contents welcome to the 2010 festival

Welcome to the 2010 Festival p. 3 The 2010 Festival runs from April 30th to May the following two pages. In a new initiative, indebted to the many filmmakers whose 14th and features over 50 works spanning all the Festival is also pleased to announce work appears in this year’s programme; Highlights and “Live” Events p. 4 cinematic genres and created by artists from a film screening and dance workshop for without their generosity the Festival would Speaker Biographies p. 6 across the world. children, presented in cooperation with the not be possible. We are also grateful to Palestinian School in London. Details and the guest speakers enriching the 2010 Photographic Exhibition p. 8 The first week of screenings takes place at registration information can be found on programme, and in particular to Festival Films in Alphabetical Order p. 10 the Barbican Cinema (April 30th to May 6th). page 30. patron Karma Nabulsi. The second week is held at SOAS, University Festival Programme at a Glance p. 59 of London, Russell Square. Directions to both The 2010 Festival is pleased to present a Many individuals have helped source films, Box Office and Venue Information p. 60 venues as well as box office information can be special thematic session focusing on women provided logistical support, offered valuable found on the rear cover of this programme. directors in partnership with Birds Eye View advice, and otherwise leant of their expertise. – see pages 10, 35, 50 for details. A special thanks to Salma Abu Ayyash, Gareth The 2010 London Palestine Film Festival gratefully acknowledges the support and assistance For the third year running, the Festival is Evans, Kolin Kobayashi, Piccia Neri, Rasha accompanied by a photographic exhibition Salti, Samia Tabari, and Mohanad Yaqubi. of the following partners and friends hosted in the Barbican Centre (mezzanine level) from April 26th to May 16th. Details of The International Arab Charity SOAS Palestine Society Mrs Jenny Hall the exhibition can be found on pages 8-9. www.iac67.com Thank You A wide range of UK premieres, as well as The London Palestine Film Festival relies If you are able to support the Festival in its Art School Palestine ArteEast Consolidated Contractors Company special “live” sessions involving visiting upon the generosity of scores of artists, work, please contact us: www.artschoolpalestine.org www.arteeast.org www.ccc.gr Design: Piccia www.piccianeri.com Neri , Piccia or more Neri Cover images: 25 Thousand Tents artists and experts, are highlighted on distributors, and curators. We are especially [email protected] 2 3 thematic and ‘live’ highlights

The 2010 programme includes a number The Time That Remains + Q&A With Director Elia Suleiman Jaffa: The Orange’s Clockwork by Eyal Sivan - My Heart Beats Only for Her - UK Premier + Q&A With Director SPECIAL SESSION: Revolutionary Cinema, Global Resistances Port of Memory - UK Premier + Q&A With Director Kamal Aljafari of thematic sessions, UK Premiers, Panel Saturday 1st May, 14:00, Barbican, Cinema 1 UK Premiere + Panel Discussion Mohamad Soueid Tuesday 4th May, 20:30, Barbican, Cinema 1 Thursday 6th May, 20:15, Barbican, Cinema 1 Discussions, and Question and Answer The renowned director of Divine Intervention Sunday 2nd May, 18:15, Barbican, Cinema 1 Monday 3rd May, 20:15, Barbican, Cinema 1 A session dedicated to rarities and This UK Premier of Kamal Aljafari’s radically sessions with guest filmmakers. These and Chronicle of a Disappearance will be Eyal Sivan (Route 181: Fragments of a Journey Renowned Lebanese director and chronicler revolutionaries centred around an poetic new feature brings the first week of sessions are normally well attended and speaking and taking questions following this in Palestine-Israel (with Michel Khleifi),Izkor: of experimental cinema Mohamad Soueid unprecedented UK cinema screening of the the 2010 Festival to a close at the Barbican. advanced booking is recommended. The screening of his newest work (see page 49). Slaves of Memory) presents the UK premiere presents his latest film essay on aspects of militant Palestinian-Japanese manifesto Announcing the emergence of a bold new following is a selection of highlights – of his captivating excavation of the Jaffa the Palestinian revolution, tracing fascinating The Red Army / PFLP: Declaration of World force in Palestinian cinema, the film is not to further information on each of the events can SPECIAL SESSION: “A Humanitarian Disaster in the Making” Orange’s visual and political history. Followed pathways tying Hanoi to Beirut... via Dubai. War. Also on offer: Gao Rang explores North be missed. Aljafari will be in conversation be found by turning to the individual film Presented with Medical Aid for Palestinians: by a discussion with the director and Soueid will be in conversation with Mike Vietnamese revolutionary cameramen and with Nadia Yaqub following the screening listings. Brief biographies of speakers are Sunday 2nd May, 16:00, Barbican, Cinema 1 Palestinian writer and historian Elias Sanbar, Dibb (see page 36). For Cultural Purposes Only provides an (see page 42). presented on the following pages. Screenings, including the UK Premier of chaired by Goldsmiths College Professor of innovative take on the “lost” Palestinian Fatenah, the first Palestinian animated Fine Art, Adrian Rifkin (see page 29). SPECIAL SESSION: The Legacy of Mahmoud Darwish cinema archive (see page 22). Children’s Session: Palestinian Film and Folk Dance feature, followed by a panel discussion Tuesday 4th May, 18:15, Barbican, Cinema 1 Sunday 9th May, 14:00 presented with Medical Aid for Palestinians. Pomegranates and Myrrh + Q&A With Director Najwa Najjar Nasri Hajjaj’s Shadow of Absence was a hit Ashkenaz + Q&A With Director Rachel Leah Jones In partnership with the Palestinian School Speakers include Mahmoud Daher (World Sunday 2nd May, 20:30, Barbican, Cinema 1 at last year’s Festival. The director returns Wednesday 5th May, 20:15, Barbican, Cinema 1 in London Health Organisation, Gaza Strip), Miri Palestinian director Najwa Najjar’s debut in 2010 with his lyrical paean to the late Director Rachel Leah Jones joins us to discuss Full details of our exciting new initiative Weingarten (Physicians for Human Rights, feature fearlessly tackles a number of taboos Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, As The her powerful exploration of the complex for children aged 8 to 15 can be found on Israel), and Ahmad Habash (director of and has been met with critical acclaim as well Poet Said. Following the film, Hajjaj will be meanings attached to Ashkenazi Jewish page 30. Please note, this session takes Fatenah) (see page 19). as calls for her arrest and the film’s banning. in conversation with Prof. Wen-Chin Ouyang identity in Zionist history. The session will place at a different venue and is by advance She joins us for a discussion of the film and its (see page 15). be chaired by Professor Nira Yuval-Davis (see registration only. reception chaired by Ali Jafaar (see page 41). page 16). 4 5 speakers at the 2010 festival brief biographies Kamal Aljafari is a filmmaker and visual artists. His thesis on Palestinian filmmaking within Israel at Karma Nabulsi is Fellow in Politics at St Edmund Hall, Nicholas Rowe worked between 1998 and 2008 with Mohamad Soueid trained as a chemist before Nadia Yaqub is associate professor of Arabic language film The Roof won the Best International On Screen the University of Westminster. Oxford, and lecturer in the Department of Politics Ramallah Dance Theatre, El-Funoun, Sareyyet establishing himself as a leading force in Lebanese and culture at the University of North Carolina, (Video) Award at the Images Festival in Toronto and International Relations, Oxford University. She Ramallah, Al-Kasaba, Ashtar. He has danced and filmmaking. The author of two books on Lebanese Chapel Hill. She is the author of Pens, Swords, in 2008. He was a featured artist at the Robert Ahmad Habash is a Palestinian filmmaker and was a PLO representative from 1977-90 and is the choreographed with the Australian Ballet, Finnish cinema and the creator of more than forty and the Springs of Art: The Oral Poetry Dueling Flaherty Film Seminar at Colgate University, New animator. Since his Coming Back (2003), he author of Traditions of War: Occupation, Resistance National Ballet, Sydney Dance Company, Modern video works, he has contributed centrally to the of Palestinians in the Galilee (Brill, 2006) and York in 2009 and is currently Benjamin White has been producing animation shorts addressing and the Law (Oxford University Press, 2005). Dance Turkey and Nomad Dance Theatre. He is emergence and documentation of a generation of numerous articles on Arab and Palestinian Whitney Scholar at Harvard University. various aspects of Palestinian life. His author of Raising Dust: a Cultural History of Dance experimental Lebanese filmmaking. literature and film. She is currently writing a book Fatenah (2009) is the first Palestinian animated Najwa Najjar has made several documentaries, in Palestine (2009). on Palestinian cinema. Andrea Becker is Head of Advocacy for Medical Aid feature film. including Blue Gold (2004), A Boy Called Mohamed Elia Suleiman was born in Nazareth in 1960. His for Palestinians (MAP). MAP is an independent (2002), Jawhar Al Silwan (2001) and Naim Elias Sanbar is a poet, writer, and cultural Chronicle of a Disappearance won the best debut Nira Yuval-Davis is Professor of Gender and Ethnic humanitarian aid agency that works for the health Nasri Hajjaj was born in Ain al-Hilweh refugee & Wadee’a (1999). Her fiction short Yasmine historian. Based in Paris, he is the Palestinian prize at the 1996 Venice Film Festival. His Divine Studies at the University of East London. She and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation camp, Lebanon, in 1951. He is a writer and Tughani (2006) won a number of awards and representative to UNESCO and co-founding editor Intervention won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2002. is a founding member of Women Against and as refugees. filmmaker whose works include Thus Said the her full-length debut, Pomegranates and Myrrh is of Revue d’études Palestiniennes. His writing on With a wide body of short and experimental work Fundamentalism. Her many books include Gender Intifada (1989) and 2007’s award-winning The presented at this year’s festival. Palestinian culture and politics includes a 2001 (including the seminal cut-up Introduction to the and Nation, now published in 7 languages. Mahmoud Daher works as the National Public Health Shadow of Absence. memoir Absentees’ Property and 2004’s Figures End of an Argument with Jayce Salloum in 1990) Officer for the World Health Organisation’s Gaza Wen-Chin Ouyang is a Reader in Arabic Literature of the Palestinian: Identity of Origins and Identity Suleiman has left an indelible imprint on world Mark Zeitoun’s policy and research work relate to Strip sub-office. During Israel’s 2008-9 offensive, Ali Jafaar is the international editor of film at SOAS. She has published extensively on to Come. cinema over the last two decades. transboundary water conflicts with the uptake of Mahmoud was jointly responsible for the WHO’s industry magazine Variety. He has written about classical and modern Arabic literature as well hegemonic ideas. He is author of Power and Water round-the-clock coordination with health providers international cinema extensively, and Arab as critical thought. She is completing a book on Eyal Sivan is a documentary filmmaker and Israeli Miri Weingarten is Advocacy Officer of Physicians in the Middle East: The Hidden Politics of the and emergency services. language cinema in particular. intertextuality in the Arabic novel. dissident who has tackled many subjects relating for Human Rights (Israel). She has worked Palestinian-Israeli Water Conflict (IB Tauris 2008), to the politics of memory, representation, and monitoring and seeking to counter human and a senior lecturer at the School of International Mike Dibb is a filmmaker whose many works include Rachel Leah Jones was born in Berkeley, California Adrian Rifkin is Professor of Fine Art at Goldsmiths power in the Palestine-Israel conflict. His many rights abuses in the fields of medical access Development, University of East Anglia, UK. the award-winning series Ways of Seeing (with and raised in Tel Aviv. With an academic College, University of London. He teaches and has films include Route 181: Fragments of a Journey and services and was previously Coordinator of John Berger), The Miles Davis Story (2001) and background in studies of “race”, class and gender, published widely in diverse areas of film theory, in Palestine/Israel (with Michel Khleifi); Izkor: Projects in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Edward Said – The Last Interview (2004). Leah Jones began documentary filmmaking with visual culture, and art history. He is a founding Slaves to Memory; The Specialist, and Jerusalems: for Physicians for Human Rights. her award-winning debut 500 Dunam On The editor of the journal Parallax, and was editor and Borderline Syndrome. Yael Friedman teaches film studies at various Moon in 2002. co-editor of Art History from 1997 to 2002. universities across the UK. She is completing a PhD 6 7 the 2010 annual palestine film festival photography exhibition intimate portrayals curated by samar martha 26 april– 16 may 2010 – barbican, mezzanine level

