claude-Jutra
Quatre femmes d'Égypte
Dir. : Tahani Rached [Qué., 1997, 90 min, Arabic with French subtitles]
Amina, Safynaz, Shahenda et Wedad are old friends. Despite their religious, cultural, and political differences, they met fighting the same battle for social justice. They offer an uncompromising outlook on their activist past, which covers almost 40 years of Egyptian history. “This film does not address the condition of women in Egypt, but rather shows us Egypt as a whole through the lens of their experiences; it illustrates the women’s capacity to maintain their connections and to perpetuate dialogue and tolerance in spite of their totally divergent trajectories.” (T. Rached)
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/fra/collection/film/?id=33379

Thursday October 22

8:30pm Claude-Jutra
Khiam 2000-2007
Dir. : Khalil Joreige, Joana Hadjithomas [Lebanon, 2008, 103 min, Arabic with French subtitles]
“In 1999, when South Lebanon was occupied by the Israeli army, we never saw visuals of the detention camp of Khiam. In this film, six prisoners who had just been released discuss their experiences in detention and the relationship they developed through artwork, raising questions about modes of representation. In May 2000, Khiam was dismantled and turned into a museum. During the July 2006 war, the camp was totally destroyed. Today, there is some talk of rebuilding it exactly as it was. In 2007, the same six prisoners filmed 8 years earlier were visited again, and they talk of the liberation and subsequent destruction of the camp, evoking memory, history, reconstitution, imagination, and the power of images.” (K. Joreige, J. Hadjithomas, 2009)
http://www.hadjithomasjoreige.com

Wednesday October 28

7:00pm Fernand-Seguin
Jamila's Mirror
Dir. : Arab Lotfi [Eg.-U.-K., 1993, 26 min, Arabic with English subtitles]
Following the example of Jamila Bouhired of the Algerian Front de libération nationale (FLN), many Palestinian women became involved in the armed struggle which was precipitated by the 1967 occupation of Palestine. They participated in high-jackings of jet planes and bombings, and in the organization of other PLO operations. Through the testimony of four of these women, the Lebanese-Egyptian filmmaker Arab Lotfi explores their actions in the context of the 1970s Middle East.
http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/488329

FOLLOWED BY

Les Porteuses de feu
Dir. : Faouzia Fekiri [Fr., 2007, 52 min, Arabic with French subtitles]
Algiers, 1957. Thirty or so young women rally around the FLN. Spies, combattants, and sympathizers, they fully participate in the Algerian war of independence. Fifty years later, the Algerian journalist Faouzia Fekiri meets eight of these women. A very personal look at a sensitive slice of Algerian history.
http://www.algeriades.com/news/previews/article1872.htm
http://www.europeimages.com/fr/programmes/4603-porteuses-de-feu-les/

Thursday October 29

7:00pm Fernand-Seguin
Tell Your Tale Little Bird
Dir. : Arab Lotfi [Eg., 2003, 90 min, Arabic with English subtitles]
Interviews with seven women engaged in the armed struggle in Palestine in the 1960s and 1970s. Laila Khaled, Perez Halasa, and Ameena Dahbour were involved in the high-jackings of jet planes. Rasheeda Obeida, Aisha Odeh, et Rasmeya Odeh were accused of planting a bomb in a Jerusalem supermarket. From carrying out the act, to undergoing imprisonment and torture, their stories raise questions about the limits of engagement and of justice.

9:00pm Fernand-Seguin
First Picture
Dir. : Akram Al Ashqar [Pal., 2006, 27 min, Arabic with English subtitles]
Nour was born in an Israeli prison in the Tulkarm refugee camp, where his mother, Manal Ghanem, is held captive. Nour is separated from his mother, who remains in prison, when he is 2 ½ years old, and the film follows him as he goes out into the world for the first time. He finds a new reality offers itself, one where doors can open and the inhabitants are not only women. Nonetheless, he misses his mother’s prison cell, which is the only world he has ever known.
http://www.artsmedia.ps/en/?page=akram

