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2009 New Orleans Middle East Film Festival
Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Art Center Presents the 2009 New Orleans Film Festival, "Scream" Latest Paintings by Contemporary Egyptian Artist Haitham and Photographs and Videos From the New Orleans Human Rights Delegation's Mission to Gaza.
November 12 through 22, 2009
1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. www.nolamideastfilmfest.blogspot.com <http://www.nolamideastfilmfest.blogspot.com>
(504) 827-5858 (recording) or (504) 352-1150 (real person) www.zeitgeistinc.net <http://www.zeitgeistinc.net>
This year’s film festival will feature Acclaimed and Award-winning new films from or about Afghanistan, Anatolia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates shown over eleven nights with food, music, and visual art.
Sponsored by the GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL, NEW ORLEANS PALESTINE SOLIDARITY, PATOIS: NEW ORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL, NEW ORLEANS HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATION, TORONTO PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL, VOICES BEYOND WALLS, NEW ORLEANS CHARITABLE FILM NETWORK, ARAB FILM DISTRIBUTION / TYPECAST FILMS, WOMEN MAKE MOVIES, CINEMA GUILD, ICARUS FILMS, REGENT RELEASING, FACETS MULTI-MEDIA, CINEMA LIBRE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ENTERTAINMENT, NEW ORLEANS CONSULATE DE FRANCE, BRITISH FILM INTITUTE, KRUZ BOUTIQUE, ATTIKI BAR & GRILL, GENERAL UNION OF PALESTINE STUDENTS (U.N.O.), ARTEEAST, WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS and ZEITGEIST INC. SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OF THE DEDICATED FILMMAKERS, DISTRIBUTORS, PATRONS AND OUR VOLUNTEERS WHO MAKE THIS FESTIVAL POSSIBLE.
Festival Passes are available now for only $50. After November 1st passes are $75 (includes admission to all festival events)
Individual Tickets: $8 general/ $7 students or seniors/ $6 members/ $3 patrons. Advanced tickets will go on sale Friday, November 6th
2009 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:
Thursday, November 12:
6:00 p.m. – Opening Reception
7:30 p.m. – LEARNING FROM LIGHT THE VISIONS OF I.M. PEI (Qatar)
9:30 p.m. – SLINGSHOT HIP HOP (Palestine)
Friday, November 13:
5:30 p.m. – LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL (Palestine)
7:30 p.m. – THE OLIVE HARVEST (Palestine)
9:30 p.m. – TASTE OF THE REVOLUTION (Palestine) AFGHAN MUSCLE (Afghanistan)
Saturday, November 14:
1:30 p.m. – SAUDI SOLUTIONS (Saudi Arabia)
3:30 p.m. – VEILED VOICES and SHEIKA STORIES (Egypt, Lebanon, Syria)
5:30 p.m. – VOICES BEYOND WALLS – YOUTH VISIONS OF JERUSALEM (Palestine)
7:30 p.m. – A FEW KILOS OF DATES (Iran)
9:30 p.m. – FILMS OF CHRISTOPHE KARABACHE: Program I (Lebanon) *
Sunday, November 15:
1:30 p.m. – MY FATHER AND MY SON (Turkey)
3:30 p.m. – REMNANTS OF WAR (Lebanon)
5:30 p.m. – NEW ORLEANS HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATION (Palestine)*
7:30 p.m. – GAZA DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL: Program I (Palestine)
9:30 p.m. – FILMS OF CHRISTOPHE KARABASCHE: Program II (Palestine)*
Monday, November 16:
5:30 p.m. – CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE: NAKBA DALIES (Palestine)*
7:30 p.m. – GAZA DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL: Program II (Palestine)
9:30 p.m. – FILMS OF TAGREED SAADEH & LIFESOURCE (Palestine)*
Tuesday, November 17:
5:30 p.m. – CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE: DAILY NAKBAS (Palestine)*
7:30 p.m. – GAZA DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL: Program III (Palestine)
9:30 p.m. – B.H. YAEL’S PALESTINE TRILOGY (Palestine)*
Wednesday, November 18:
5:30 p.m. – CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE: HOMELAND WITHOUT ID (PAPERS) (Palestine)*
7:30 TATIL KITABI (SUMMER BOOK) (Turkey)
9:30 p.m. – EGYPT WE ARE WATCHING YOU (Egypt)
Thursday, November 19:
5:30 p.m. – CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE: IDENTITY WITHPUT A HOMELAND (Palestine) *
7:30 p.m. – BUDDHA COLLAPSED OUT OF SHAME (Iran/Afghanistan)
9:30 p.m. – SHIRIN (Iran)
Friday, November 20:
5:30 p.m. – CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE: TALK ABOUT A RETURN (Palestine) *
7:30 p.m. – MOMMO (THE BOGEYMAN) (Anatolia/Turkey)
9:30 p.m. – THE SONG OF SPARROWS (Iran)
Saturday, November 21:
1:30 p.m. – SYRIA: CHESS MATCH AT THE BOARDERS
3:30 p.m. – CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE: RETURN OF THE TALK (Palestine) *
5:30 p.m. – CAIRO STATION (Egypt)
7:30 p.m. – GARBAGE DREAMS (Egypt)
9:30 p.m. – CITY OF BORDERS (Palestine/Israel)
Sunday, November 22:
3:30 p.m. – SALATA BALADI (EGYPTIAN SALAD) (Egypt)
5:30 p.m. – RECYCLE (Jordan)
7:30 p.m. – AMREEKA (Palestine)
9:30 p.m. – CLOSING RECEPTION/AWARDS
Events with an * indicate the filmmaker is expected to attend.
Also on Exhibit throughout the Festival:
RECENT PAINTINGS BY EMERGING EGYPTIAN ARTIST HAITHAM EID. Haitham Eid was born in Egypt in 1978. Eid was introduced to the art world in a very young age. His father is Abdelrazek Eid, a well-known Egyptian artist and businessman. He received his Masters Degree in Museum Studies from Southern University at New Orleans, USA in 2008 and his Bachelor’s in Archaeology from Cairo University, Egypt in 1999. Haitham is currently an Art Teacher at Andrew H. Wilson Charter School here in New Orleans. On view nightly through December 30th. www.HaithamEid.com <http://www.HaithamEid.com>
OFFICIAL OPENING NIGHT FILM:
Thursday, November 12 @ 7:30 p.m.
LEARNING FROM LIGHT: THE VISION OF I.M. PEI by Bo Landin and Sterling Van Wagenen. Culture. Nature. Light: These elements provide the structure for a documentary film that explores the vision of one of the world's master architects, I.M. Pei and his newest creation; the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. I.M. Pei has spent his storied career creating designs for some of the world’s most treasured structures, including Paris’s Pyramide du Louvre and The National Gallery in Washington D.C., already 88 years old when he accepted the commission, Chinese-American I.M. Pei embarked on another spectacular odyssey, it turned out to be on of his toughest yet; "Very frankly, I didn't feel qualified...my acceptance of the commission was conditional based on my learning something about the history of Islam." LEARNING FROM LIGHT chronicles Pei’s adventures as he traveled the Islamic world from Spain to Cairo on a journey of discovery to research the culture, history and landscape that would inform the project. Pei searched for inspiration in the ancient origins of desert architecture and translated his findings into one of the most complex building projects of his career. Pei spent a year immersing himself in the art, architecture and culture of the Middle East. This remarkable humility in the face of enormous creative challenges allows him to balance the often competing demands of form and function and realize a building that is stylistically his own, yet serves as a 'stage' for the human being. "It is the light of the desert that transforms the architecture into a play on light and shadow...if one could find the heart of Islamic architecture; might it not lie in the desert, severe and simple in its design, where sunlight brings forms to life?" By using Mr. Pei's sketches, architectural renderings, models, and thorough interviews with Pei and his close collaborators, the film attempts to understand "...the where, the when, and the why that a work must address, convincingly and eloquently and with style.." To Pei this is the heart of architecture... As he says: "Islamic architecture has a desert origin, and therefore it has a certain modesty I don't want to lose." His design for the museum has been hailed universally as a major masterpiece of contemporary architecture. BO LANDIN is the founder of Slickrock Films in the US and Scandinature Films in Sweden. He has more than fifty international awards. STERLING VAN WAGENEN was the co-founder of the Sundance Film Festival and the first executive director of the Sundance Institute. He produced the Academy Award®-winning TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL. (85 mins. Qatar)
Thursday, November 12 @ 9:30 p.m.