Intimate Portrayals showcases works by Fathers by Taysir Batniji was shot in Palestinian artists Taysir Batniji and Noel the Gaza Strip. His work follows portrait Jabbour. Both explore Palestinian life photographs found in shops, cafes, factories through intimate encounters with the and other places of daily work and life. everyday, allowing viewers a rewarding Rarely depicting the current proprietor or respite from the stereotypical flow of images resident, but often a deceased founder or about Palestine. ancestor, the series explores tributes to an absent “father” who remains present in the Noel Jabbour’s Palestinian Interiors place to which he brought life. comprises a series shot in the Aqbat Jaber refugee camp, as well as in Hebron and The two series showcased in Intimate Above: Taysir Batniji, Fathers, 2006, digital print, right: Noel Jabbour, Palestinian Interior # 12 Jerusalem. Her studies take us into the Portrayals share an emotional authenticity 80cm x 54cm, courtesy La B.A.N.K., Paris (Hebron) 1994, C-print, 33cm x 28cm, courtesy intimate space of everyday family life and convey real concerns over current the artist by focusing on decorated walls within conditions while transcending the Palestinian homes. constraints of classic photo reportage.

SUPported by charles asprey and rana sadik

8 9 138 pounds in my pocket 1983

In 1948, following the UN partition plan 138 Pounds in My Pocket will be screened In the near future, a man tries to go see the 1983 will be screened prior to the UK Premiere of for Palestine, fighting broke out between alongside Thorns and Silk (see page 50) and film “Zardoz” at the cinema. Modi Barry’s Kamal Aljafari’s Port of Memory (see page 42. Arabs and Jews. In April that same year, Masarat (see page 35). wry short re-imagines the experience of The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Aljafari and concludes the first week of the young teacher Hind Al Husseini came an evening visit to the cinema in an era of Presented in partnership the Festival, after which screenings relocate across a large group of young children with Birds Eye View radical securitization. from the Barbican to SOAS. Advance booking is in Jerusalem. They were survivors of the recommended for this session. massacre in Deir Yassin. Husseini took them in and established an orphanage in her Jerusalem home. Today, Dar al-Tifl al-Arabi is the largest Palestinian orphanage, providing above: 138 pounds in my pocket education for more than 1,500 pupils. This new documentary by Sahera Dirbas (Stranger in My Home) asks how Husseini and her successors have each filled gaps left Director: Sahera Dirbas Director: Mody Barry by the absence of a state able, or willing, Duration: 20 min Duration: 7 min to provide adequate welfare for Year: 2009 Year: 2007 Type: Documentary Type: Art disadvantaged children. Part biographical, it offers unique insight into the commitment Date: Wednesday 5th May Date: Thursday 6th May and personal struggle of a remarkable Time: 18:15 Time: 20:15 Palestinian woman. Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 right: 1983 Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 10 11 25 THOUSAND TENTS OR MORE a handful of earth

25 Thousand Tents or More tells the stories 25 Thousand Tents or More will be screened A Handful of Earth examines the role played Sahera Dirbas (Stranger in my Home, 138 of some of the hundreds of Palestinian alongside I am Ghazza (see page 25). by oral histories in maintaining the bond Pounds in my Pocket) explores the oral families that are currently stranded in the between Palestinian refugees and the homes traditions which have spanned generations Al-Tanaf detention camp situated in the from which they were driven in 1948. Taking to sustain the links between exiles living in “no-man’s land” between today’s Iraqi and its title from the handfuls of earth many still Jordan, Syria, Israel, and the West Bank, and Syrian borders. Following the US invasion keep from their original villages, the film their shared homes and histories. of Iraq in 2003, Palestinians who had found focuses on refugees from the Tirat Haifa area. refuge in Iraq after 1948, have been forced PREMIERE to flee and take refuge elsewhere once A Handful of Earth will be screened alongside Mohammad Bakri’s new documentary, Zahara more. Samer Salameh’s film gives rare voice above: 25 thousand tents or more (see page 56). to camp residents who tell of the hardships they endure, what led them to flee Iraq, and their hopes for the future. Director: Samer Salameh Director: Sahera Dirbas Duration: 34 min Duration: 52 min Year: 2009 Year: 2009 Type: Documentary Type: Documentary

