Description
Middle Eastern Cinema:
Landscape, Psychic Trauma, and Memory, The Palestinian Cinema Program
In the late 1960s, a group of young Arab men and women, dedicated to the struggle for Palestinian liberation, found their way into cinema; making films about their lives, hopes, and struggles. They sought to narrate Palestine and create a new kind of cinema.
This program offers a framework for understanding what is called “Palestinian cinema” and re-examines the history of this cinematic tradition across two main periods – the Third Period (1968-82) and the Fourth Period (1980 to the present) – periods that each, in their own way, reflect political, social, and ideological developments in this land. From the earliest visual experiments in previous decades to the formation of resistance cinema, and subsequently, the works of filmmakers who have spoken in various languages about exile, occupation, and daily life; this program provides a multifaceted picture of Palestine’s story. Examining political and social currents within the context of occupation, alongside a study of thematic and aesthetic transformations, provides an opportunity for Palestinian cinema to be seen not merely as a cultural product, but as a historical document and a discourse for understanding this land and its people.
The schedule for film screenings and sessions will be published soon.
* The Program title is taken from a book by George Khleifi and Nurith Gertz