SUIVI DE

Take Me Home
Dir. : Mais Darwazah [U.-K., 2008, 54 min, Arabic with English subtitles]
In this first-person documentary, the filmmaker Mais Darwazah, a Jordanian Palestinian woman, takes a trip to visit her grandmother and great aunt who are living in Syria. During this trip, questions of belonging and identity and of intergenerational continuity in the context of the Palestinian Diaspora are raised.
http://bostonpalestine.bside.com/2009/films/takemehome_bostonpalestine2009

Friday October 30

7:00pm Fernand-Seguin
Women’s Testimonies of the Nakba
Dir. : Raneen Geries [Pal.-Is., 2006, 10 min, Arabic with English subtitles]
This short documentary presents five Palestinian women talking about the events of 1948. Stories of their past life in rural areas during and after the creation of the Israeli state, contribute to a better understanding of the role of Palestinian women in that time period.
http://www.zochrot.org

SUIVI DE

A Night at Home
Dir. : Rehab Nazzal [Can., 2006, 4 min, English]
The filmmaker, her mother, and her son listen to the nighttime sound of gunfire around their home.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=e3677a1e-0b32-4d5b-a58c-2cbb2c088412

SUIVI DE

Women in Struggle
Dir. : Buthina Canaan Khoury [Pal., 2004, 56 min, Arabic with English subtitles]
Four Palestinian women who were former prisoners speak of their experiences in Women in Struggle. Each one was involved in the struggle for recognition of the Palestinian nation-state in the 1970s, but their crimes differed: one was arrested in a pacifist demonstration, while others participated in an assassination attempt. Attentive to their testimony, the filmmaker Buthina Canaan Khoury concentrates on the experience of prison and torture, and the possibility of life afterwards, in the context of contemporary Palestine.
http://www.womeninstruggle.com
http://www.bladi.net/forum/154731-femmes-lutte-buthina-canaan-khoury/

The ten documentaries in this programme throw light on the lived realities of Arab women, realities that contrast with the daily depictions in the mass media, which often gives only a monolithic and oversimplified view of them.

These women open up to us, and their powerful voices are filled with hope. As we listen to the women describe what they have lived through, their words – sometimes serious, sometimes tender, sensual, or humorous -- have a violent authenticity. The women break down our preconceived notions, the clichés and the prejudices we still hold. They disrupt the images by which Arab women have been characterized in Western discursive space. In doing so, they invite us to see them in a different light, to question the reductionist and degrading social representations so often projected onto them, their people, and their societies. We are asked to question the relationship between violence and power that trickles down from colonial occupation and which leads women to go underground, to engage in the struggle against occupation, and to define various strategies of resistance. In the end, these women fight to defend their identities and to recover their human dignity.

Palestinian Perspectives IV at Cinémathèque québécoise

2008-12-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

Cinémathèque québécoise, Salle Fernand-Séguin
http://www.cinematheque.qc.ca
entry: 7$ (students, elders 6$)
335, boul. de Maisonneuve Est - Métro Berri-UQAM
T. 514 842-9763

Friday January 16 2009 7PM

"La Couleur des olives", by Carolina Rivas and Daoud Sarhandi, Palestine/Mexico, 97 min., original Arabic version with French subtitles

Like many Palestinian families, the Amers live surrounded by the infamous West Bank Wall. Their daily lives are dominated by electrified fences, locks and a constant swarm of armed soldiers. Through a sensitive lens we discover the private world of all eight members of the family. As their dramas unfold we catch a glimpse of their constant struggles and the small, endearing details that sustain them: including school friends, olive trees and two small donkeys. The story of the Amer family offers an opportunity to reflect on the effects of racial segregation, the meaning of borders and the absurdity of war. This documentary reveals the unknown life of the Palestinian people.

preceded by "A Day in Palestine", by Mary Ellen Davis, José Garcia-Lozano and Will Eizlini, Quebec/Canada, 5 min., no dialogue

Scenes of everyday life in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a dream-like feeling, reminiscent of home-movies of the 60s. But instead of a day at the beach, or in the backyard: an olive tree, a wall, a bulldozer, soldiers.