Date: Monday 10th May Date: Saturday 8th May Time: 20:00 Time: 14:00 Venue: SOAS, KLT right: a handful of earth Venue: SOAS, KLT 12 13 a palestinian mural as the poet said

When students at San Francisco State A Palestinian Mural will be screened alongside An evocative and lyrical paean to the life UK PREMIERe University attempted to create a campus Intifada NYC (see page 28) and Thyme Seller (see and times of late Palestinian poet Mahmoud The screening will be followed by a discussion mural featuring Edward Said and Palestinian page 51). Darwish, this thoughtful film sees director and Q&A session on the film and the legacy of culture in the diaspora, they ran into stiff Nasri Hajjaj (Shadow of Absence) taking us Mahmoud Darwish. Director Nasri Hajjaj will be opposition. This didn’t stop them. Today on a journey through Darwish’s life. in conversation with Prof. Wen-Chin Ouyang. Advance booking recommended. the mural is the only one of its kind to be He tours the cities and towns the poet lived found on university campus in the US. Norma in, meeting contemporaries, writers and Shiheiber’s short film tells its story. lovers of his work while overlaying this mosaic of memories and reflections with above: asthe poet said readings of Darwish’s works throughout. This heart-warming tribute is a fitting epitaph to a man whose words and dreams have inspired generations. Director: Norma Shiheiber Director: Nasri Hajjaj Duration: 12 min Duration: 65 min Year: 2008 Year: 2009 Type: Documentary Type: Documentary

Date: Sunday 9th May Date: Tuesday 4th May Time: 16.30 Time: 18.15 Venue: SOAS, KLT left: a palestinian mural Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 14 15 ashkenaz everywhere was the same

Ashkenaz is Rachel Leah Jones’s (500 Dunam of the others?” Offering what Ella Shohat Slideshow images of abandoned homes PART OF A THEMATIC SESSION: Experimental Work and Video Art on the Moon) film-essay on Zionism’s (and describes as ‘an audaciously lucid gaze at the and emptied-out public spaces carry the Everywhere was the Same will be screened Israel’s) historically hegemonic European ironic twists of history’, Ashkenaz weds wry story of two girls who find themselves alongside Exit (see page 18), Penelope (see ethnic elite. In the director’s own words: wit with explosive political questions so as to in a kind of pre-apocalyptic paradise. page 39), Journey 110 (see page 33), and Videomappings: Aida, Palestine (see page 53). “Ashkenazim—Jews of European origin—are generate a compelling portrait of a complex Inspired by a massacre that took place in Israel’s “white folks.” And like most white political and cultural identity. Gaza during July 2006, Everywhere was folks in a multicultural society, they see the Same retells this event through the themselves as the social norm and don’t Ashkenaz will be followed by a Q&A session with many voices that have come to speak of think of themselves in racial or ethnic terms Director Rachel Leah Jones, chaired by Professor Palestinians and their struggle. Nira Yuval-Davis. Advance booking recommended. because by now, “aren’t we all Israeli?” above: Ashkenaz Most importantly, a speech by Dr. Haidar Yiddish has been replaced with Hebrew, exile Abdel-Shafi at the Madrid peace talks with occupation, the shtetl with the kibbutz emerges as a voice of reason silenced and old-fashioned irony with post-modern in the film by unresolved, melancholic cynicism. But the paradox of whiteness in Director: Rachel Leah Jones nostalgia. Al-Sharif’s art work is composed Director: Basma al-Sharif Israel is that Ashkenazim aren’t exactly “white Duration: 72 min of the sounds of clicking slides, extracts Duration: 12 min folks” historically. A story that begins in the Year: 2007 from a Abdel-Shafi’s speech, a heart- Year: 2007 Type: Documentary Type: Art Rhineland and ends in the holy land (or is it wrenching song by Fairuz, still images of the other way around?), Ashkenaz looks at Date: Wednesday 5th May abandoned houses, cities emptied of their Date: Thursday 6th May whiteness in Israel and wonders: How did Time: 20.15 original inhabitants, and a beautifully Time: 18.15 the “Others” of Europe become the “Europe” Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 right: everywhere was the same embroidered Palestinian gown. Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 16 17 exit fatenah

Exit is the latest collaboration between PART OF A THEMATIC SESSION: Experimental Work and Video Art Fatenah is the first Palestinian animated short PART OF A SPECIAL SESSION: “A Humanitarian Disaster in the Making” Palestinian filmmaker Mohanad Yaqubi and Exit will be screened alongside Everywhere was feature. It tells the story of Fatenah, a warm- Presented in Partnership with Medical Aid for Palestinians French choreographer Jean Gaudin. Taking the Same (see page 17), Penelope (see page 39), hearted woman living in the Gaza Strip with Fatenah will be screened alongside No Way the London Underground as its location, the Journey 110 (see page 33), and Videomappings: her father and sister. Her desires are simple – Through (see page 37) and The Silent War: Israel’s Blockade of Gaza (see page 48). The screenings piece traverses genres – appearing part site- Aida, Palestine (see page 53). to maintain a normal life under the abnormal above: exit below: fatenah will be followed by a panel discussion presented in specific dance performance, part atmospheric conditions in Gaza. But when Fatenah coordination with Medical Aid for Palestinians and architectural exploration, and part video art. discovers a lump near her breast she will be with the participation of Mahmoud Daher (World Featuring stunning cinematography and an compelled to embark on a journey of torment Health Organisation, Gaza Strip), Miri Weingarten award-winning original score, Exit arrives and loss in order to save these simple dreams (Physicians for Human Rights, Israel), and director of at an accomplished fusion of the organic from the shattering cruelties surrounding her. Fatenah, Ahmad Habash. The panel will be chaired and the concrete by playing on the dancer’s Based on a true story, Fatenah poignantly by Andrea Becker, Medical Aid for Palestinians. bodily and emotional encounter with a explores the many struggles standing between claustrophobia underworld of stark lines and Gaza’s population and access to the most threatening machinery. Director: Mohamad Yaqubi essential of health services. The film was Director: Ahmad Habash Duration: 10 min funded by the World Health Organisation and Duration: 28 min Year: 2009 has won several awards internationally. Year: 2009 Type: Art/ Dance Type: Animation

Date: Thursday 6th May Date: Sunday 2nd May Time: 18.15 Time: 16.00 Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1

18 19 first we measured distance for cultural purposes only

In Basma al Sharif’s award-winning video First We Measured Distance will be screened In an age dominated by the moving image PART OF A SPECIAL SESSION: Revolutionary Cinema, Global Resistances art piece, still frames, text, language, and alongside Je Veux Voir (see page 32). what would it feel like to never see an For Cultural Purposes Only will be screened alongside sound are woven together to unfold the image of the place that you came from? Gao Rang (see page 22) and The Red Army / PFLP: narrative of an anonymous group who fill The Palestinian Film Archive contained Declaration of World War (see page 45). their time by measuring distance. Innocent over 100 films showing the daily life and measurements transition into political ones, struggle of the Palestinian people. It was leading to an examination of how image and lost in the Israeli assault of Beirut in 1982. sound communicate history, tragedy, and the In Sarah Wood’s meditation on this loss and complications of Palestinian nationalism. The its significances, interviewees recall from work exposes an ultimate disenchantment Above: for cultural purposes only memory key scenes and moments from the with the power of “facts” when the visual history of Palestinian cinema. The scenes fails to communicate the content of the are each drawn and animated. Where film tragic. Winner of the Jury Prize, Sharjah survives, the interviewee’s impressions Biennale, 2009. Director: Basma al Sharif are “corroborated” by way of the original Director: Sarah Wood Duration: 19 min films. This is a study of reconstruction and Duration: 7 min Year: 2009 of cinema’s involvement in the form-taking Year: 2009 Type: Art Type: Art/ Documentary of cultural identity – of an idea that cinema, Date: Monday 3rd May even in its absence, fuels memory. Date: Tuesday 4th May Time: 18.15 Time: 20.30 Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 left: first we measured distance Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 20 21 gao rang (grilled rice) gaza’s winter

