An evening of Palestinian films to commemorate 60 years of occupation and to celebrate the Palestinian voice.

On November 29 1947, the UN General Assembly voted for Resolution 181 that “recommended” the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish, the other Arab. This solution went against the principle of a people’s self-determination and was particularly unfair since it was rejected by the native Arab population who were not involved in any negotiation regarding its path, one that favoured the Jewish side.

10$ Entrance:
7$ students / senior citizens, 7$ before 6pm, 5$ with cinécarte, 8 films for 40$.

Since 2004, the Palestinian campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions in opposition to Israeli apartheid includes a cultural component that is aimed at boycotting such events as the Israeli Film Festival of Montreal, and promoting Palestinian cultural events such as this day of Palestinian Perspectives.

Canadian Premiers:

* 5pm: After the Last Sky
Alia Arasoughly, Palestine 2006. EN. 55 min.

Through the story of Kfir Bir’im, a destroyed Palestinian village, we encounter Nahida and other members of her displaced community, who long for their lost land. She meets two women from the kibbutz built on the village’s ruins. The trio’s moving story focuses on a struggle for the return of the villagers to their homeland, a central issue in the Palestinian experience. Director Alia Arasoughly’s very personal film takes an intimate look at some of the most complex issues facing Israelis and Palestinians.

* 5pm: The Clothesline,
Alia Arasouglhy. Palestine. 2006. EN. 14 min.

For 21 days, a woman is imprisoned in her apartment during the Israeli invasion of Ramallah in March 2002. The Clothesline contrasts scenes of intimate disarray with warfare.

Alia Arasoughly: A Palestinian filmmaker, sociologist and curator. She has been organizing Shashat’s Women’s Film Festival in Ramallah. Her previous films include Torn Living 1993, This is Not Living 2001, Between Heaven and Earth 2004. After the Last Sky has been presented in several international festivals in the Middle East and the USA…

* 7pm: Chacun sa Palestine
Nadine Naous, Léna Rouxel, Liban/France 2006. FR. 57 min.

Sabrina, Rawad, Said and other young Palestinian refugees born in Lebanon enter the photographer’s studio one at a time. The rules of the game are simple. Each one selects one photo background from among the different views of mythical cities: New York, Paris, Beirut and Jerusalem. Each one then tells his story, his projects, and his own questioning. They all share a certain nostalgia for a land they do not – and perhaps will never – know: Palestine.

Chacun sa Palestine has been selected for many festivals in France (FIDM, États généraux de Lussas, Lyon, Douarnenez, Amiens), in Iran (Cinéma-Vérité), in Lebanon (Beyrouth), and in Germany (Leipzig).

Nadine Naus: After studying cinema and literature, Nadine Naus worked as an assistant director in fiction and documentary. For two years, she was a journalist and director for ART-France channel. During this time, she co-directed Loin du pays, a television series about Arabic identity within immigration. She is also an artist who has created various installations, notably, Reflets, ten Super 8 and video installations that examine her Lebanese and Palestinian identity.

Lena Rouxel: Graduate from the Femis school, Lena Rouxel works as chief camera operator in fiction and documentary. As a director, her first film is about the gypsy writer Mateo Maximoff. This portrait documentary won a prize at Traces de vie (Clermont-Ferrand) in 1999. Parallel to her work in cinema, she is also a photographer and creator of exhibitions, notably on Baddawi and Nahr-el-Bared, two Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

* 7pm: Kan Yama Kan
Preview Screening. Palestine/US 2007. Jessica Habie. EN. 10 min.

Meaning “once upon a time” in Arabic. Through a multimedia installation of photography, wood and paint, six influential Palestinian artists illuminate the threads of story and symbol that unite the Palestinian narrative. Photographer Steve Sabella draws viewers deep into a series of visual narratives on the suffering of Palestinian political prisoners, relationship to disputed landscape, the forced exodus of the Palestinian people, and his own visits to the seashore of Gaza.

* 7pm: Jerusalem is in Exile.
Preview Screening. Palestine/US 2007. Jessica Habie. EN 10 min.

Exploring and searching for the visual images of Jerusalem in the nostalgic minds of Palestinians. Photographer Steve Sabella and poet Najwan Darwish explain how Jerusalem currently exists as ‘a city in exile’, where Palestinians are forbidden from accessing it. The Jerusalemite artists invite Palestinians who are living in exile, as well as those living in the West Bank and Gaza who are unable to reach the holiest of cities, to describe their most personal memories of the place.

* 9pm: Palestine Blues
Nida Sinnokrot, Palestine/US 2006. 72 min. EN.

A beautifully crafted narrative documentary, Palestine Blues takes us on a journey into a vanishing landscape, exposing the hydrological motives behind Israel’s Wall, and into the heart of Palestine’s non-violent resistance movement. Focusing on the village of Jayyous (close to Qalqilia) and its campaign against the wall, the film documents the heroic victories and tragic defeats of this farming community’s fight for survival. Filming at times with a hidden camera, Palestinian-American filmmaker Nida Sinnokrot gives us a lasting chronicle of a people and their ancient life-giving orchards, ever threatened by destruction. Palestine Blues is full unforgettable characters, heroism, desperation, poetry and song.

Nida Sinnokrot: A Palestinian-American artist and filmmaker. His film and video installations, and sculptures often explore the complex political realities of Diaspora through a phenomenological approach. After completing his undergraduate studies in Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas at Austin, Nida moved to New York where he received an MFA in Film and Video from Bard College. Nida attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program in 2001, is a 2002 Rockefeller Media Fellow, and was recently awarded a Paul Robeson media grant. Palestine Blues is Nida’s first film. www.palestineblues.com

A project of: Tadamon! Montreal. / Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. / CJPP.