SLINGSHOT HIP HOP by Jackie Salloum. Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them. Slingshot Hip Hop is narrated by Suhell, whose older brother Tamer is DAM's front man. After examining the roots of that group, we meet several of the groups they inspired, including PR (Palestinian Rapperz), whose members live in the prison-like Gaza, unable to leave to meet their fellow hip-hoppers in person. It's when the focus is on those injustices and hardships that the film is at its most powerful. There's a particularly sad segment about kids living in a refugee camp that put on an illegal rap show and wind up in prison on trumped-up charges. Featuring Palestinian hip hop artists DAM, PR (Palestinian Rapperz), ABEER a.k.a. SABREENA DA WITCH, ARAPEYAT, MAHMOUD SHALABI from AKKA, etc. Winner Audience Awards – Beirut Film Festival, Doxbox Film Festival, Films De Femmes and Festival De Libertes. (83 mins. Palestine)
OFFICIAL CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Sunday, November 22 @ 7:30 p.m.
AMREEKA by Cherien Dabis. Amreeka chronicles the adventures of Muna, a Palestinian single mother who leaves the West Bank in Ramallah with Fadi, her teenage son, with dreams of an exciting future in the promised land of small town Illinois. In America, as her son navigates high school hallways the way he used to move through military checkpoints, the indomitable Muna scrambles together a new life cooking up burgers (and the occasional falafel) at the local White Castle. Told with heartfelt humor by writer-director Cherien Dabis in her feature film debut, Amreeka is a universal journey into the lives of a family of immigrants and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new world in which they now live and the bittersweet search for a place to call home. Amreeka recalls Dabis’s family’s memories of their lives in rural America during the first Iraq War. The film stars Haifa-trained actress Nisreen Faour as Muna, and Melkar Muallen plays her 16-year-old son, Fadi. Also in the cast are Hiam Abbass (The Visitor, The Lemon Tree, The Syrian Bride), Alia Shawkat (Whip It), Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler. Shot in Ramallah and Winnipeg, this Palestinian/Canadian comedy won the International Critics Prize at Cannes; the Humanitas Prize and the Heartland “Truly Moving Picture” Award. Co-presented by Patois: New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. (96 mins. Palestine) Screens with LIKE ALMOND BLOSSOMS (3 mins. Palestine)
Closing reception/Audience Awards Ceremony to follow AMREEKA.
Film series in the Festival:
Zeitgeist is very proud to announce that the NEW ORLEANS MIDDLE EAST FILM FESTIVAL has officially partnered with the inaugural GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL, the first film festival organized by Palestinians for Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
In solidarity with the people of Gaza, Zeitgeist will present three evenings of World or U.S. Premiere films from the Gaza festival here in New Orleans as they are screening in Palestine.
Also on Sunday, November 15 and Wednesday, November 18, Zeitgeist will participate (via video conference) with the opening ceremony and Closing night/Awards Ceremony of the Gaza Festival, which is being broadcast live internationally on Al-jazeera TV.
Audiences here in New Orleans will present an “AUDIENCE AWARD” via closed circuit live on Al-jazeera TV. Very exciting!
This historic co-presentation by the GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL and the NEW ORLEANS MIDDLE EAST FILM FESTIVAL is co-presented by the NEW ORLEANS HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATION and PATOIS: NEWORLEANS INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL.
http://gazafestival.ps
http://nolamideastfilmfest.blogspot.com/
PALESTINIAN FILMS FROM THE GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL:
Sunday, November 15 @ 7:30 p.m.
GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL – PROGRAM 1
STRANGER IN MY HOME / JERUSALEM by Sahera Dirbas. Stranger in My Home – Jerusalem is the most recent work by filmmaker Sahera Dirbas, who lives in Jerusalem but hails originally from Haifa. It was released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza in June 1967. The film relates the stories of eight Palestinian Jerusalemite families that have been turned refugees in their own city. They recall the events that occurred in the Moghrabi Quarter of Jerusalem during the 1967 war. Each family goes to see its house which was occupied in 1948. The houses are located in the Baqa’a, Talbiyeh, Qatamon and Mosrarah neighbourhoods of what is now West Jerusalem. Some of the families enter their former homes and have a discussion with the Israeli tenants currently occupying their homes. The film also includes an interview with the Israeli architect David Kroyanker who wrote books about these houses, one of which was turned into a museum. (50 mins.) THE SHIP by Ashraf Al Mashharawi. Peace activists decided to sail into Gaza in order to break down the unjust Israeli siege and deliver much needed humanitarian supplies. In August 2008 Paul Larudy and Greta Berlin along with their friends from California based Free Gaza Society started a campaign two year ago aimed at penetrating the illegal siege through legal means. The film documents the journey of the heroes who sailed across the sea in Freedom boats. (33 mins.) Screens with O CAMINHO (3 mins. Palestine)
Monday, November 16 @ 7:30 p.m.
GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL – PROGRAM 2
ARTHUR BALFOUR AND ME by Charlotte Cornic. What links Arthur J Balfour, the British Politician born in 1848 on a sumptuous family estate in East Lothian and Fatima, a young Palestinian woman, born in 1971 in a refugee camp in Lebanon and now seeking asylum in Glasgow? From the narrow alley ways of a refugee camp in Lebanon to the beautiful farming landscape of East Lothian in Scotland, ‘Arthur Balfour and Me’ is a visual and emotional journey through history and the present, a personal story about how one politician’s actions continue to affect the life of a young woman from the Middle East. (11 mins.) 25 KILOMETERS by Nahhed Awad. 25 Kilometers is a journey through the checkpoints and rocky roads of the West Bank. Starting in Ramallah, where the filmmaker lives and works, this short film documents her attempt to reach her family’s home in Beit Sahour (near Bethlehem). Inside the West Bank, Palestinians spend considerable time either being forced to avoid checkpoints or to wait in line. Over time these checkpoints have became a part of the daily routine of thousands. This routine in itself gives rise to some unexpected practices some people try to joke about the checkpoints, others feel powerless and even convince themselves that this is part of a “normal” life. Having had the privilege to leave Palestine from time to time, the filmmaker came to believe that one of the worst things that could happen to her is getting used to checkpoints, for this would signal giving up hope for a normal life and a future. (20 mins.) THE EXODUS AND THE ODYSSEY by Bilal Shammout. "The Exodus and the Odyssey" is a journey through the eyes of a uniquely artistic Palestinian couple, Ismail and Tamam Shammout, depicting the Exodus and uprooting of Palestinians from their beloved homeland. Both Ismail and Tamam dedicated their lives to the Palestinian cause, and were also the founders of the Palestinian Artistic Movement. The documentary uses the couple's brushes and colours to vividly portray their experiences on 19 murals, to tell the world what they and their people have had to endure over the past 60 years. Recorded in their own voices, the film takes viewers on Ismail and Tamam's personal voyage and immerses the audience in the spectacular sights and sounds of these world famous works of art. (45 mins.) Screens with AL ALMANIE (THE GERMAN) (3 mins. Palestine)
Tuesday, November 17 @ 7:30 p.m.
GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL – PROGRAM 3
ONE OF by Emad Badwan. One Of reveals the shooting of an emergency medical worker on January 7th, during the period which Israel declared a ‘cease-fire’ period. The medics were subject to no less than 15 shots while they attempted to evacuate the body of a man already sniped by Israeli soldiers. One Of poses the question: how would you feel if your loved one died because ambulances were prevented from reaching the wounded. (4 mins.) SABRA AND SHATILA by Hesham Jordey. The recent subject of the animated Israeli film WALTZ WITH BASHIR, the 1982 Sabra and Shatila Massacre of Palestinian civilians by Christian militiamen in two Beirut refugee camps during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The goal of Israel's action was to expel Palestinian guerrillas from Lebanon. To achieve this objective, Israel allied itself with several Lebanese Christian groups, including the Phalange party, who fought the Palestinians during the protracted Lebanese Civil War (1975 – 90). Following the U.S.-brokered evacuation of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters from Beirut, Israeli forces under Defense Minister Ariel Sharon allowed Phalange militiamen into the camps, ostensibly to root out further PLO fighters. Estimates of the number of women, children, and elderly who were killed over the next several days ranged from 800 to several thousand. Although no militiamen were ever prosecuted, Sharon — who an Israeli commission of inquiry later found indirectly responsible through negligence — was condemned in Arab popular opinion as the culprit of the massacre. (51 mins.) FROM THE CAMP by Ahmed Al Mashharawi. If the bombs don’t kill them, the sea just might. The documentary film talks about Palestinian refugees in Gaza Strip living along the sea. The refugees survived the siege, but this time the power of nature is their enemy. Abu Ahmed had a part of his home destroyed by the sea Float and his poor family can hardly scrape by. They represent the miserable life of the refugees in their battered camp and the doubled suffering that the poor may have when they face the force of nature. It is a story of a sea and refugees. (15 mins.) Screens with TO BIDDO (3 mins. Palestine)
ROAD MOVIE. A Special Presentation of Eight Segments of Road Movie, a work-in-progress 12 Screen Multi-Media Installation specifically designed by Elle Flanders and Tamira Sawatzky for the 2009 TORONTO PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL. These eight 3 minute shorts, which screen in conjunction to our monthly CANADA IS BIGGER series, will be screened nightly before scheduled features throughout the festival.
Road movies have their roots in spoken and written tales of epic journeys, such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid. Like their antecedents, the films presented here tend towards an episodic structure in which each one reveals a piece of the plot—the master plan for Palestine—a road system partitioning the West Bank into three distinct enclaves with controlled passage between them. Road Movie is a preview of eight segments of a twelve-screen installation shown before eight programs throughout the Festival as short films, small journeys on what have become known as the Apartheid Roads of contemporary Palestine. "Continuing our work on landscape and its relationship to shifting political geographies, each film follows a journey on either Palestinian or ‘Jewish only’ roads all shot in stop-motion animation in single takes. Journeys that took several hours have been reduced to only minutes creating a density endemic to the political atmosphere. The films take on a timeless feel as people and places appear and disappear capturing ghostlike figures in the frames. The intense methodology mimics the systemic implementation of Occupation grafted onto the landscape and like surveyors we move along the roads frame by frame."
Thursday, November 12 @ 9:30 p.m.
Opel Cadet. Raja Shehadeh, lawyer for Palestinian rights and eloquent writer with a keen eye for master plans, became aware of Israel’s road plan for the ‘Occupied Territories’ and its consequences long before the manifestation of today’s “Apartheid Roads”. For over thirty years he witnessed Israeli road building eating the Palestinian landscape and battled in court as they expropriated more and more land to do so. Originally from Jaffa, the road that took Raja and his family to and from the sea is a memory: It is designated for Jewish travelers only. Screens prior to SLINGSHOT HIP HOP.
Friday, November 13 @ 7:30 p.m.
Slow Emergency. Yehia is an ambulance driver working in the town of Silwad, about 15 minutes from Ramallah. As a result of the Apartheid roads however, Yehia’s drive to the Ramallah hospital now takes forty minutes on winding, sometimes-treacherous roads. Slow Emergency takes us down those roads in his ambulance as we transport a dialysis patient. Screens prior to THE OLIVE HARVEST.
Friday, November 13 @ 9:30 p.m.
The New-Old Road to Jericho. The oldest inhabited city on earth, decry many of the tour books yet most of the tourists are gone. Jericho, once a bustling Palestinian town of winter homes for Ramallans has been isolated from the rest of the West Bank. After a day in Jericho’s fruit markets with Huda, a no-nonsense 70-year old, we journey back on the new old road through Christian Taybeh back to Ramallah. Screens before TASTE OF THE REVOLUTION & AFGHAN MUSCLE.
Sunday, November 15 @ 7:30 p.m.
O Caminho. Mato Grosso, Brazil is a long way from Ramallah, Palestine—Ayman has lived in both. He recently returned to Ramallah. But often he wonders if he made the right decision as negotiations stall, the Palestinian leadership disappoints and his taxi usually only covers a few square miles. On this day he takes us to Bethlehem and back—once a 20-minute drive passing through Jerusalem. But Palestinians are now barred from Jerusalem and miles around. With the detours, the journey is now an hour and a half. Screens with GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL – Program I.
Monday, November 16 @ 7:30 p.m.
Al Almanie (the German). They say Arabic is difficult to master, but for Kleemans, a German geologist, every idiom is as familiar as the rocks he studies and the water-wells that have become his obsession. He is the consummate expert. On a ride from Ramallah to Qalkilya, Kleemans expounds on the disastrous situation of water resources in Palestine. Rapidly dwindling due to the expansion of settlements, Palestinians must now buy back what is left of their own water from Israel. At our last checkpoint we are denied entry to Qalkilya. Screens with GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL – Program II.
Tuesday, November 17 @ 7:30 p.m.
To Biddo. A pleasure trip with a young Arabic teacher in the Palestinian countryside ends in despair as the cemented structures of Occupation etch themselves into her mind in ways that until now were less apparent. Screens with GAZA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL – Program III.
Saturday, November 21 @ 9:30 p.m.
Ezra. Hebron can seem like a million light-years away from Ramallah, especially with all the detours Palestinians must now take. Ezra, a gay Jewish Israeli who hails from Iraq, refuses to stand idly by as the Occupation wreaks havoc on every aspect of the land and its people. A modern hero who has been compared to Martin Luther King, Ezra risks jail and more as he lives in Israel the only way he can: fighting for Palestine. Screens prior to CITY OF BORDERS.
Sunday, November 22 @ 7:30 p.m.