Talk of war is often talk of fighters and midst of the jungle and under conditions Gaza’s Winter is a collection of 12 short (Ramallah), Mathieu Cauville (France), victims. It rarely foregrounds those who of total war. films made by filmmakers from around the Khmais Hmaid (Tunis), Raed al Helou fought with other means. This is a unique world. Winter 2008: the bombardment of (Ramallah), and Omar Hamilton (UK). portrait of those forgotten by the most PART OF A SPECIAL SESSION: Revolutionary Cinema, Global Resistances Gaza leaves some 1,417 Palestinians dead, mediatised war of the 20th century: North- Gao Rang will be screened alongside For Cultural over 10,000 homes destroyed and thousands Gaza’s Winter will be screened alongside Of Flesh Vietnamese cameramen. The film tells the Purposes Only (see page 21) and The Red Army / severely and permanently injured. As these and Blood (see page 38) and Home (see page 24). PFLP: Declaration of World War (see page 45). story of five Viet Cong filmmakers who agonies unfolded, a group of filmmakers risked everything to contribute in film to the based in Ramallah met in an attempt to Vietnamese struggle against imperialism. direct their outrage into a creative collective “Gao Rang” is the grilled rice that these above: gao rang effort. Filmmakers within and beyond cameramen used between 1947 and 1975 Palestine were invited to submit short to protect their equipment and film from works. The result was Gaza’s Winter, a humidity – even when it meant going diverse and often striking collection of global producer: Najwa Najjar hungry themselves. Featuring interviews Claude Grunspan meditations on the war waged on Gaza that Director: Duration: 38 min with the few cameramen who survived 52 min winter. The collection comprises work by the Duration: Year: 2009 2001 the war against the French and one who Year: following directors: Islam al Burbar (Gaza), Type: Various Type: Documentary survived that against the Americans, this Tareq Elayyan (Gaza), Dima Hamdan (UK), Date: Saturday 8th May unique documentary uses remarkable Tuesday 4th May Fahad Jabali (Iceland), Pilar Tavora (Spain), Date: Time: 16.00 20.30 archival footage to recount the heroic birth of Time: Salim Abu Jabal (Golan Heights), George Venue: SOAS, KLT a revolutionary political cinema in the Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 right: gaza’s winter Azar (Palestine/Jordan), Ismail Habbash 22 23 home I am ghazza

Beit Iksa is considered the closest West from the perspective of both Palestinian I Am Ghazza was filmed shortly after the I Am Ghazza will be screened alongside 25 Bank village to Israel, yet it lies between villager and Israeli settler. 2008-9 attack on Gaza. Knowing that media Thousand Tents or More (see page 12). two Israeli settlements that are built on coverage of the attack only told a small part Palestinian land, the separation wall, and Home will be screened alongside Of Flesh and of what was happening, Beseiso left Amman is accessed via a checkpoint. The Israelis Blood (see page 38) and Gaza’s Winter in February 2009 and headed to her parents’ (see page 23). who reside in both the settlements insist hometown in Gaza. Her film addresses the they live in Israeli Jerusalem, yet between social and psychological impacts of the them is Beit Iksa, an Arab village situated in war on the people of Gaza, particularly its occupied Palestine. Home is a portrait of that children, through the testimony of Dr. Eyad tiny village, exploring the indignities and above: I am ghazza Sarraj, a leading psychotherapist. The film contradictions of the Israeli occupation, imparts some of the many individual stories not covered in the media’s account of this devastating war. Director: Claire Fowler Director: Asma Bseiso Duration: 32 min Duration: 46 min Year: 2008 Year: 2009 Type: Documentary Type: Documentary

Date: Saturday 8th May Date: Monday 10th May Time: 16.00 Time: 20.00 Venue: SOAS, KLT left: home Venue: SOAS, KLT 24 25 i am in jerusalem in place

I Am In Jerusalem explores life in won first prize at the 13th Arab Radio and In Place: 4 Returnees from the Lebanese Civil each of these people in vastly different ways. occupied Jerusalem through the eyes of an Television Union Festival in Tunisia. Wars is the latest documentary outcome of Former leaders continue to hold respectable eleven-year-old boy named Abdullah. When extensive research on perpetrators, memory, positions. Their confidence shines through in Abdullah visits Jerusalem for the first time, I Am In Jerusalem will be screened alongside Lesh and violence. Directors Monika Borgmann their interviews. In contrast, former militia the film follows him as he encounters people Sabreen? (see page 34 and The Arson Continues and Lokman Slim (Massaker) offer viewers a “grunts” continue to hold marginalized of various religions, ages, and professions, (see page 46). kaleidoscopic view of the varied conflicts and positions, giving furtive interviews under the having spontaneous conversations with actors involved in Lebanon’s civil wars. The cover of anonymity. each of them. Those he meets express their film revolves around four enigmatic interviews, thoughts about Jerusalem. At one point each a separate “act” in the drama of these UK PREMIERE Abdullah tries to enter the Al Aqsa Mosque wars. Assaad Chaftari tells of his remorse In Place: 4 Returnees from the Lebanese Civil Wars above: I am in jerusalem will be screened alongside Terrace of the Sea (see in order to pray but is prevented from doing over serving as a senior intelligence official page 44). so by Israeli forces. In being deprived of in the Lebanese Forces. An anonymous Amal this basic right, he begins to experience the Movement fighter relates his experiences harsh realities of life in occupied Jerusalem. Director: Mona Jaridi kidnapping people. Elias Atallah, now a Directors: M Borgmann & L Slim Mona Jaridi’s film provides an intimate Duration: 37 min prominent politician, speaks about violence Duration: 52 min portrait of everyday life in Jerusalem through Year: 2007 and its use in politics. Another anonymous Year: 2009 Type: Documentary Type: Documentary Palestinian eyes. As such it also points to a Amal fighter shares his memories of fighting growing sadness as young Abdullah comes Date: Sunday 9th May in two overlooked wars: the War between Date: Monday 3rd May to realise the extent of the occupation’s Time: 14.30 Hezbollah and Amal, and the War of the Time: 16.00 impact on his liberties. I Am In Jerusalem Venue: SOAS, KLT right: in place: 4 returnees from the lebanese civil wars Camps against the Palestinians. Wars fated Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 26 27 intifada nyc jaffa: the orange’s clockwork

The opening of the United States’ first Arabic in form, the film combines its exclusive Jaffa: The Orange’s Clockwork is the new film Visually captivating and politically bold, Sivan’s language public school provoked a firestorm interviews and vérité style with graphic by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Eyal latest weaves a tapestry of archival material of allegations that the school would teach drawings, and is supported by an original Sivan (Route 181: Fragments of a Journey and interviews, ultimately asking what the radical Islam or even produce terrorists. As score blending classical, jazz, and Middle in Palestine-Israel (with Michel Khleifi),The Jaffa Orange’s past might offer for the future in critics and the mainstream media stoked the Eastern flavours. Specialist, Izkor: Slaves of Memory). The film Palestine/Israel. flames in the climate of post-9/11 America, is a political essay excavating the entwined the controversy forced the school’s Arab- Intifada NYC will be screened alongside visual and political histories of that famous UK PREMIERE A Palestinian Mural (see page 14) and Thyme This UK premiere screening of Jaffa: The Orange’s American Muslim principal from her job. citrus fruit originating in Palestine and known Seller (see page 51). Clockwork will be followed by a panel discussion, Intifada NYC follows the principal’s struggle worldwide as the “Jaffa Orange”. While this chaired by Adrian Rifkin, professor of fine art at to get her job back, the outcry against the above: jaffa: the orange’s clockwork orange has been translated into a symbol of Goldsmiths College, with the participation of director school, and the debate provoked about the Zionist enterprise and even the state of Eyal Sivan and Palestinian writer and historian Elias tolerance and freedom of speech. Innovative Israel, for Palestinians it remains a powerful Sanbar. Advance booking recommended. symbol of the loss and destruction of their Director: David Teague Director: Eyal Sivan homeland. By exploring the visual history Duration: 46 min Duration: 86 min of this brand, the film reflects on western Year: 2009 Year: 2009 fantasies related to the ‘Orient’ and ‘Holy Land’. Type: Documentary Type: Documentary It asks after the brand’s attachment to the state Date: Sunday 9th May Date: Sunday 2nd May of Israel and unveils an untold story of what Time: 16.30 Time: 18.15 was once a communal symbol and industry Venue: SOAS, KLT right: intifada nyc Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 shared by Arabs and Jews in Palestine. 28 29 New: special youth session The London Palestine Film Festival and The Palestinian School in London Present: a day of palestinian dance and film for youth Sunday May 9th, 2pm (Venue & Registration Details Below)

