Boston Palestine Film Festival 2008

An impressionistic piece assembled from footage of everyday Palestinian life: families must surmount an enormous concrete barrier; an old woman is harassed on her land by soldiers. The home-movie style of the film lends it a deceptively nostalgic beauty. London Palestine Film Festival 2008, Hot Docs, Toronto 2008, Houston Palestine Film Festival 2008, Winner of Best Documentary at Festival 50º / 104º, 2007 Regina, Saskatchewan. Mary Ellen Davis was born in Montreal and has been living in Québec since 1974. Mary Ellen teaches at the Concordia University Mel Hoppenheim Film School. She also helps organize the film and video section at the Présence Autochtone Festival. For more information: Mary Ellen Davis José Garcia-Lozano has directed, is a camerman, sound recordist, edits, and program advisor of the Présence Autochtone Festival. Will Eizlini is a musician and web expert.

Creative media projects and video shorts (5-10 mins each) produced by Palestinian youth (ages 10 and up) living in refugee camps in the West Bank. Weaving together original stories, drama, photography and video these youth express their own perspectives on Palestinian history, culture and life under occupation, as well as their dreams and aspirations. This special program showcases selected work emerging from digital storytelling workshops conducted in 5-6 Palestinian refugee camps by Voices Beyond Walls in summer 2008.

Through the eyes of an old man living in the Shufat refugee camp and his dreams of growing up as a young boy in his displaced village, the film discusses Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homeland. Youth Filmmakers: Noor Al Badey, Du’aa Hindee, Malak Al Badey and Majdoleen Al Abareen Supervised by Suzan Oda, Montaseer Al Abareen and Nitin Sawhney The film was produced during the Digital Storytelling Workshop conducted by Voices Beyond Walls in the Shufat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem in August 2008.

Edge of Hope documents a videographer in Ramallah who must negotiate the many obstacles of Israeli occupation in order to get news footage for Al Jazeera, thereby bringing Palestine’s daily struggles to the world. This means brushing up against armed Palestinian resistance fighters one day and Israeli soldiers the next. Edge of Hope, itself beautifully shot, is a documentary that elegantly depicts one man’s attempt to capture the absurdity of everyday life in the occupied West Bank. Jury Special Mention Award- Mostrari, Alicante, Spain Film Festival 2008, 3rd Prize- Les 7èmes Rencontres du Cinéma Européen- Vannes, France 2008, Chicago Palestine Film Festival 2008, Spirit Award- Brooklyn International Film Festival 2007, Katrin Cartlidge Foundation Award- Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2006, Best Documentary Film- Filmschau Baden Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany. Gerd Schneider (1974, Germany) studied Catholic Theology and Philosophy at Friedrich-Wilhelm-University in Bonn and at the University of Wien. From 1998 to 2000, Gerd completed several training courses in theatre and film (Schauspiel Bonn, Müller & Selig-Filmproduction, Columbia Tri-Star and others). Since 2000, he has studied Film & Media and Directing at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. "The Edge of Hope" is his graduation at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.

A group of Jewish-Israeli activists break one of the country’s most sacred taboos: they cross into the occupied territories to join the non-violent Palestinian resistance to the occupation. They are the most radical leftist group in Israel. “Enraged” follows four activists as they bring food into Palestinian villages under curfew, tear down parts of the separation barrier, and serve as human shields trying to protect Palestinian demonstrators from Israeli soldiers. The heroes of “Enraged” pay a heavy price for their actions. At home in Israel they are ostracized by their own society; in Palestine, they endure a similar fate to that of the Palestinians—they are beaten, sprayed with tear-gas, and shot at with rubber-coated bullets. One such bullet hits one of the film’s main characters in the head, permanently impairing his eyesight. “Enraged” exposes a face of the Israeli left that is rarely seen or talked about. “Enraged” premiered at the Haifa International Film Festival last October, was broadcast several times on Israeli TV and was shown in theaters in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Eyal Eithcowich studied film and screen writing at New York University and HB Studio in New York. In addition to Enraged, he's directed a short fiction titled Practicing Bitterness and is currently working on his new documentary, City for All. Anarchists Against the Wall activist Matan Cohen will be present at the screening at Clark University in Worcester.

The main street in Hebron's once thriving commercial area has been closed to Palestinians since 2000. The army closed all the shops and sealed the doors. Six years later, three Palestinians try to walk down the street. B'Tselem is part of the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories has, for the past 20 years, been combining first class research, innovative advocacy and public education strategies to effect change.

A touching glimpse at the experience of a very young Palestinian boy just after he is removed from the Israeli penal system.  His family and others try to reassure him during his first taste of the “free” world, yet he can’t help but miss the place where he was born, the place where his mother remains: her prison cell. Akram Al-Ashqar was born in Tulkarm in 1982. He graduated from the Arab American University in 2006 as a Computer Information Technology Professional. Al-Ashqar participated in the Palestinian Audio - Visual Project 2005 Training Program by A.M. Qattan Foundation. He directed the short film Red, Dead and Mediterranean (2006), which was about a generation of Palestinian children who are obsessed with a sea they know nothing about. This was part of the “Palestine Summer 2006” project; a film collection co-produced by "Palestinian Filmmakers' Collective" & Akka Films.

Gaza Strip follows a range of people and events following the election of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, including the first major armed incursion into "Area A" by IDF forces during this intifada. Almost entirely in a verité style, Gaza Strip is presented without narration and focuses on ordinary Palestinians rather than politicians and pundits. More observation than political argument, Gaza Strip offers a rare look inside the stark realities of Palestinian life and death under Israeli military occupation. James Longley was born in the Oregon in 1972 and received a film education at the University of Rochester, Wesleyan University and the Russian Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. James received the Student Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his short documentary, Portrait of Boy with Dog. Gaza Strip, his first feature documentary, was produced on location during the spring of 2001.

May 15, 1948, marks the day the British government abandoned the Arab-Jewish battlefields and left both groups in the throes of war. Major Derek Cooper witnessed those final days of the mandate as an officer in the British Army. Going Home tells the story of Cooper's return to Israel in the summer of 1995. In an effort to capture the past, Cooper and his wife revisit famous sites and talk to Palestinians and Israelis about the events of 1948. This film is a compelling look back at the beginning of a conflict that would last for generations to come. Omar Qattan was born in Beirut, Lebanon to Palestinian parents. His father, Abd al-Rahman Qattan, came from Jaffa, but had to flee the city in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. His family moved to London in 1975. In 1982, Omar Qattan was strongly influenced by the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Qattan began his filming career by directing 15 to 20-minute documentaries and dramas. His first full-length film, Dreams & Silence, was made in 1991. The documentary received the Joris Ivens Award and was broadcast in Europe and Australia. He founded Sindibad Films Ltd in 1993 and forged a close partnership with filmmaker Michel Khleifi. The two co-produced and directed Tale of the Three Jewels and Forbidden Marriages in the Holy Land. Qattan's latest full-length film and perhaps the most controversial is Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, a two-hour documentary on Muhammad's life and his legacy with Muslims in the United States. It was aired on PBS in 2002 and won great acclaim.