Like Almond Blossoms. In the 70’s Sonia was a hippy teenager leaving Jenin for the big city of Ramallah on her way to university. At 19 she is jailed for three years for belonging to a student movement. We journey back to Jenin to visit Sonia’s mother along the road she knows so well. But much has changed and the roads at once familiar also confuse her. Screens Prior to AMREEKA.
www.tpff.ca <http://www.tpff.ca>
Visiting filmmaker CHRISTOPHE KARABACHE (French experimental documentary filmmaker from Beirut). Last year we screened Christophe’s experimental documentary Zone Frontaliere (Border Zone) on our opening night. Christophe was scheduled to be here, but could not get a Visa to enter the U.S. This year he will be here for the duration of the festival and to present two programs of his exceptional works. Sponsored by the New Orleans Consulate de France.
Saturday, November 14 @ 9:30 p.m.
CHRISTOPHE KARABACHE PROGRAM 1:
ZONE FRONTALIERE (BORDER ZONE) Lebanon, in the aftermath of the war of July-August 2006. A journey between Beirut and the South shows bodies going through suffocation, political crisis and uncertain chaos. Border Lines of a war…suspended. A waking up in the ruins. Sleepwalker in blood. Check point / territory / Shelter / bombs. Beirut…fragments of frontage. Division, scission, skeletons of cement, corpses cut down. A Human cry from the debris. A beautiful and poetic film mixing documentary, essay and animation. (45 mins., Lebanon) MONDANITES – BOMB ATTACK. Shot on Super 8 and digital. Fragments of a shattered life…Fragments from Beirut, a city lost… (30 mins. Lebanon)
Sunday, November 14 @ 9:30 p.m.
CHRISTOPHE KARABACHE PROGRAM 2:
WADI KHALED. Shot on Super 8. A meeting with the Bedouin men and inhabitants from the northern frontier (“Wadi Khaled”) between Lebanon and Syria. A people deprived from identity, an area without faces, without words…(15 mins., Lebanon/Syria) TRANS SOCIETY. Ali, a roving Kurd, experiences the confusion and chaos of three cities: Paris, Beirut and New York. The film gradually uncovers another truth dear to the filmmaker: nostalgia of a childhood, the unveiling of a memory revisiting its most ardent desires…(62 mins. Lebanon).
CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE
by PERLA ISSA, ASEEL MANSOUR and visiting filmmaker ADAM SHAPIRO.
CHRONICLES OF A REFUGEE is a 6-part documentary film series looking at the global Palestinian refugee experience over the last 60 years. Starting with 'al-Nakba' (catastrophe) in 1948 and continuing through repeated community and individual expulsions and enduring discrimination by virtue of being Palestinian, the first three episodes are more historical and informative, presenting an almost comprehensive review of 60 years of dispossession. The last three parts tackle many issues facing Palestinian refugees, and are meant to open up debate on taboo and contentious issues. Filmed in over 15 countries, with more than 250 interviews of Palestinian refugees who have lived in over 25 countries, this is the first documentary film to look at the global Palestinian refugee experience over the last 60 years. The film presents Palestinian refugees who were displaced in 1948 and their descendants, and includes the wide range of age, socio-economic status, education level, etc. Chronicles of a Refugee is an independently produced film made by Adam Shapiro, Perla Issa and Aseel Mansour, with a musical score by Ramallah Underground and Tarik "Excentrik" Kazaleh. ADAM SHAPIRO is co-founder of the INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT, and has previously made the documentaries ABOUT BAGHDAD, DARFUR DIARIES, BECOMING NADYA and NOWHERE TO FLEE. He will be here to discuss the films and the issues they provoke with audiences after each program in the series.
Monday, November 16 @ 5:30 p.m.
Part I: "Nakba Dailies" recounts the events of 1947-48 in Palestine as experienced by those who lived them. From Palestinians who were adults with children to those who were young children at the time; from rural peasants to urban elites; and from the politically engaged to the average citizen, this film explores how the Nakba was experienced throughout Palestine and how the Palestinian refugee issue was created. (79 mins.)
Tuesday, November 17 @ 5:30 p.m.
Part II: "Daily Nakbas" picks up the experience of Palestinian refugees worldwide in 1967 and is an exploration of the repeated expulsions of Palestinians from various countries and refugee camps around the world from 1967 to 2007. This film explores the impact of such expulsions on those who live through them, and what it means for a community to be under constant threat of being made refugees a second, third or fourth time. (89 mins.)
Wednesday, November 18 @ 5:30 p.m.
Part III: "Homeland Without ID (papers)" looks at the other major defining experience of Palestinian refugees worldwide over 60 years – official discrimination through legal and bureaucratic means. Looking at both the Arab and Western experiences, this film details how host governments treat Palestinians not from a rights perspective, but primarily from a “security” perspective. (79 mins.)
Thursday, November 19 @ 5:30 p.m. Part IV: "Identity Without a Homeland" starts to unpack the meaning and attributes of Palestinian identity today, given the experience of 60 years of dispossession and refugee status around the world. Taboo subjects, such as the role of refugee camps, the usefulness of citizenship, etc. are debated by those who live with the consequences of decisions taken about these matters. (78 mins.)
Friday, November 20 @ 5:30 p.m.
Part V: "Talk About Return" highlights the situation of Palestinian refugees 60 years after their expulsion and dispossession of their country and land. Through interviews and archival footage, the film explores the work that has been done in the past to enable refugees to return, while also looking at how refugees today are responding to the lack of institutional progress on the issue. Given the 60th anniversary of the catastrophe that led to the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem, this film serves as an important perspective on what work remains to be done. (78 mins.)
Saturday, November 21 @ 3:30 p.m.
Part VI: "Return of the Talk" explores the relationship of leadership and representation among Palestinians, notably Palestinian refugees worldwide. Giving both historical context and debate over future strategy the film is a comprehensive look at the meaning of political leadership for a people facing exile, occupation and ongoing dispossession. Given the importance of the 60th anniversary of the dispossession of Palestine in 1948, this film is a timely documentation, combing grassroots, activist and elite perspectives on the history and strategy of the Palestinian national movement. (84 mins.)
INDIVIDUAL FILM PROGRAMS:
Friday, November 13 @ 5:30 p.m.
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL by Sobhi al-Zobaidi. According to many sources, over half a million Palestinians have been arrested and imprisoned by Israel since 1967. This film reflects on some of the problems that Palestinian detainees face after their release from Israeli (and Palestinian Authority) prisons. Six ex-detainees, two women and four men, talk about their life after being released. Some were unable to bridge the gap between them and their families, some feel that they came out from one prison only to enter another. (52 mins. Palestine) Screens with OPEL CADET (3 mins. Palestine)
Friday, November 13 @ 7:30 p.m.
THE OLIVE HARVEST by Hanna Elias. The Olive Harvest tells a complex, heartbreaking love story against the backdrop of intoxicating Palestinian landscapes. Upon his release from an Israeli prison, Mazen develops romantic feelings for his childhood friend, Raeda. Unfortunately, Raeda is already engaged to Taher, Mazen’s younger brother. As it is tradition for the eldest brother to marry first, their love is kept a secret. Palestine’s Official 2008 entry to the Academy Awards. (90 mins Palestine) Screens with SLOW EMERGENCY (3 mins. Palestine)
Friday, November 13 @ 9:30 p.m.