Friday January 23 2009 7PM

"Alsateh" (The Roof), by Kamal Aljafari, Palestine/Germany, 63 min., original Arabic version with English subtitles

Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari’s poetic and political film records his journey back to his family and homeland and explores his firm conviction that “home” can be a feeling as well as an actual place. Aljafari’s voyage is less a definite search for memories than an attempt to view the present as a living past. As his camera pans slowly around the rooms of homes inhabited, damaged and ruined, past and present collide.

preceded by "Roads through Palestine", by Brett Story and Stefan Christoff, Quebec/Canada, 17 min., no dialogue

An audio-visual journey through the roads of occupation and resistance in the West Bank, and a poetic and cinematic reflection on the geography of war.

Boston Palestine Film Festival

2008-09-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

Boston Palestine Film Festival, Oct. 4-12 2008

Canadian premiere of 'The Salt of This Sea' Oct. 25 2008, Toronto Palestine Film Festival

2008-09-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

"Cinema can do a lot in Palestine. In many ways. There are so many stories, so many things... We have been reduced to invisibility all our lives, few people know, so many things have been prohibited, our books, our voices have been silenced, in the 70s, 80s, our writers, our artists were assassinated... So there's this imposed silence that has lasted so long and is still lasting, and cinema is yet another form of expression. And each Palestinian film being shot is a miracle, in my view." - Anne-Marie Jacir, director of 'The Salt of this Sea', interview given to Alain Gresh (Nouvelles d'Orient - blog du Monde Diplomatique - May 23 2008)

Canadian premiere of 'The Salt of This Sea' Oct. 25 2008, Toronto Palestine Film Festival

Palestinan Perspectives 3rd edition

2008-05-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

MAY 15 2008, 5pm – 7pm – 9pm
PALESTINIAN PERSPECTIVES 3rd edition
Cinéma du Parc, 3575 Avenue du Parc

An evening of Palestinian films to commemorate 60 years since Al-Nakba - the catastrophe of dispossession brought about by the establishment of the State of Israel - and to celebrate the Palestinian voice.

1947-1948: Zionist forces provoke the exodus of 750,000 refugees, forcibly evicted from their homes and villages. May 15 has been chosen to mark the tragedy.
2008: 5 million Palestinians live scattered throughout the world and demand recognition of their right to return. 4 million Palestinians live under brutal occupation in the West Bank and under a state of permanent siege in Gaza. And over 1 million live in Israel as second-class citizens.

Palestinian directors living under occupation or in exile shed light on history and reality, through outstanding films, some of them award-winners.

17h00 / 5:00 (length 94 min.)

Beyond Blue and Grey
Portraits of Palestinian creativity under Occupation. Reflecting the aesthetics of the Palestinian narrative... past and present.
Canada/États-Unis/Palestine 2008, Jessica Habie, Nirah Shirazipour, 11 min. (Original English and Arabic version with English s.-t.)
www.beyondblueandgrayfilms.com

Coming Back
Some birds migrate but all the birds keep coming back, seeking the warmth of a homeland.
Palestine 2003, Ahmad Habash, 6:20 min. (no dialogue)

Testimonies from the Nakba Archive
Since 2002, the Nakba Archive has recorded over 450 eyewitness testimonies with Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon. The collection reconstructs through personal memories life in Palestine prior to 1948, and documents the events that led up to the expulsions.
Liban/États-Unis 2008, Diana Allan, Mahmoud Zeidan, 25 min. (Original Arabic version with English s.-t.)
www.nakba-archive.org

Pasolini pa* Palestine
1964: Searching for location sites for the shooting of his film "The Gospel according to St. Matthew", Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini explores the Holy Land and describes its beauty and contradictions, through a dialogue with a priest, Don Andrea Carraro. The footage shot will become "Seeking locations in Palestine". Twenty-five years later, a filmmaker of Palestinian origin follows his steps and mirrors his scene selection. It's the same film, and yet another.
Palestine/États-Unis 2006, Ayreen Anastas, 51 min. (Original Arabic version with English s.-t.)