NB: Advanced registration only. My Simple Story Director: Izidorre Musalem Adult accompanied by child only. When Sami, a Palestinian boy, is not allowed Duration: 28 min To register, email all names to: to join the search for a donkey that has Year: 2007 [email protected]

th gone missing in the village because he’s too Type: Fiction Registration deadline: 5pm, Friday May 7 young, he sets out on his own search. Sami Date: Sunday 9th May eventually finds the donkey but returning him Time: 14.00 Venue: Palestinian School to his owner is not simple. The donkey tells Sami he is fed up of waiting to return to his family’s home in Haifa, explaining that sixty Followed by years has passed since his grandfather, father A Dabkah Folk Dance Workshop and then he himself were promised return. Sami with the decides to help him and leads This event will take place the donkey on a perilous journey of return... at the Palestinian School, located in: Ravenor Primary School Ruislip Road, NB: The film is in Arabic, with English subtitles. Greenway Gardens, Recommended ages: 8-15 Greenford, London UB6 9TT www.palschool.org

right: my simple story 30 31 je veux voir journey 110

Directed by renowned Lebanese artists overwhelmed by the weight of Deneuve’s In this short art piece, we see ordinary men PART OF A THEMATIC SESSION: Experimental Work and Video Art Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Je celebrity. The destruction she witnesses is and women placing plastic bags over their Journey 110 will be screened alongside Veux Voir is a fiction-documentary hybrid steadily reduced to a set of stagings for the feet, pulling their clothing up to their knees, Everywhere was the Same (see page 17), Exit and the directors’ latest exploration of encounter between this legend of the silver clutching their children to their chests, and (see page 18), Penelope (see page 39), and Videomappings: Aida, Palestine (see page 53). conflict and its visual representation. The screen and a local actor still shaken by the setting off down a 110-metre tunnel of sewage. film’s premise finds Catherine Deneuve immediacy of the war. Visually accomplished This surreal and saddening sight is not staged. on location in Beirut months after the and with a fine original score, the film won Jarrar’s short is shot in one of the few “routes” 2006 war. Anxious “to see” the aftermath the top documentary prize at the 2009 through which Palestinians try to enter of the war, Deneuve is escorted around Gijon International Cine Festival, and was Jerusalem from parts of the West Bank. Shot Beirut and southern Lebanon by local actor celebrated by film critic Peter Bradshaw for above: je veux voir during the month of Ramadan in a sewage Rabih Mrouh. As this “tour” proceeds into its ‘potent and intriguing cinema of ideas’. culvert beneath Beit Hanina (a Palestinian increasingly damaged areas of the country neighbourhood of Jerusalem divided by walls it becomes unpredictable, its purpose and Je Veux Voir will be screened alongside First We and checkpoints), Journey 110 is visually Measured Distance (see page 20). path growing ever less certain. Hadjithomas Directors: J Hadjithomas & K Joreige haunted by half-invisible bodies wading Director: Khaled Jarrar and Joreige have produced a film-essay Duration: 72 min through fetid darkness to reach a distant light Duration: 13 min that subtly explores ways in which media Year: 2008 at its end. Year: 2009 and celebrity conspire to make invisible Type: “Hybrid” Type: Art/ Documentary the very things they aspire “to see”. Date: Monday 3rd May Date: Thursday 6th May Lebanon’s devastation appears fleetingly, Time: 18.15 Time: 18.15 figuring as a form of cinematic backdrop Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 32 33 lesh sabreen? masarat

Mouyad Alayan’s short drama is set in a Lesh Sabreen? will be screened alongside I Am In Masarat (“Travels”) is a collection of four in the collection is Dima Abu Ghoush’s First Palestinian neighbourhood of Jerusalem. Jerusalem (see page 26) and The Arson Continues enigmatic shorts about Palestinian women’s Love, a tender encounter with the innocent Lesh Sabreen? tells the story of two young (see page 46). lives made by leading Palestinian women blooming of love detailed through the lives of lovers as they navigate dreams and dead- filmmakers. The collection was produced by young women who discuss the role parents ends in their socially-conservative and SHASHAT, a Ramallah-based NGO supporting play in their personal lives. Israeli-controlled community. Sabreen and the exhibition and production of global Ayman dream of being together. However, women’s cinema. The collection begins with Masarat will be screened alongside 138 Pounds in Ayman will never be able to care for Sabreen Ghada Terawi’s Golden Pomegranate Seeds, a My Pocket (see page 10) and Thorns and Silk (see in a way that her father would approve of. fairytale about a girl who remains silent in the page 50). Alayan’s award-winning film exposes the above: lesh sabreen? face of tremendous oppression wed to a real layers of authority, from patriarchal social story of the Palestinian women who speak Presented in partnership norms and taboos, to economic pressures out. Far from Loneliness, by Sawsan Qaoud, with Birds Eye View and military occupation, that young then tells the story of three older women Palestinian Jerusalemites face daily. Will the Director: Mouyad Alayan farmers and their taxing pre-dawn journey Directors: G Terawi, S Qaoud, M Nasser- young lovers be able to realize their dreams Duration: 20 min from the field to the vegetable market. They Eldin, D Abu Ghoush in spite of these difficulties? Year: 2009 describe how the earth is their companion Duration: 57 min (total) Year: 2009 Type: Fiction and confidant. Mahasen Nasser-Eldin’sSamia Type: Various Date: Sunday 9th May documents a feisty and committed 71-year- Date: Wednesday 5th May Time: 14.30 old woman’s struggle to remain in Jerusalem Time: 18.15 Venue: SOAS, KLT right: masarat and promote female education. The last film Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 34 35 my heart beats only for her no way through

Inspired by the Vietnamese revolution, a the film, Hatem’s son Hassan examines the No Way Through brings the reality of life PART OF A SPECIAL SESSION: “A Humanitarian Disaster in the Making” call to transform every Arab capital into a memory of Fatah’s “Vietnamese moment” under military occupation uncomfortably Presented in Partnership with Medical Aid for Palestinians “Hanoi for the Palestinian Revolution” echoed in Lebanon. He travels between Beirut, close to home. The city of London is No Way Through will be screened alongside far and wide in the 1960s and 1970s. Dubai, and Hanoi, contemplating these three subjected to military rule. To get to school, Fatenah (see page 19) and The Silent War: Israel’s This documentary delves into encounters cities’ very different, and yet intersecting, go to work, visit friends or reach a hospital, Blockade of Gaza (see page 48). The screenings between the Vietnamese and Palestinian relationships at the level of revolution, it is necessary to navigate a matrix of will be followed by a panel discussion presented in coordination with Medical Aid for Palestinians and experience. It traces remains of these economy, war and urban development. checkpoints and soldiers. Winner of 2009’s with the participation of Mahmoud Daher (World encounters in today’s Beirut, the Arab capital “Ctrl+Alt+Shift” Film Competition, Health Organisation, Gaza Strip), Miri Weingarten which most vividly lived out this notion of UK PREMIERE No Way Through is activist cinema at (Physicians for Human Rights, Israel), and director of an “Arab Hanoi” – from the outbreak of the This UK Premiere screening of My Heart Beats its best. It addresses universal issues of Fatenah, Ahmad Habash. The panel will be chaired Only for Her will be followed by a Q&A session above: my heart beats only for her civil war in 1975 until the withdrawal of injustice by bringing the specifics of the by Andrea Becker, Medical Aid for Palestinians. with director Mohamad Soueid. The session will Palestinian fighters in 1982. My Heart Beats be chaired by Mike Dibb. Advanced booking occupation of Palestine into a world that Only for Her focuses on the story of Hatem recommended. could be all of ours. Hatem, known by his nom de guerre “Abu Director: Mohamad Soueid Director: A Monro & Sheila Menon Hassan Hanoi”. Born in south Lebanon and Duration: 87 min Duration: 7 min affiliated with the Fatah political movement, Year: 2008 Year: 2009 Type: Documentary Type: Fiction Hatem fought for its brigades. After the Israeli invasion, he lost his connection with Fatah, Date: Monday 3rd May Date: Sunday 2nd May returning to his native village and distancing Time: 20.15 Time: 16.00 Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 himself from political activity. Throughout left: no way through Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 36 37 of flesh and blood penelope

