As a Palestinian living in diaspora in one of the Lofoten islands in northern Norway, we lived as Palestinians under greater adversities, and under periods of curfew and block-ade that was imposed on us which were harsher than those the world is now living. The pandemic has become a real accumulation of events that we have witnessed over the past years, and the real pandemic that we are living under occupation.
How would you claim your identity in a hostile land? How could you live under harassment and repression? How would you make your voice break through the walls of silence? Sahrawi young people living at the Occupied Territories (O.T) are required to study at the occupying country. But a river resonates all over the desert...
The political strategy of manipulating photographs or paintings by removing certain elements or persons has been employed repeatedly throughout history by those in positions of power in order to adjust the historical narrative as it suited them and their idea of the “one truth”. Drawing on the same photograph from 1985, this film precisely examines this ability of photographic images to (de)construct a visual canon and therefore affect memory. The work poses the question: what kind of information can a picture reveal about the past, and what (or who) does it conceal?
Based on a narrative that is written in parallel with several visits to different zoos and zoologies in Palestine, Switzerland and Egypt. The film is under a larger umbrella that contains different works that range between video, video installation, novel and performance, in which each of these episodes deal with the concept of the museum from a different perspective. The projected video deals with the construction of the zoo and its historical relation to the museum, and the relation between museums and cemeteries. Where the three of these components are related to the discipline of history and uses a similar aesthetics in the display of the history representation.
The video is based on a research that follows cases of seventeen exhibitions by Palestinian artists, each contained different artworks and exhibited in different countries around the world, the 17 exhibitions are considered missing today due to the challenges caused by the Israeli government associated with returning the artworks to Palestine. The Moon is a Sun Returning as a Ghost follows one of these cases, an exhibition that took place in 2005 in the swiss town of Martigny, the works could not be returned to the artists and were instead moved from a country to another and from one storage facility to another.
White Oil is a film about the quarries in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The film unfolds narratives around colonialism, expropriation of land and mobility through the day-to-day lives of the quarry owners, workers and security guards by including their personal histories and experiences, as well as, the changing landscape and conditions of the quarries to bring to bear the myriad losses of land, economy, identity, history and community.
The Palestinian village of Wadi Fukin is located in the West Bank west of Bethlehem along the green line, and is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli colony of Beitar and the Israeli town of Tzur Hadasa. In 1948 the Israeli army destroyed the village and forced residents to move. In 1972, residents were allowed to return to the village and build their home within a month. Legend has it that the village was rebuilt in one night. Today the inhabitants depend almost entirely on agriculture for their livelihood and struggle daily to access their lands. But the danger is looming and the village could disappear again at any time.
Patriarch Michel Sabbah: An Arab, Palestinian and Christian believer from Nazareth. In 1987, Pope John Paul II appointed him as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1987, to be the first Arab Patriarch to hold the office in the Catholic Church's history. He made an honorable history during his work as a Patriarch. His work marked significant milestones in the struggle against injustice and oppression to bring peace to the country of the Prince of Peace. He is still active in many initiatives and activities to spread his human and spiritual message in Palestine and the world. The film is a humble contribution to honor the Patriarch and shed light on some crucial moments in his life, his thought, and his constant obsession with the consolidation of love, justice, and peace.
Documentary that delvs into the legend of Haddara, a Saharawi child who after getting lost in a sandstorm in the desert was adopted by the ostriches and with them lived with them until he was found and returned to society. It became a folk tale of oral transmission until it was written by different authors. The documentary goes through looking for what's really and what's about legend.
Qena is a governorate in Upper Egypt, characterized by a rural look Those who live in this county are called "Qenawy". Abdel Elsabour, who hasn’t completed his 20 years yet lives in Upper Egypt, Isolated from the city, trying to create some shots “ Al-Marmah " shows the celebration that takes place in Upper Egypt every year, with horses dancing and jousting, and he lives in a struggle between his village mores and the cultural openness of his generation. He travels from city to another just to watch cinema" movie", he goes out at night well dressed, hears rap and go skateboarding, as he feels alienated in his village because he is different and his dream is to be a cinematographer studying aboard.
Karim is a young man of Moroccan origin living in Brussels, who has completed advanced studies and holds many diplomas, including that of a chartered accountant.
These ten stories (dreams, urban legends, letters from prison, testimonies…) were filmed in Palestine from 2001 to 2008
Deep in space, mysterious asteroids roam the solar system, holding secrets about the formation of planets and the origin of life, and possibly threatening Earth's destruction. The documentary showcases the efforts of NASA and international space agencies to detect and combat these rocks, from the DART mission to the explorations of Ryugu and Bennu. An exciting scientific journey reveals the scale of the threat... and the opportunity to understand.
A single channel video installation that explores landscape in Jordan. It runs twice, intended to be a loop.
This short documentary collects the oral history testimonies of five Palestinian women living inside Israel today. Four of the women are internally displaced refugees, unable to return to their villages and homes despite remaining within the boundaries of what became Israel in 1948, the fifth remains a resident of her original village, Tarshiha in the northern Galilee. The film aims to convey through these testimonies a sense of women's lives in rural Palestinian communities prior to, during, and after the Nakba, and by doing so to contribute to a fuller understanding of the different and vital roles played by Palestinian women during this period. The documentation forms part of a wider series of oral history projects undertaken by the Zochrot organisation in Israel.
Early in the morning of April 9, 1948, commandos of the Irgun (headed by Menachem Begin) and the Stern Gang attacked Deir Yassin, a village with about 750 Palestinian residents. The village lay outside of the area to be assigned by the United Nations to the "Jewish State"; it had a peaceful reputation, but it was located on high ground in the corridor between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Deir Yassin was slated for occupation under Plan Dalet and the mainstream Jewish "defense" force. The Haganah authorized the irregular terrorist forces of the Irgun and the Stern Gang to perform the takeover. In all over 100 men, women, and children were systematically murdered. Fifty-three orphaned children were dumped along the wall of the Old City, where they were found by Miss Hind Husseini and brought behind the American Colony Hotel to her home, which was to become the Dar El-Tifl El-Arabi orphanage.
A snapshot of the year I spent living in Palestine. Filmed in 2005-2006.
Abu Jameel owns a small stationary in Ramallah. Nothing changed in his shop since the fifties. The lack of freedom of movement and military raids leave him with a general sense of insecurity. Director Nahed Awwad, approaches him gently, with tenderness, asks him about his dreams, his past, and his … secret rooms…
A documentary on life in Balata Refugee Camp, Occupied Palestine. Filmed by international activists and Palestinians between December 2003 and March 2004, the film represents the suffering and struggle of the Palestinian people. Composed of interviews with Balata residents and footage from the 2003-2004 New Year's invasion, the film offers a unique view of Balata Refugee Camp. During this invasion, 5 people were killed, 2 homes were demolished and dozens were injured. The 30,000 residents were held under 24-hour home imprisonment for the four-week period without access to food, medical services or supplies. Yet the residents of the camp continued to resist by breaking curfew, throwing stones, walking past tanks to attend school. Raw street footage shows the conditions people were forced to live under and their acts of resistance.
Jamal is a thirty something man, facing the deterioration of everything he has ever believed in: the political party, Islam, and more importantly, traditional family life. He leaves his home to look for answers.
