Conference taveng::bagels

1115.0. "Palestinian films at Harvard this month" by MR4DEC::FALSAFI (Aram Falsafi DEC RTI Engineering) Fri Oct 18 1991 06:42

Cross-posted from the WORLD_FORUM notesfile.

-Aram


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Note 14.887                      Motion Pictures                      887 of 888
MR4DEC::FALSAFI "Aram Falsafi DEC RTI Engineering"     71 lines   6-Oct-91 20:58
              -< Palestinian films at the Harvard Film Archives >-
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As I said in one of my first notes in this conference, the Palestinian intifada
film series is playing at the Harvard film archives this fall (the one that was
censored at the Institute of Contemporary Art).  Since many of them are kinda
short, they've grouped them into "Programs".  Every program is playing at least
once on each of these days; Sat 10/19, Sun 10/20, Sat 10/26, Sun 10/27. $6.50
gets you into two programs.

Here's what their calendar has to say about each movie (these are all direct
quotes):


THE SHELTER, 30 minutes, Palestine, 1989 (program 1)
This film depicts a young Palestinian worker from the occupied territories who
is without his ID card and is invited to spend the night in the shelter of a
middle-aged coworker.  The event brings out their fears, dreams and the reality
in which they live.


THE STONE THROWERS, 28 minutes, Palestine, 1989 (program 1)
This film documents the young children of West Bank/Gaza who engage in the very
serious business of throwing rocks.  The Truffaut-like characters move back
and forth between war and play, between innocence and hardened bitterness.


MEASURES OF DISTANCE, 15 minutes, Palestine, 1988 (program 2)
Letters from the artist's mother are read aloud detailing a relationship of
hesitant intimacy clouded by geographical, generational, and political
distance.


EYES SKINNED, Palestine, 4 minutes, 1988 (program 2)
The horror of the battle in the occupied territories is projected onto the
visage of a draped figure.


NAZARETH IN AUGUST, 31 minutes, Palestine, 1986 (program 2)
This pre-uprising documentary looks at anti-Arab racism within the state of
Israel, the economic situation and the various connections between the United
States and Israel.


WAR GENERATION, 50 minutes, Lebanon, 1988 (program 3)
Masri and Chamoun take us through several of the fractious Beirut communities -
Moslem, Christian, Palestinian - mixing them up and giving voice to the victims
on both sides to pose the thesis that the civil war has lost its left-right
political dimension and degenerated into a sectarian bloodbath.


INTIFADA: INTRODUCTION TO THE END OF AN ARGUMENT,
                     45 minutes, Palestine, 1980/91 (program 4)
This rapid-fire collage culls western stereotypes of Arabs from the mass media
to demonstrate the seemingly intractable depth of anti-Arab racism.


STOLEN FREEDOM: OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, 26 minutes, Palestine, 1990 (program 5)
From the four-year-old anxious for the day he'll be big enough to throw stones
to the mother who knows that one day the Israelis will leave as did the Turks
and the British, Palestinians tell of their pain and deprivations and their
dreams and aspirations.


KYRIE ELEISON (GOD HAVE MERCY), 26 minutes, Lebanon, 1990 (program 5)
Due to shelling in Beirut, a building collapses.  The tenants are trapped in
the basement without provisions.  Fearing gunmen, a mother is forced to make a
torturous decision about her baby's life.

There's also an "Arab Retro" series there this fall.  Some good films from
Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, etc.


-Aram

The list of films is interesting.
But one item struck me as the saddest of them all:

> the mother who knows that one day the Israelis will leave as did the Turks
>and the British...

Unfortunately, this is probably what most Palestinians believe (does the
author of the base note believe it also?).   The affinity of the Jews to
their homeland cannot be compared to the conquering Turks and British.
Until the Palestinians and other Arabs reconcile themselves to the fact
that the Jews are here to stay, it's hard to see how peace can be
achieved.

Sid