TASTE THE REVOLUTION by Buthina Canaan Khoury. The uplifting and inspiring story behind Taste the Revolution is drawn from the filmmaker’s own family history. After living in the USA for 30 years, her brothers Nadim and Dahoud returned to their homeland to fulfill their father's dream of establishing a business in Palestine. After investing their education, experience and family money, they opened the Taybeh Brewing Company—the first micro brewery in the entire Middle East. In spite of numerous hardships and obstacles caused by the unpredictable and tumultuous life in Palestine, Dahoud and Nadim Khoury's business continued to thrive, serving as an inspiration to numerous other Palestinian entrepreneurs. The brothers now sell Taybeh beer throughout Palestine and the Middle East and even to some bars and cafés in Israel. The brewing company’s success has attracted international media attention which has in turn brought tourists to Taybeh, Palestine from around the world—people interested in tasting the revolution served up by the Khoury Brothers’ Taybeh Brewing Company. (27 mins. Palestine) AFGHAN MUSCLES by Andreas Dalsgaard. In post-Taliban Kabul, the most popular sport is bodybuilding. Afghan Muscles takes us inside Afghanistan’s thriving bodybuilding culture - a sport that attracts thousands of young men across a country devastated by war and poverty who dream of attaining a better life through muscles. It’s a side of Afghanistan and Middle Eastern society that few have ever seen. Once barely tolerated by the Taliban (competitors had to remain fully clothed at all times), bodybuilding gyms and clubs are sprouting up throughout the country. Today, competitions take place in the open - in overcrowded halls where buff contestants strut their stuff in Speedos and spray-on tans before enthusiastic audiences of robed, bearded men who fervently cheer for their favorites. For these men, bodybuilding is a way to better their lives. A championship can bring instant fame, social recognition and honor to one’s family. More importantly, it can earn you the support of a wealthy warlord who will open a gym on your behalf. Hamid Shirzai is one such young man. Coming from a long line of bodybuilders – both his brother and uncle were national champions – Hamid is intent on becoming the next Mr. Afghanistan, and ultimately, Mr. Asia. Afghan Muscles follows Hamid and his teammates as they prepare for the Asian Championships in Dubai. Along the way, the film reveals their inner strength and determination, as well as the surreal nature of their sport: protein powder, a basic necessity, must be smuggled in like drugs; a sponsorship, necessary to compete, often takes the form of a dozen eggs a day; and everyone knows and talks about and admires “Arnold” – Schwarzenegger, that is. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the AFI Film Festival, this discerning documentary from filmmaker and anthropologist Andreas Dalsgaard offers an indelible view of a changing Afghanistan, and in the process, shatters every pre-conceived notion you ever had about this country. (59 mins. Afghanistan) Screens with THE NEW-OLD ROAD TO JERICHO (3 mins. Palestine)
Saturday, November 14 @ 1:30 p.m.
SAUDI SOLUTIONS by Bregtje van der Haak. In Saudi Arabia, one of the most religiously conservative societies in the Middle East, women are not allowed to vote or to drive a car. Men and women are segregated in most public spaces and work environments. A strict dress code enforced by religious police mandates that women cover their heads and bodies in public, where they must always be accompanied by a husband or other male guardian. In SAUDI SOLUTIONS, filmmaker Bregtje van der Haak, the first Western filmmaker ever granted permission to film the lives of Saudi women, takes us inside this closed society where fewer than five percent of women work. She profiles several women with professional careers—including a journalist, a doctor, a photographer, a television newsreader, a university professor, and the nation's first female airplane pilot-and asks them to explain what it means to be a modern woman in a fundamentalist Islamic society. In an interview with Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, owner of Kingdom Holding Company and fifth richest man in the world, SAUDI SOLUTIONS finds an isolated enclave of progressive attitudes toward women. In his office building and private palace, half of the employees are women, who are unveiled and dressed in the latest fashions, although "the ladies" work, he emphasizes, in an "Islamically correct" environment. (77 mins. Saudi Arabia)
Saturday, November 14 @ 3:30 p.m.
VEILED VOICES by Bridid Maher. Women across the Arab world are redefining their role as leaders in Islam. Veiled Voices investigates the world of Muslim women religious leaders through the eyes of three women in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. Filmed over the course of two years, Veiled Voices reveals a world rarely documented, exploring both the public and private worlds of these women. The stories featured in the film give insight into how Muslim women are now increasingly willing to challenge the status quo from within their religion, promoting Islam as a powerful force for positive transformation in the world. Each triumphs over difficult challenges as they carve out a space to lead—both in Islam and in their communities. Screens with a collection of five short documentary films also by Brigid Maher, SHEIKHA STORIES profiles several women of the Middle East and the institutions that support their role in Islam. The women and institutions featured in the films differ in their approaches, ideas and interpretations of the religion—at times making the road towards leadership a dynamic journey. THE MODERN SHEIKHA, by sitting in on discussions between teacher Ghina Hammoud and her students, The Modern Sheikha examines the impact of women religious leaders in their communities throughout the Arab world. Authors Dr. Saba Mahmood ("Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject"—2005) and Dr. R. Stephen Humphries ("Islamic History"—1991) make appearances to help provide context for the conversation. MAGDA'S CALLING, the short documentary Magda's Calling examines the fascinating life of Magda Amer. A "daiya"—or caller—for Islam, Magda has been certified by Al-Azhar to teach the religion in the mosques of Cairo. She is also a doctor who practices alternative medicine and owns a homeopathic shop in the city's suburbs where she teaches about "prophetic medicine"—the medicine and nutrition practiced by Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). Magda is also the author of several books, including "Rights and Tolerance In Islam" and "The Secrets of Absolution." SOCRATIC SHEIKHA, Hanan al-Lahham is a teacher of religion in Damascus, Syria. Although she never received a formal education in Islam when she was young, Hanan has endeavored in her studies and now provides courses throughout the Arab world, as well as writing "tafsir"—commentary and interpretations—on Al Qur'an. Her socratic teaching method, reflected in her approach to writing, encourages open discussion during her religious lessons. MOSQUE OF LIGHT, as part of the Sheikh Ahmed Kuftaro Foundation—run by the founder's son, Sheikh Salah al-Deen Kuftaro—the Abu Nour School has encouraged the enrollment of female students since its inception more than 60 years ago. The gender-separated school also houses over 50 women teachers, a number of whom have achieved their doctorates and now lecture to both women and men. LADIES OF BRILLIANCE, more than 40 years ago, Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt opened its doors to women, with a gender-segregated and separated campus. In Brigid Maher's insightful short documentary Ladies of Brilliance, students of Al-Azhar discuss their studies and the role of women who hold leadership positions in Islam. (96 mins. Lebanon, Syria, Eqypt)
Saturday, November 14 @ 5:30 p.m.