With Of Flesh and Blood, first time Of Flesh and Blood will be screened alongside Home In this short video art piece by Samer PART OF A THEMATIC SESSION: Experimental Work and Video Art documentary director Azza Shaaban provides (see page 24) and Gaza’s Winter (see page 23). Salameh, the myth of Penelope is reimagined Penelope will be screened alongside Everywhere a thoughtful Egyptian perspective on the in terms of the Palestinian reality of exile was the Same (see page 17), Exit (see page 18), siege in Gaza, taking us on a short but and the faithful wait for return. As Penelope Journey 110 (see page 33), and Videomappings: intense journey through the Gaza Strip. (an elderly Palestinian woman) weaves Aida, Palestine (see page 53). Filmed over 5 days, during a brief and below: of flesh and blood above: penelope a woollen sweater, her husband grows unofficial opening of the border between distracted in his own waiting, and begins Egypt and Gaza, Shaaban’s exploration inadvertently unravelling the same sweater. was conducted without a crew or shooting Salameh suggests the wool as a thread of schedule. Operating alone with only a time and loyalty, separating Penelope from small digital camera, the director enters Palestine, while extending eternal and Gaza to encounter those living under siege forever re-beginning. and returns bearing this testimony to their determination to bring dignity to their day to Director: Azza Shaaban Director: Samer Salameh day lives. Duration: 27 min Duration: 4 min Year: 2009 Year: 2009 Type: Documentary Type: Art

Date: Saturday 8th May Date: Thursday 6th May Time: 16.00 Time: 18.15 Venue: SOAS, KLT Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1

38 39 perforated memory pomegranates and myrrh

Perforated Memory tells the story of a group Perforated Memory forms part of the closing night Pomegranates and Myrrh is the debut family continues to fight against confiscation of ex-guerrillas (Fedayeen) who were active of the second week of the 2010 London Palestine feature length work by Najwa Najjar of their lands. Kamar’s life is thrown into members in the Palestinian Revolution Film Festival. It will be screened alongside Six (Yasmine’s Song). Bold in subject matter and turmoil as she becomes increasingly attached Floors to Hell (see page 43). Movement during different stages of the lyrical in style, the film challenges a series of to Kais, caught between her desire to dance struggle. Many wounded guerrillas reside taboos while foregrounding the experiences and her anxiety over breaking taboos over today in Jordan where they have suffered of women in the daily Palestinian struggle. the role of a prisoner’s wife’s. from poverty, neglect and a certain “amnesia” Dancer Kamar’s joyful wedding to Zaid amongst others regarding the sacrifices and is followed almost immediately by Zaid’s Pomegranates and Myrrh will be followed by heroism entailed in their contributions to the imprisonment in an Israeli jail for refusing a discussion with director Najwa Najjar in struggle. Sandra Madi’s heartbreaking film to relinquish his land. Free-spirited Kamar conversation with Ali Jafaar. Advance booking above: pomegranates and myrrh recommended. shows that the journey from revered images wants to support her husband but struggles of freedom fighters upholding a just cause, to with the idea of giving up dance and her those of dejected elderly men in worn clothing, own dreams. Matters are complicated when perhaps physically or mentally disabled, seems Director: Sandra Madi a new dance instructor, Kais, returns after Director: Najwa Najjar short indeed. Perforated Memory asks how Duration: 62 min many years in Lebanon and takes a special Duration: 95 min the political events and personal narratives Year: 2008 interest in Kamar. As she struggles to deal Year: 2008 contributing to collective memory have been Type: Documentary with the weight of Kais’s attention, the Type: Fiction deformed to arrive at this tragic forgetfulness. Date: Friday 14th May tension of balancing her own desires with Date: Sunday 2nd May Madi’s film won top prize at Beirut’s Docudays Time: 18.15 her duties as the wife of a prisoner are Time: 20.30 2009 Festival. Venue: SOAS, KLT brought to the surface. Meanwhile Zaid’s Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 40 41 port of memory six floors to hell

Port of Memory follows the family of the UK. The second week of the Festival, which Out of the darkness beneath Tel Aviv, preserve their dignity: “In the dark”, says filmmaker after they receive an order to relocates to SOAS, Russell Square, begins with emerge human forms and ghostly voices. Jalal, “the only thing left is to think about evacuate their home in ‘Ajami, Jaffa’s once- a screening of Aljafari’s previous work, The At Geha Junction, one of the busiest is love.” prosperous sea-front neighbourhood. Their Roof – the director joins us for both screenings. intersections in the Tel Aviv area, hundreds lives and those of other residents are thrown of Palestinians are living underground. Six Floors to Hell forms part of the closing night of the second week of the 2010 London Palestine Film into disarray as they lack the means to fight UK PREMIERE Young and old, they slip into Israel to find Festival. It will be screened alongside Perforated back. Radically poetic, Port of Memory is a Port of Memory will be preceded by a screening of work and bring a small wage home to their 1983 by Modi Barry (see page 11). This UK Premiere Memory (see page 40). reflection on the absurdity of being at once families under occupation. Their hiding of Port of Memory will be followed by a Q&A session absent and present as a Palestinian living with the director, chaired by associate Professor place at night is in the underground car within Israel today. But Aljafari’s (The Roof) Nadia Yaqub. Advance booking recommended. above: port of memory park of an abandoned, unfinished shopping new film is far more than a documentary. mall, hidden from view despite its central Fashioned out of an intoxicating blend of location. They pass most nights of the expressionistic, verité, and reflective genre week here, six floors below the ground. styles, this is a statement of iconoclastic Director: Kamal Aljafari One of the mall’s “residents” is Jalal who Director: Jonathan Ben Efrat/ creative intent from one of the most exciting Duration: 63 min puts up with this hell in order to save Video ‘48 Collective voices to emerge in Palestinian cinema for Year: 2009 money for his wedding while Nisrin, his Duration: 52 min Type: “Hybrid” Year: 2008 a generation. Beautifully shot and densely fiancé, waits for him to finish building the Type: Documentary layered, Port of Memory brings the first week Date: Thursday 6th May roof for their new home in Salem, Date: Friday 14th May of the 2010 Palestine Film Festival to a close Time: 20.15 the West Bank. Under these subterranean Time: 18.15 and is screened here for the first time in the Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 right: six floors to hell and subhuman conditions, the men try to Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 42 43 terrace of the sea The Red Army / PFLP: Declaration of World War

Terrace of the Sea (Jal el Bahar) was shot seen. Director Diana Allan is In 1971 Koji Wakamatsu and Masao Adachi, on a key chapter of collaboration between in 2008 in an unofficial Palestinian Bedouin co-director of the Nakba Archive, and already the renowned enfants terribles of Japanese and Palestinian revolutionaries and gathering established in 1948 on a stretch an anthropologist specialising in visual Japanese cinema, stopped in Beirut on their filmmakers and remains striking testimony to of beach north of Tyre, in south Lebanon. and oral memory. way back from the Cannes Film Festival. the shared optimism and commitment of the Structured around a collection of family There, in collaboration with a newly-emerging PFLP and JRA’s young cadre. photographs taken over three generations, UK PREMIERE Japanese Red Army (JRA) cadre and leaders of Terrace of the Sea will be screened alongside In PART OF A SPECIAL SESSION: Revolutionary Cinema, Global Resistances the film engages with the historical the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Place: 4 Returnees from the Lebanese Civil Wars (PFLP) including Ghassan Kanafani and The Red Army / PFLP: Declaration of World War experience of this community by focusing (see page 27). will be screened alongside Gao Rang (see page 22) Leila Khaled, they produced this newsreel- on their precarious relationship with the and For Cultural Purposes Only (see page 21). style depiction of the everyday activities environment, and in particular on the role above: the red army/ pflp of Palestinian fighters so as to call for a that the sea plays in their lives. Terrace of worldwide Maoist revolution. The Red Army the Sea examines the experiences of the / PFLP Declaration of World War sometimes Ibrahim family – not simply through the seems technically crude compared to prism of nationalist politics, but also through Director: Diana Allan Directors: Masao Adachi & Duration: 54 min Wakamatsu and Adachi’s larger oeuvre. But it Koji Wakamatsu their relationship to work and to the physical Year: 2009 is ultimately the film’s urgency and unashamed Duration: 69 min Type: Documentary environment. More broadly, the film is a militancy that sets it apart from that better- Year: 1971 meditation on the process of memory and on Type: Propaganda/ Documentary Date: Monday 3rd May known work – in which the two had been Date: Tuesday 4th May the distances between photography and film, Time: 16.00 compelled to circumnavigate the Japanese Time: 20.30 land and sea – between seeing and being Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 left: terrace of the sea censor. It offers a rare and tantalising window Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 44 45 the arson continues the secret world

