Boston Palestine Film Festival 2008

Mai Masri shows us life on the ground during and after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006. Masri focuses on a small group of individuals, including a relief worker, a theater performer, and a television journalist. Mai Masri is a Palestinian filmmaker who has directed several films that have won over 60 international prizes and have been broadcast on more than 100 television stations worldwide. Her most recent film, 33 Days (2007), received a Special Tribute at the Al-Kasaba Film Festival, Ramallah.

Six young Arab citizens of Israel face the challenges of growing up amidst a prevailing culture that considers them a “threat”—even as they also critically examine their own inherited values. All are descendants of those Palestinians who managed to remain on their lands through the Nakba, yet they represent very different walks of life: a Druze military refusenik, a female hip hop singer, an LGBT activist, a rural teacher in the Negev, a Bedouin from an unrecognized village, and a politician working in the Knesset. Produced in cooperation with the Haifa-based Baladna Association for Arab Youth. Oriol Poveda , born in Barcelona in 1978, is a freelance journalist and independent filmmaker based in Palestine. He has lived in Barcelona, Berlin, Chiapas and in different towns in Israel and Palestine. His works include With The Caravan To Somewhere Else and The Peoples of the Ceiba. Currently he works as guest filmmaker for Palestinian and Israeli advocacy and human rights organizations.

In this comical film, a young camera crew making their first film is searching for the Al-Hakawati (a storyteller) in the Balata refugee camp. They interview several old people in the camp who can't recall any folk tales, but only mention their experiences of the Nakba (Palestinian exile in 1948). The young filmmakers nearly give up until the Al-Hakawati magically appears in a traditional costume and they are able to complete their film with his eloquent tales. Youth Filmmakers: Ahmed Khader, Amani Khader, Hussein Shtawi, Rasmi Arafat Supervised by Ruby Saed and Nitin Sawhney This film was produced during the Digital Storytelling Workshop conducted by Voices Beyond Walls at the Yafa Cultural Center in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, West Bank in August 2007.

Palestinian youth play characters on Satellite TV stations from all over the Arab world in a light humorous portrayal of the culture and politics of the day. The film depicts a vignette of hilarious scenes – a cross between reality TV and everyday comedy shows as interpreted by youth from Ramallah and nearby refugee camps. Youth Filmmakers: Mohammad Dasht, Jehad Gaith, Majdi Muala, Bedaa Shawkat and Mo’men Nazzal. The film was produced during the Digital Storytelling Workshop conducted by Voices Beyond Walls at the Computer Clubhouse in Ramallah with Kalandia and Amari refugee camps in July 2008.

A group of four young filmmakers in a blue Fiat Uno make their way through the West Bank from Jenin to Ramallah to have their favorite pizza- a trip considerably lengthened by Israeli checkpoints. Mohanad Yaqubi was born in Kuwait in 1981. He is one of the founders of Idioms Film. Yaqubi graduated as a mechanical engineer from Birzeit University 2004, working as the production manager of Idioms Film. He has directed several short fictional and documentary films. His work is a personal approach to reality, working in themes such as boredom, emptiness, and baseness. With these themes, his films are trying to appeal to our relationship with space and time.

Adapted from Elias Khoury’s epic novel of the same name, this landmark film spans five decades, starting in the years just before the Nakba (or “Catastrophe”) when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes and land. Intricately structured, Bab el Shams weaves together the life stories of a collection of refugees with graceful yet haunting results. Critic Jenny Gheith calls it “a tour de force” and adds “Nasrallah not only succeeds in his large-scale recreations of demanding passages in Palestinian history, but he infuses intimate scenes with a nuanced tenderness.” Yousry Nasrallah was born to a Coptic-Christian family in Cairo. He graduated in economics and political science at Cairo University. He then worked as a film critic and directing assistant in Beirut from 1978 to 1982. He became an assistant to Youssef Chahine whose company, Misr International, would go on to produce his films. Nasrallah's films have dealt with themes of leftism, Islamic fundamentalism and expatriation.

Adapted from Elias Khoury’s epic novel of the same name, this landmark film spans five decades, starting in the years just before the Nakba (or “Catastrophe”) when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes and land. Intricately structured, Bab al Shams weaves together the life stories of a collection of refugees with graceful yet haunting results. Critic Jenny Gheith calls it “a tour de force” and adds “Nasrallah not only succeeds in his large-scale recreations of demanding passages in Palestinian history, but he infuses intimate scenes with a nuanced tenderness.” Yousry Nasrallah was born to a Coptic-Christian family in Cairo. He graduated in economics and political science at Cairo University. He then worked as a film critic and directing assistant in Beirut from 1978 to 1982. He became an assistant to Youssef Chahine whose company, Misr International, would go on to produce his films. Nasrallah's films have dealt with themes of leftism, Islamic fundamentalism and expatriation.

Made by youth from the Al-Rowwad Center in the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem, this short film poignantly captures the routine inconvenience and indignity suffered by Palestinians trying to get to their jobs on the other side of a massive and dehumanizing checkpoint. Anne Paq is a French photographer who has been living in the West Bank for the past four years. She has focused her work on the daily life of Palestinians, the refugees, non-violent resistance, the Wall and its impact on the communities. In 2006, she became the coordinator of Images for Life, a project run by the Al Rowwad Center in the Aida refugee camp. The project is aimed at empowering Palestinians through training in photography and film-making. This is her first experience in film-making. Mimmi Nietula is a journalism student from Finland. She has made a few short documentaries in Finland and one in the Aida refugee camp called Next Door to Freedom, 2007.

This video archive will serve both a archival and pedagogical role by recording the collective memory of this passing generation of eyewitnesses, as well as functioning as a public act of witness to the legacy of 1948 and its continuing impact on the Palestinian refugee community in Lebanon. Special screenings held at the Expressions of Nakba Exhibition at Harvard during the exhibit closing reception on Sunday, October 12th, 4:30-7:00 PM. Director Diana Allan will be present.