19h00 / 7:00 (length 90 min.)

Deir Yassin Remembered
This is the 3rd episode of Yael's Palestine Trilogy, that uses a variety of approaches to focus on activist initiatives: this one considers the pivotal repercussions of the massacre at Deir Yassin in 1948, resulting in widespread Palestinian dispossession, and calls for the need to remember.
Canada 2006, b. h. Yael, 28 min., in English (Original English and Arabic version with English s.-t.) www.bhyael.com

Leila Khaled
Leila Khaled was the first woman to hijack a flight in 1969 and became famous worldwide, and a hero for many Palestinians. Thirty-five years later, a young Palestinian-Swedish woman visits her and films her at home in Amman. The result is a multi-dimensional film about the complexities of liberation movements.
Suède 2007, Lina Makboul, 62 min. (Original Swedish and Arabic version with English s.-t.) www.leilakhaled.com

21h00 / 9:00 (length 96 min.)

Sons of Eilaboun
On October 30, 1948, the Israeli Army marches into the northern Galilee village of Eilaboun. The people, who have taken refuge in two churches, are marched to the Lebanese border, except 19 men who are executed. The village is then looted and ransacked. This story was repeated hundreds of times across the land that today is called Israel. The survivors remember.
Allemagne-Palestine 2008, Hisham Zreiq, 23:44 min. (Original Arabic version with English s.-t.) www.sonsofeilaboun.com

Reste tranquille
A young boy and his father are on their way home to the city of Nazareth. What should be a simple car trip is beset by politically charged tension and a militarized reality, each of which serves as a foil to represent the struggle of a complacent father raising a strong willed son.  
Palestine-France 2006, Sameh Zoabi, 18:27 min. (Original Arabic version with French s.-t.)

A Palestinian Journey
A three-part documentary recording the filmmaker's journey from Palestine into exile in London. The first part examines the people's struggle to defend the olive trees against Israeli attempts to destroy them. Next, a family of emigres explain the sickness of exile to the filmmaker. Finally, the filmmaker himself is caught in the same trap, and questions whether life must be lived on a "no choice basis".
Royaume-Uni/Palestine 2006, Osama Qashoo, 54 min.: My Dear Olive Tree, Inside Outside, No Choice Basis (Original Arabic version with English s.-t.)

A project of:
Tadamon Montreal! http://tadamon.resist.ca
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid http://www.caiaweb.org
Coalition pour la justice et la paix en Palestine http://cjpp.org

In collaboration with Cinéma du Parc

Entrance 10$
7,50$ students/senior citizens / 7,50$ before 6pm / 6$ with cinécarte (8 films for 48$)

April 30 2008

Palestinian Perspectives 2nd edition

2008-05-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

The 2nd edition of PALESTINIAN PERSPECTIVES took place from April 10th to 12th at Cinémathèque québécoise and featured Mohammed Bakri, the Palestinian director and actor who came from Galilee to present his three documentaries (1948 ; Jenin, Jenin ; Since You Left), as well as 'Private', a drama directed by Italian director Saverio Costanzo, in which Bakri plays the lead role. This event was supported by Cinémathèque québécoise, le Département de littérature comparée (Université de Montréal), Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema (Concordia University), l’Institut d'études islamiques (McGill University) and l’Istituto italiano di cultura.

Details: http://cinematheque.qc.ca
Concerning the trial in Israel against Mohammed Bakri by five Israeli soldiers, see: http://defendmohammadbakri.org
Mohammed Bakri’s official site: http://www.mohammadbakri.com

April 2008

First edition of Palestinian Perspectives

2008-05-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

The first edition of PALESTINIAN PERSPECTIVES, held at Cinéma du Parc on November 29 2007, International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, was successfully attended by 250 people. It was an initiative of Tadamon, Coalition pour la justice et la paix en Palestine and CAIA, with the support of: NFB Citizenshift, Alternatives, FNEEQ, Fondation canado-palestinienne du Québec, CJPME, Aide médicale pour la Palestine.
http://tadamon.resist.ca/index.php/post/955/lang-pref/en