On August 21st 1969 a fire broke out in The Arson Continues will be screened alongside The Secret World is a fiction feature film set children, by children, and suitable for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem. The fire I Am In Jerusalem (see page 26) and Lesh in Ramallah. Adapting “Lord of the Flies”, children. The film’s script and story were did untold damage and much controversy Sabreen? (see page 34). William Golding’s classic, dark story of young developed with the children who play within surrounds the motivation of the arsonist British schoolboys on a deserted island who it, as part of a participatory project led by who caused it as well as the efforts descend into brutality, The Secret World director Nicholas Rowe, who joins us for the of Israeli authorities to extinguish it. follows a group of Palestinian school children screening to discuss this unique project’s Hamdan’s documentary discusses the who wake up one day to find all the adults creative development and content. most important activities involved in the have disappeared. Confined in the West subsequent restoration of the mosque and Bank by a massive encircling wall, they are Following the screening, director Nicholas Rowe will be in conversation with Mark Zeitoun about the rescue and protection of its valuable left to form their own society and rules. Part above: the arson continues the film and the project of its making. manuscripts. Through eye-witness accounts, mystery thriller, part political satire, The the historical importance of the mosque and Secret World examines what happens to a Israel’s reaction to the fire of 1969 is explored. society when it is cut off from both outside Director: Bashar Hamdan influences and its own heritage. As such it Director: Nicholas Rowe Duration: 52 min provides a fascinating doorway into issues Duration: 65 min Year: 2009 such as democracy, human rights, social co- Year: 2009 Type: Documentary Type: Fiction operation and rule of law – all through the Date: Sunday 9th May eyes of children. Date: Tuesday 11th May Time: 14.30 While engaging in this way with an adult Time: 18.15 Venue: SOAS, KLT right: the secret world audience, The Secret World is a film about Venue: SOAS, KLT 46 47 the silent war the time that remains

Israel’s blockade of Gaza has been in place PART OF A SPECIAL SESSION: “A Humanitarian Disaster in the The Time That Remains is a powerful series of historic and personal events across for almost three years. The Silent War: Israel’s Making” Presented in Partnership with Medical Aid personal depiction of Palestine since 1948 Palestine’s history. Laced with the director’s Blockade of Gaza was commissioned by for Palestinians by Elia Suleiman, the acclaimed director characteristic wit, The Time That Remains UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. The Silent War: Israel’s Blockade of Gaza will be of Divine Intervention and Chronicle of a has been celebrated as Suleiman’s most The film explores the consequences of this screened alongside No Way Through (see page Disappearance. In Suleiman’s own words complex and rewarding work to date. 37) and Fatenah (see page 19). The screenings crippling siege. The blockade has meant the this “is a semi-biographical film in four will be followed by a panel discussion with the On the Friday 30th April opening night screening, delay or denial of a wide range of items (food, participation of Mahmoud Daher (World Health episodes, about a family, my family, from the film will be introduced by director Elia industrial, educational, medical) deemed “non- Organisation, Gaza Strip), Miri Weingarten 1948 until recent times. The film is inspired Suleiman. The Saturday 1st May screening will essential” for a population unable to be self- (Physicians for Human Rights, Israel), and director of by my father’s private diaries, starting be followed by a Q&A with the director. Advance Fatenah, Ahmad Habash. The panel will be chaired sufficient after decades of de-development. above: the time that remains from when he was a resistance fighter in booking is recommended for both events. The blockade prevents access by sea, land and by Andrea Becker, Medical Aid for Palestinians. 1948, and by my mother’s letters to family air, effectively sealing off a population of 1.5 members who were forced to leave the million Palestinians from the outside world. country since that time. Combined with my This short film examines what the blockade Director: Kashfi Halford intimate memories of them and with them, Director: Elia Suleiman means for the people of Gaza, as they struggle Duration: 10 min the film attempts to portray the daily life Duration: 105 min to rebuild their lives over a year after Operation Year: 2010 of those Palestinians who remained and Year: 2009 Type: Fiction Cast Lead (Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip of Type: Documentary were labelled ‘Israeli-Arabs’, living as a Date: Friday 30th April & Saturday Winter 2008-9). Date: Sunday 2nd May minority in their own homeland.” The film 1st May Time: 16.00 finds Suleiman reprising his enigmatic role Time: 19.45 (Fri), 14.00 (Sat) Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 left: the silent war as “E.S.” – witness and participant in a Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 48 49 thorns and silk thyme seller

Thorns and Silk tells four fascinating stories Thorns and Silk will be screened alongside 138 Thyme Seller portrays the daily life of the Thyme Seller will be screened alongside from the West Bank, Palestine. These Pounds in My Pocket (see page 10) and Masarat director’s mother – a Palestinian woman A Palestinian Mural (see page 14) and Intifada NYC comprise a series of encounters with women (see page 35). from the Jerusalem area who plants and (see page 28). who work in male-dominated professions. collects thyme on her land near the pre-1967 Presented in partnership All four have the courage to break social with Birds Eye View “Green Line” in order to sell it for a living. norms, but not without challenges. We dip Every day, she collects the thyme and walks into the life of a wedding filmmaker, who through the streets of Beit Jala, knocking films women-only wedding parties in the on doors one after the other, trying to sell conservative city of Hebron. We hear the the herb to support her family. This moving stories of a female taxi driver who works in above: thorns and silk portrait is new director Taha Awadallah’s the west of Jerusalem. We discover a young graduation project: ‘It’s the least I can do to police trainee at the national police academy. reward my mother’. And we learn about the hardships of life in Nablus from a mother who takes on male Director: Paulina Tervo Director: Taha Awadallah roles to keep her family business going. Duration: 13 min Duration: 24 min Year: 2009 Year: 2009 Type: Documentary Type: Documentary

Date: Wednesday 5th May Date: Sunday 9th May Time: 18.15 Time: 16.30 Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 right: thyme seller Venue: SOAS, KLT 50 51 to shoot an elephant videomappings: aida, palestine

Israel declared the besieged Gaza Strip well as the Human Rights / Human Wrongs Till Roeskens employs an ingenious device concealed: leaving only voices and scribbled an “enemy entity” in 2007. In the winter Film Festival, the film’s unflinching portrayal to lend these oral testimonies by refugees in signs. (Text adapted from Nicolas Féodoroff, of 2008-9, it launched a massive military testifies to the full horrors of the 2008-9 the Aida camp of the West Bank a striking FID-Marseille) offensive against this “entity” – operation war on Gaza. visual dimension. On screen: nothing but “Cast Lead”. Despite a ban on foreign another screen. At first untouched, a blank PART OF A THEMATIC SESSION: Experimental Work and Video Art correspondents and humanitarian aid The screening will be followed by a discussion sheet of paper is slowly filled with lines. Videomappings: Aida, Palestine will be screened with director Alberto Arce and activist and Then these lines grow, push and cross each alongside Everywhere was the Same (see page workers entering Gaza during this offensive, journalist Ewa Jasiewicz. 17), Exit (see page 18), Penelope (see page 39), other, to finally form a drawing, a layout. members of the International Solidarity and Journey 110 (see page 33). Movement had managed to enter and were They unfold a topography, mark places, build houses, give directions, describe tangles of present in Gaza as the bombing began on above: to shoot an elephant roads and obstacles. In essence, they are December, 27th 2008. Together with two laying down “flat biographies”. Six sheets correspondents from Al Jazeera International slowly come to life in this way, following (Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros), the rhythms of stories told by children, these activists stayed in Gaza throughout Directors: Alberto Arce & Director: Till Roeskens Mohammad Rujailah women or men, people we never get to see. Duration: 46 min the offensive, gaining access to hospitals, Duration: 112 min Where are these voices? Behind the sheets. Year: 2009 ambulances and homes to produce this Year: 2009 Of course, but where else? Exile, mourning, Type: Art harrowing first-hand account of the war. Type: Documentary Date: Thursday 13th May divided space, it all creates a slow-motion Date: Thursday 6th May An Official Selection at the Amsterdam Time: 18.15 animation, the visible testimony of an Time: 18.15 International Documentary Film Festival as Venue: SOAS, KLT right: videomappings: aida, palestine experience whose protagonists are de facto Venue: Barbican, Cinema 1 52 53 welcome to hebron welcome to inspection point