YOUTH VISIONS OF JERUSALEM. We are proud to partner with VOICES BEYOND WALLS, a Palestinian youth media program for this year's festival. We will present a selection of video shorts produced by youth in digital storytelling workshops conducted from 2006-2008 by Voices Beyond Walls, in collaboration with youth centers in Palestinian refugee camps. Nearly 60 video shorts were produced by youth (aged 10-16 years) from 7-8 refugee camps in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Jordan over the past 3 years. We will present their brand new shorts program, YOUTH VISIONS OF JERUSALEM, which was put together for the First Palestine Youth Media Festival in Ramallah. The program features Introducing Youth Visions of Jerusalem (10:31 min); Whispers in Jerusalem. Firas is the new kid at school walking through the winding streets of the Old City with his new friend Remeen. He soon runs into trouble with some local bullies at school. As rumors travel fast through whispers in the city, Firas quickly learns how ties can be broken and friendships are hard to keep. (4:58 min); Lamees' Daydream. Full of daydreams and adventures, Lamees gets sent out on a simple errand by her mother. Walking through the Old City, she instead looks for her favorite storybook. Soon Lamees finds herself inside her fable, faced with the leopard in the story. Will her daydreams lead her to trouble? (4:25 min); Palestinian Costumes in Jerusalem. Three girls from Shu’fat refugee camp discuss the traditional costumes and clothes in Jerusalem through visits and interviews with Palestinians in the Old City. Through the film the girls reflect on their personal experience about historical places and original Palestinian costumes in Jerusalem. (9:43 min); Life is like Shishbesh. Mohammad wastes his days in the streets of the Old City, smoking and playing games (like Shishbesh) with his friends. One day he meets Sereen on her way to school, professing his love to her but gets in trouble with her father. Upon encountering boys harassing his own sister on the street, he confronts them and questions his own behavior. Will Mohammad have the will to change? (6:47 min); After the Return: Year 2161. A group of youth from Shu’fat refugee camp imagine their camp in the year 2161, when the Israeli Occupation and military check-points have ended and become a part of the past. Through the film, the youth reflect on their dreams of the future as well as their current life under the Occupation in the year 2009. (10:24 min); and Take It or Leave It: The Cursed Necklace. The story starts when a child loses a necklace while walking in the Old City. As another child decides to steal the necklace, the story revolves around how the thief is punished for the cursed necklace, in ways that lead to remorse and strange dreams. (8:36 min). www.voicesbeyondwalls.org <http://www.voicesbeyondwalls.org>
Saturday, November 14 @ 7:30 p.m.
A FEW KILOS OF DATES FOR A FUNERAL by Saman Salur. From one of Iran s most talented young filmmakers comes this sensitive drama about two lost souls who run a lowly gas station in a deserted area of Iran. Sadry and his new assistant struggle to eke out a living with their gas station. With few customers and little in common, they spend most of their time alone except for occasional visits by the local postman. Despite their apparent loneliness, each of the three men dream of romance and are driven to pursue impossible relationships. With its visually stunning black and white cinematography and off-kilter compositions, A FEW KILOS OF DATES FOR A FUNERAL is stylishly directed by award-winning newcomer Saman Salur. His clever mix of drama with black humor paints a fresh face on the cinema of Iran. (85 mins. Iran)
Sunday, November 15 @ 1:30 p.m.
MY FATHER AND MY SON by Cagan Irmak. Sadik is one of the rebellious youth who has been politically active as a university student and became a left-wing journalist in the 70's, despite his father's expectations of him becoming an agricultural engineer and taking control of their family farm in an Aegean village. On the dawn of September 12, 1980, when a merciless military coup hits the country, they cannot find access to any hospital or a doctor and his wife dies while giving birth to their only child, Deniz. After a long-lasting period of torture, trials, and jail time, Sadik returns to his village with 7-8 years old Deniz, knowing that it will be hard to correct things with his father, Huseyin. (108 mins. Turkey)
Sunday, November 15 @ 3:30 p.m.
REMNANTS OF WAR by Jawad Metni. An accomplished new documentary feature from director Jawad Metni, Remnants of a War is a portrait of the brave workers of South Lebanon who endeavor to rebuild and reclaim their land for their fellow countrymen following the devastating 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. During the 33 days of fighting, Israel dropped more than one million cluster bomb munitions onto the fields, orchards and towns of South Lebanon—with the majority of the bombs being deployed in the final 3 days of the war. An estimated 35% of these cluster bombs failed to detonate upon impact, leaving the mine-like devices scattered over the countryside until unwitting civilians stumble upon them and are maimed or killed by the resulting explosion. In 2007, teams of locally recruited and trained de-miners race to locate and deactivate the bombs before even more civilians are injured or killed. Remnants of a War takes an intimate look into the lives of these brave workers—Muslims and Christians; Sunnis and Shia; women and men—who work shoulder to shoulder in the sweltering heat to make their lands available for ranching, farming and for children to safely play upon once again. (76 mins. Lebanon)
Sunday, November 15 @ 5:30 p.m.
NEW ORLEANS HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATION presents a program of videos, essays and documents which accompany their exhibition of photographs by delegation members Abdul Aziz, Taslim Van Hattum, Emily Ratner (on display throughout the festival). Seven New Orleans photographers, filmmakers, organizers and human rights workers recently traveled in solidarity as part of an historic delegation to Gaza. Since returning the members of the delegation have reported their “witnessings” on websites and publications throughout through out the world. They will present their collective and individual first hand accounts and documentation of the realities in Gaza including the videos PRISONERS OF GAZA and GAZA UNDER SIEGE by delegation members Jordan Flaherty & Lily Keber.
Monday, November 16 @ 9:30 p.m.
GAZA: CAST LEAD and NO WATER.
Visiting filmmaker TAGREED SAADEH (Palestinian/Canadian documentary filmmaker from Toronto) presents a special premiere work-in-progress screening of her new documentary CAST LEAD. This documentary takes us back to the Israeli War on Gaza in 2009, code named; Operation Cast Lead. It illustrates, very clearly, the devastation of children and their schools being attacked in this war. It profiles the Baloushi family’s five daughters who were killed while they were sleeping, the Hamdan's three kids who were attacked with two F16 rockets while taking out the garbage at their home and the attack of an American school in Gaza. Both of the families of Baloushi and Hamdan speak about memories of their children and the dreams they had before this planned war effort and how difficult it is to continue in their lives without their children. Despite their tragedy they believe that there is still hope for solutions other than the killing of innocent people. (33 mins.) and ROUGH CUT brings us onto the streets and into the makeshift homes of Gaza to experience human tragedy of the aftermath of Israeli’s military bombardment and continued siege of Gaza. (10 mins.) Screens with three short documentaries on Gaza by the non-profit group LIFESOURCE, a Palestinian-led collective of people who recognize it is crucial to address the current and unfolding regional water crisis immediately – on the humanitarian level, the environmental level, and the political level. GAZA IS FLOATING The Israeli siege on Gaza has trapped all sanitation projects in temporary emergency phases. This film documents the resulting disaster, the environmental catastrophe and human tragedy. (15 mins.) BY LAND OR BY WATER: GAZA UNDER SIEGE. The War, reconstruction, the two-year anniversary of the siege. Testimonies are woven together to present the water situation on the ground in Gaza. Testimonies of water infrastructure targeted during the War in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention are particularly relevant today in light of the recent release of the Goldstone Report, which has found that Israel is guilty of war crimes. (9 mins.) WE, THE WOMEN OF JAYYOUS. The story of an individual Palestinian village's resistance to the confiscation of six wells by Israel’s illegal construction of the Wall through their land and to Israeli industrial waste near the well that they now use. A group of women from Jayyous set out to find the cause of water pollution in their water network and learn that the Israeli Occupation of their land and water resources is playing out on many different levels. (34 mins.). Following the films there will be a discussion with filmmaker Tagreed Saadeh and a presentation on the “Drying Up Of Palestine” by SUSAN D'ALOIA a volunteer from Lifesource.
Tuesday, November 17 @ 9:30 p.m.
PALESTINE TRILOGY by visiting Canadian filmmaker B.H. Yael. With profound depth and grace these three, thematically related videos tell the tragic story of Palestine and dispel many myths. DEIR YASSIN REMEMBERED deals with the past by focusing on a well-documented massacre of the Nakba (Catastrophe, the Palestinian term for the takeover of their land in 1948) - the destruction of the thriving community of Deir Yassin. EVEN IN THE DESERT explores the contemporary ramifications of the Israeli occupation – the displacements, checkpoints, surveillance, walls. And the final segment A HOT, SANDFILLED WORLD is a visual/auditory poem signifying, perhaps, hope for the future. What makes the whole experience particularly moving is that the reasonable, non-confrontational voices throughout are those of peace and social justice activists from every side – Israeli, Palestinian, and international. B.H. Yael is a Toronto based filmmaker and installation artist. Her environmental documentary TRADING THE FUTURE recently premiered at the Mumbai International Film Festival and won the Best Humanitarian Observation Award at the Rivers Edge Int. Film Festival. She is also Professor of Integrated Media at the Ontario College of Art and Design. (75 mins. Palestine)
Wednesday, November 18 @ 7:30 p.m.
TATIL KITABI (SUMMER BOOK) by Seyfi Teoman. Mustafa is a hard-working and ambitious agricultural merchant who is cold and austere towards his family. One day he has a brain hemorrhage on a business trip and goes into a coma after the operation. Guler is suspicious of her husband having an affair. Veysel, their teenage son, wants to leave the military academy and study business administration. Ali, their 10-year-old son, has to cope both with his bully classmate and the chewing gums he has to sell. Hasan, Mustafa's younger brother, chose to live a life in solitude after getting a divorce, and has always been an outsider to the family. But now, with his brother in coma, he finds himself involved in family affairs. Hasan has to solve the mystery about Mustafa's mistress and the money lost during his trip. Winner Best Turkish Film and the International Critics Prize at the Istanbul Film Festival and Best First Feature at the Montreal World Film Festival. (92 mins. Turkey)
Wednesday, November 18 @ 9:30 p.m.
EGYPT WE ARE WATCHING YOU by Jehane Noujaim, the acclaimed filmmaker of Control Room, and Sherief Elkatsha, Egypt: We are Watching You shines a harsh spotlight on Egypt’s new democracy. In his 2005 State of the Union address, President Bush cited Egypt as the country that would pave the way for democracy in the Middle East. That same year, President Mubarak, who’s National Democratic Party has been the dominant political force for 24 years, announced that Egypt would hold multi-party presidential elections. Unable to sit idly by while their country is on the brink of change, three women activists start a grassroots campaign to empower the public and hold their government accountable. Called Shayfeen.com - ‘we are watching you’ - they film the election process, capturing widespread violence and voter fraud, and broadcast the footage on their website. Their courageous efforts, which includes publishing a list of corrupt judges on their website, leads to an invitation to speak at the U.N. (where they receive a wink and some reassuring words from President Bush). Insisting that only the people can make change happen, their goal is to educate the Egyptian public on what it takes to build the most basic pillars of democracy: basic human rights, freedom of speech and the establishment of an independent judiciary. Egypt: We are Watching You illustrates the importance of ordinary citizens participating in shaping and securing their democracy. (52 mins. Egypt)
Thursday, November 19 @ 7:30 p.m.
BUDDHA COLLAPSED OUT OF SHAME by Hana Makhmalbaf. Amidst the wreckage beneath the ruined statue of the Buddha, thousands of families struggle to survive. Baktay, a six-year-old Afghan girl is challenged to go to school by her neighbor's son who reads in front of their cave. Having found the money to buy a precious notebook, and taking her mother's lipstick for a pencil, Baktay sets out. On her way, boys playing games that mimic the terrible violence they have witnessed that has always surrounded them, harass her. The boys want to stone the little girl, to blow her up as the Taliban blew up the Buddha, to shoot her like Americans. Will Baktay be able to escape these violent war games and reach the school? Or will the Buddha collapse again out of shame? (84 mins. Iran/Afghanistan)
Thursday, November 19 @ 9:30 p.m.
SHIRIN by Abbas Kiarostami. Abbas Kiarostami is considered the father of Iranian Cinema and is widely considered to be one of the greatest living filmmakers in the world. Over the past few years, Kiarostami’s work has taken on an increasingly poetic and experimental nature as he opts to give his traditional, humanist screenplays to young emerging directors to direct. In Shirin, a hundred and fourteen famous Iranian theater and cinema actresses and one French actress, Juliette Binoche (proving she really is in everything): mute spectators at a theatrical representation of Khosrow and Shirin, a Persian poem from the twelfth century, put on stage by Kiarostami. The development of the text, long a favorite in Persia and the Middle East, remains invisible to the viewer of the film. The whole story is told by the faces of the women watching the show. The film consists of beautiful, languishing close-ups of ravishingly beautiful women experiencing the full range of emotions inherent in the text of the legendary Persian fable. (92 mins. Iran)
Friday, November 20 @ 7:30 p.m.
MOMMO: THE BOGEY MAN by Atalay Tasdiken. Even when things get tough, Ahmet and Ayse are always there for each other. After the death of their mother, Ahmet takes on the job of looking after his little sister. He is her protector, entertainer and idol – but that’s a lot of responsibility when you’re only ten years old. Based on a true story, Mommo is an affecting tale about the bond between siblings and their struggle to hold on to each other, even in the face of forces that threaten to tear them apart. Shot against the striking surrounds of an isolated Anatolian community, the film also offers an engaging look at rural Turkish life. U.S. Premiere. (94 mins., Turkey)
Friday, November 20 @ 9:30 p.m.
THE SONG OF SPARROWS by Majid Majidi. Karim works at an ostrich farm outside of Tehran, Iran. He leads a simple and contented life with his family in his small house, until one day when one of the ostriches runs away. Karim is blamed for the loss and is fired from the farm. Soon after, he travels to the city in order to repair his elder daughter’s hearing aid but finds himself mistaken for a motorcycle taxi driver. Thus begins his new profession: ferrying people and goods through heavy traffic. But the people and material goods that he deals with daily start to transform Karim’s generous and honest nature, much to the distress of his wife and daughters. It is up to those closest to him to restore the values that he had once cherished. Grammy-nominated composer and musician Hossein Alizadeh, a master tar and setar player, provides the haunting score. Majid Majidi is the award-winning director of Boycott, Children of Heaven, The Color Of Paradise and Baran. (96 mins. Iran)
Saturday, November 21 @ 1:30 p.m.
SYRIA: CHESS MATCH AT THE BORDERS by Amal Hamelin des Essarts. Syria, branded by the U.S. Government as a "state sponsor of terrorism," is a single-party dictatorship ruled since 1970 by Hafez al-Assad and, following his death in 2000, by his son Bashar. But this nation bordered by Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan, despite the lack of any significant oil reserves, is both a strategic and a besieged country. Syria is simultaneously a player and a pawn in the geopolitical "chess match" that characterizes the Middle East today. This documentary chronicles the historical background to this situation, focusing on the three Arab-Israeli wars-in 1948, 1967 and 1973-that have convulsed the region. The legacy of these wars for Syria, including an influx of Palestinian refugees, Israel's continued occupation of the Golan Heights, and the enmity of successive U.S. Administrations that support Israel, is shown to serve as a national rallying cry and an obstacle to diplomatic relations. The film also examines tensions on Syria's other borders, including the northern province of Iskenderum, annexed by Turkey in 1939, where disputes over water resources and Syria's support of Kurdish rebels inflame relations with Turkey. Syria's self-styled and controversial role as "protector" of Lebanon, through the deployment of army troops and its secret service, and its alleged assassination of independent Lebanese politicians to assure its continued political and economical control of that nation, is also critically examined. SYRIA also looks at the political instability created by the U.S. occupation of Iraq, with the influx of millions of Iraqi refugees into Syria, what it sees as the virtual creation of a "common border" with America, and Syria's collusion with Iran in the financing and arming of the resistance forces in Iraq. (52 mins. Syria)
Saturday, November 21 @ 5:30 p.m.