Filmed in Hebron, the West Bank, this debut Welcome to Hebron will be screened alongside This informative documentary is a journey Welcome to Inspection Point will be screened documentary by Swedish journalist Terje Welcome to Inspection Point (see page 55). through the West Bank with Palestinians alongside Welcome to Hebron (see page 54). The screenings will be introduced by the director of Carlsson is centred around a touching portrait who have lived under occupation for Welcome to Inspection Point, Alana Avery. of 17-year old Leila Sarsour. A student at decades. They face daily oppression not the Al-Qurtuba school, Leila’s home and just at check-points and road-blocks, but community is surrounded by Israeli military extending into their schools, homes and outposts, checkpoints and settlements. Leila businesses. Encircled by The Separation speaks about the oppression that impacts Wall, geographically fractured by fences upon her life and those of her friends and or road closures, forced to live in refugee family – in the form of relentless attacks, right: welcome to hebron camps, and surrounded by surveillance harassment and bullying by soldiers and towers and soldiers, this is everyday life settlers. Carlsson’s film is at once a portrait in the West Bank. Filmed on a minuscule of one young woman’s daily triumphs over budget as part of a student report, Alana oppression and adversity, and of the tortured Director: Terje Carlsson Avery’s documentary is a first-hand insight Director: Alana Avery city of Hebron itself. Duration: 55 min Duration: 30 min Year: 2007 into the many impediments to normal life for Year: 2006 Type: Documentary Palestinians living under occupation. Type: Documentary

Date: Monday 10th May Date: Monday 10th May Time: 18.15 Time: 18.15 Venue: SOAS, KLT left: welcome to inspection point Venue: SOAS, KLT 54 55 zahara the roof

Zahara has all the passion of Mohammad UK PREMIERE Part essayistic meditation, part family UK PREMIERE Bakri’s award-winning 2002 documentary, Zahara will be screened alongside the UK premier portrait, The Roof is an eloquent, understated The Roof opens the second week of the 2010 Jenin Jenin, wed to a lyrical narrative of Sahera Dirbas’s new documentary, A Handful of exploration of physical and psychic place Palestine Film Festival, as screenings relocate from spanning a generation of Palestinian history. Earth (see page 13). developed via an account of filmmaker Kamal The Barbican to the SOAS venue, Russell Square. Zahara is a Palestinian woman, from the Aljafari’s family history. Returning to his This UK premiere screening will be followed by a Q&A session with director Kamal Aljafari, chaired village of al-Bane in the Galilee. Beginning parents’ and grandmother’s homes in Ramle by Yael Friedman. with her childhood before the 1948 war, and Jaffa, now part of Israel, Aljafari uses Bakri’s compelling new documentary takes elegant cinematography, unhurried rhythms, us through the country’s turbulent history, and fragmented narrative to ask how space, as seen through the eponymous heroine’s Right: zahara above: the roof time, and history have been moulded by eyes, and the perspectives of those around politics and Israeli institutionalized neglect. her. As Zahara grows, we experience the The roof of the title is an absent one, on the violent establishment of Israel, subsequent unfinished house where his family has lived life under martial law (1948-1966), and the Director: Mohammad Bakri since their resettlement in 1948. It functions Director: Kamal Aljafari radical transformation of Palestinian society Duration: 63 min as a place of waiting marked by constant Duration: 61 min from a majority to a disenfranchised minority Year: 2009 deferral. Curator Jean-Pierre Rehm has called Year: 2006 in their own homeland. Type: Documentary the film “as much a stylistic as a political Type: Fiction Date: Saturday 8th May manifesto” that “reveals not so much the Date: Friday 7th May Time: 14.00 meaning of an absent roof, but the architecture Time: 19.15 Venue: SOAS, KLT of identity, place, and present pasts.” Venue: SOAS, KLT 56 57 SOAS HPL 10/19/05 5:32 PM Page 1

School of Oriental and African Studies • University of London •57 languages of Asia and Africa •Modern Standard Arabic •Colloquial Egyptian Arabic festival diary •Levantine Arabic Friday 30th April (Opening Gala) tuesday 4th May Saturday 8th May •Gulf Arabic 19:45 The Time That Remains 18:15 As the Poet Said + Q&A 14:00 A Handful of Earth + Zahara SOAS Saturday 1st May 20:30 SPECIAL SESSION: Revolutionary 16:00 Home + Of Flesh and Blood + Gaza’s Winter 14:00 The Time That Remains + Q&A Cinema, Global Resistances th For Cultural Purposes Only + Gao Rang Sunday 9 May •Quranic Arabic nd 14:00 Special Youth Programme (See p. 30) Sunday 2 May (Grilled Rice) + The Red Army / PFLP: 16:00 SPECIAL SESSION: “A Humanitarian Disaster in the Making” Declaration of World War 14:30 Lesh Sabreen? + I am In Jerusalem + • th The Arson Continues Modern Hebrew Language The Silent War: Israel’s Blockade Wednesday 5 May of Gaza + No Way Through + Fatenah 18:15 Thorns and Silk + Masarat + 16:30 A Palestinian Mural + Intifada NYC •Biblical Hebrew + Panel Discussion 138 Pounds in My Pocket + Thyme Seller 18:15 Jaffa: The Orange’s Clockwork 20:15 Ashkenaz + Q&A Monday 10th May centre + Panel Discussion Thursday 6th May 18:15 Welcome to Inspection Point + centre Welcome to Hebron •Daytime, evening, intensive and Diploma courses 20:30 Pomegranates and Myrrh + Q&A 18:15 SPECIAL SESSION: New Experimental Works Penelope + Everywhere was the Same Monday 3rd May 20:00 25 Thousand Tents or More + + Exit + Journey 110 + Videomappings: I am Ghazza 16:00 Terrace of the Sea + In Place: Aida, Palestine •Experienced native-speaker teachers 4 Returnees from the Lebanese Civil Wars Tuesday 11th May 20:15 1983 + Port of Memory + Q&A 18:15 The Secret World + Q&A 18:15 First We Measured Distance + Je Veux SOAS Language Centre, School of Oriental and African Studies Voir (I Want to See) WEEK 2: All Screenings at SOAS, Russell Square Thursday 13th May 18:15 To Shoot an Elephant + Q&A University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG 20:15 My Heart Beats Only for Her + Q&A Friday 7th May th Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4888 Fax: +44 (0)20 7898 4889 19:15 The Roof + Q&A Friday 14 May 18:15 Six Floors to Hell + Perforated Memory E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre 58 59 Tickets for screenings at the Barbican Cinema cost £9.50 on the door, £7.50 in advance (£7.50 concession any time). Book three films or more and each ticket is reduced to £6 when you book online. FORE STREET Barbican Box Office: www.barbican.org.uk/film Barbican Centre School of Oriental and African Studies Tel: 0845 120 7527 Silk St., London EC2Y 8DS Thornhaugh St. (10am - 8pm Mon-Sat. & 12 - 6pm Sun.) Nearest tubes: Barbican, Russell Square, London WC1H OXG Moorgate, Liverpool St. Nearest tubes: Russell Square, Box Office: 0845 120 7527 Goodge St., Euston,Warren St. SOAS Screenings at SOAS are free and unticketed.