CAIRO STATION by Youssef Chahine. The Arab world suffered a great loss with the passing this past year of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine. We celebrate his legacy with a 50th anniversary screening of his steamy noir masterpiece of repressed sexuality, madness and violence set in the city’s central train depot, Cairo Station earned the director international recognition and acclaim when it was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1958. Crippled Kenaoui (Chahine), nicknamed "Limpy" by his cruel co-workers, sells newspapers in Cairo's central station. Living out on the tracks, earning barely enough to keep the makeshift roof over his head, he spends his days fantasising about the voluptuous Hanuma, a lemonade seller engaged to macho porter Abou Serib. Kenaoui's convinced she'll eventually fall in love with him if he keeps pursuing her. But with a murderer on the loose in Cairo, things may yet take an unexpected turn. (75 mins. Eqypt)
Saturday, November 21 @ 7:30 p.m.
GARBAGE DREAMS by Mai Iskander. Filmed over four years, Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys – Adham, a bright precocious 17-year-old; Osama, a charming impish 16-year-old; Nabil, a shy artisitic 18-year-old – born into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest garbage village, a ghetto located on the outskirts of Cairo. It is a world folded onto itself, an impenetrable labyrinth of narrow roadways camouflaged by trash; it is home to 60,000 Zaballeen, Egypt’s “garbage people.” For generations, the residents of Cairo have depended on the Zaballeen to collect their trash, paying them only a minimal amount for their garbage collection services. The Zaballeen survive by recycling the city’s waste. These entrepreneurial garbage workers recycle 80% of all the garbage they collect, creating what is arguably the world’s most efficient waste disposal system. In 2003, following the international trend to privatize services, the city decided to replace the Zabelleen with multinational garbage disposal companies. Their giant waste trucks now line the streets, but they are contractually obligated to recycle only 20% of what they collect, leaving the rest to rot in giant landfills. Suddenly, the Zabelleen community is finding their way of life disappearing before their eyes. Face to face with the globalization of their trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community. (79 mins. Egypt)
Saturday, November 21 @ 9:30 p.m.
CITY OF BORDERS by Yun Suh. This award-winning documentary by Asian American woman director Yun Suh (Comfort Women, Sabra & Shatila) follows the daily lives of five Israelis and Palestinians at Jerusalem’s only gay bar as they navigate the minefield of politics, religion and discrimination to live and love openly. Set against the construction of the separation wall between Israel and the Palestinian territories and the struggle for a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, these inter-woven stories reveal the contradictions and complexity of the struggle for acceptance. “Everyone comes from their own ghetto and meets at Shushan,” says the bar owner Sa’ar Netanel, a secular Israeli and Jerusalem’s first openly gay city council member. His outspokenness has made Sa’ar a target of numerous death threats. For devout Muslim Palestinian, Boody, going to Shushan means endangering his life in an illegal nighttime border crossing from the West Bank to Jerusalem. He creeps under razor wire, scales cement walls and dodges Israeli soldiers in order to reach the only place where he feels free to fully express himself. Former Israeli soldier, Adam Russo, dances shirtless on stage, displaying visible scars on his chest and arms. In 2005, he was stabbed by an Orthodox Jew while marching at the head of Jerusalem’s gay pride parade. On the dance floor, a Palestinian Israeli nurse, Samira Saraya, kisses her lover of four years, Ravit Geva, a Jewish Israeli doctor. Their union breaks two of Middle Eastern society’s biggest taboos: same-sex relations and intimacy between Jews and Arabs. Outside of the bar, Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups, in a rare show of solidarity, strive to eliminate all demonstrations of gay identity through riots and death threats. In observing the patrons’ daily fight for dignity and their very existence, this extremely relevant and inspiring documentary explores the bond forged when people from warring worlds embrace what they share in common rather than be divided by their differences. Winner Teddy Audience Award, Berlin Film Festival and Best International Feature Vancouver Queer Film Festival. (66 mins. Palestine/Israel) Screens with EZRA (3 mins. Palestine)
Sunday, November 22 @ 3:30 p.m.
SALATA BALADI (AN EGYPTTIAN SALAD) by Nadia Kamel. Award-winning Egyptian filmmaker Nadia Kamel’s heritage is a complex blend of religions and cultures. Her mother is a half-Jewish, half-Italian Christian who converted to Islam when she married Nadia’s half-Turkish, half-Ukrainian father. Prompted by the realization that her 10-year-old nephew Nabeel is growing up in an Egyptian society where talk of culture clashes is all too common, she urges her feminist, pacifist, activist mother, Mary Rosenthal, to share their diverse family history. But, as she and Mary weave their way through the family’s multiethnic fairytales, they bump unexpectedly into the silence around old prejudices concerning the estranged Egyptian-Jewish branch of their family living in Israel since 1948. Bravely inspired to further challenge the boundaries between cultures, religions, and nationalities that are used to divide people, Kamel embarks on an amazing personal journey with her mother and nephew to Israel and Italy, confronting with an open heart, fears and prejudices along the way. (105 mins. Egypt)
Sunday, November 22 @ 5:30 p.m.
RECYCLE by Mahmoud al Massad. Zarqa, Jordan's second largest city, is an industrial center with more than one million residents. At a time of America's ongoing "Global War on Terrorism," the everyday conversations of its citizens revolve around not only the local economy or the lack of freedom of expression, but also on the need for pan-Arab unity, the rise of political Islam, and whether or not a faithful Muslim has a religious duty to engage in jihad. The latter debates are particularly topical since Zarqa is also the birthplace of Ahmad Fadeel, better known as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the notorious leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq until his death in a U.S. bombing in June 2006. Many in the city knew Zarqawi, his relatives still live there, and it remains a source of new recruits for the global jihad. RECYCLE is a portrait of the city as seen through the eyes of Abu Ammar, a forty-something Jordanian who served as a mujahid during the Afghan-Soviet War, and the former owner of a failed grocery store who now struggles to support his two wives and eight children by collecting discarded cardboard for sale to a recycling plant. A deeply religious man, he has also collected thousands of scraps of paper with Islamic sayings that he intends to use in a book on jihad, as soon as he can find a publisher. The film joins Abu Ammar on his daily work routine, in intimate family settings at home, at prayer, and after his arrest and four-month imprisonment on suspicion of involvement in the 2005 hotel bombings in Amman. His periodic, wide-ranging conversations with friends and neighbors include the inadvisability for Muslims of working or living in "infidel" countries, the 9/11 attacks in America, the rise of extremist violence, and the role of Muslim theologians. (77 mins. Jordan)
SUPPORT THE FESTIVAL - GET YOUR FESTIVAL PASS TODAY
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Check out our Palestinian Fair Trade Gift shop for olives, olive oil, kuffiyahs, Middle Eastern books and DVDs.
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Prizes:
PALESTINIAN FAIR TRADE GIFT BASKET (worth $100)
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