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Occupied Cinema
After a hugely successful first year, the Palestinian Film Festival returns to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide from October 29.
Not much beyond politics is shown about Palestine in the media, and the individual stories of Palestine's inhabitants are particularly neglected. This will be seriously amended at this year's Palestinian Film Festival, where audiences will be privy to 14 unforgettable, award winning, entertaining, and inspiring films, which will illustrate the faces, places and stories of this occupied territory.
Presented by Cultural Media, the 2009 line-up includes a variety of drama and documentary feature films, four of which are reviewed below.
AMREEKA
Director: Cherien Dabis
Cast: Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat.
Rating: $10.50
"...has just the right amount of satire, drama and charm to appeal to everyone."
Set during America's invasion of Iraq, Amreeka is a reflection of white America's past and (debatably) current attitude towards the Arabic and Muslim community, while still being an enjoyable and ultimately feel-good film.
Muna Farah (Nisreen Faour) and her son Fadi (Melkar Muallem), leave their home of Bethlehem for America, hoping for a better, prosperous life. Unfortunately, they lose all their money through a mix-up with border security and are forced to live with Muna's sister Raghda (Hiam Abbass) and her husband Nabeel (Yussuf Abu-Warda).
As the movie goes on, America's inherent prejudices are slowly revealed. Fadi is teased by a group of classmates who are under the impression that he's Iraqi; despite her two academic degrees and ten years experience in accounting, Muna is unable to get hired anywhere except the fast food outlet White Castle; and Nabeel's medical practice is losing customers because his patients are uncomfortable around an Arab doctor. Despite these setbacks, the movie is optimistic. Muna finds comfort in the company of a teacher at Fadi's school and, although he hates his new home, Fadi embraces American culture with the help of his cousin Salma (Arrested Development star Alia Shawkat). Best of all, Nisreen Faour's charming performance draws you in to a story that could have been all too easy to disengage from. Appropriately enough, the film is dedicated to debut feature filmmaker Cherien Dabis' mum.
Amreeka has just the right amount of satire, drama and charm to appeal to everyone.
Riley Bell
THE HEART OF JENIN
Directors: Leon Geller and Marcus Vetter
Worth: $15.00
"...a very important film that everyone should see."
The complexity of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and its impact on those living with it, is brought home with the compelling documentary The Heart of Jenin. More profound than the conflict itself however, is the amazing story of Palestinian father Ismael Khatib. Following the death of his 12 year-old son by the gun of an Israeli soldier, Ismael makes the compassionate but perplexing decision to donate his son's organs to six critically ill Israeli children. This impartial act of humanity captured the attention of international press and as a result, the events leading up to and following the transplant surgeries have been recorded.
The film explores the experience of three children who were saved from this act, and the reaction of the donor recipients' families as Ismael takes a road trip across Israel in order to contact them. A particularly infuriating response is from Orthodox Jew Yaakov Levinson, the father of Menuha who received a kidney. Levinson oscillates between whining that their pleas for a truce in the war have been ignored; then negates this apparent desire for peace with the derogatory rant: "crazy Arabs are always wanting to kill Jews." Either way his racism remains consistent.
Within the historical backdrop of the conflict and the Israeli occupation of Jenin after the Second Intifada, this film broaches the issue from the perspective of Palestinian victims. It demonstrates, through the selfless humanity of Ismael and the male nurse who guided his decision, that peace can in fact be achieved if one chooses to pursue it over the cycle of vengeance.
Filmmakers Geller and Vetter have created a very important film that everyone should see, and together with the poignant score by Erez Koskas, it is impossible to not be moved.
Sarah-Jane Lamont
THE TIME THAT REMAINS
Director Elia Suileman
Cast Elia Suileman, Saleh Bakri, Samar Tanus
Worth $13.50
"...a striking piece of work."
In current climates, it can't be easy making a film that attempts to politely excuse itself from the stigma of politics, especially one that was born as the very result of political conflict. And yet that is what Palestinian director Elia Suileman has managed to achieve with The Time That Remains. Loosely autobiographical and based upon letters and memoirs written by his mother and father, the film guides the audience from Israel's 1948 War of Independence, through to the consequent decades as Elia and his family adapt to the changing political and cultural landscape of their hometown of Nazareth.
Suileman has managed to create both a beautiful story and aesthetic, immersed in subtle brutality and bursting with colourful humour. Palestine itself is wonderfully reconstructed, painted in shades of vanilla and gold, and perfectly framed. There is an air of stillness that carries itself throughout the film's entirety, as an intriguing reflection of the people Suileman strives to represent here. Some scenes are stark in their presentation of conflict: the startling way in which a mother walking her child stands up to armed Israeli soldiers, and the amusing sequence in which a young man is followed by a tank gun while pacing outside his home on a mobile phone. These characters are unflinching, and Suileman himself plays voyeur to their admirable calm.
The film is not particularly dialogue heavy, meaning its 109 minutes can start to feel a lot longer towards its end. Despite its slightly sagging timeframe, The Time That Remains is a striking piece of work that gives invaluable insight into life inside conflict, and does so without a hint of self-pity or over-blown exaggeration.
Francesca Jarvis
ARAFAT & I
Director Mahdi Fleifel
Cast: Mahdi Fleifel, Ximena Garcia Vera, Zein Ja'far.
Worth $12.00
Three is most definitely a crowd when it comes to love. Just ask Marwan and Lisa, a new couple who are enjoying getting to know each other. Except maybe it's all just one-sided. Chronicling the early days of their relationship, this 15 minute film's writer/director Fleifel explores the nature of love and national identity, only stopping to ask "why does it matter?"
Apparently to Marwan, it does. He is excited that his new girlfriend shares Arafat's birthday, and they get into a petty squabble over the difference between Turks and Arabs. His passion for his heritage is evident but he is living in a multicultural London, a melting pot of culture, and his refusal to look past the surface is both funny and at times highly disturbing. Fleifel presents us a window into contemporary society: Marwan's best friend and girlfriend do not place much emphasis on birthplace, on political persuasion, or on labels. But for every two, there is always one who does.
The performances are tangible, and the London backdrop is a subtle reminder of how identities can both clash and co-exist. The director does a fine job of taking a serious topic that exists within everyday life and twisting it into a funny tale of neuroticism and passiveness. Rather than making it a story weighed down by its own issues, Arafat & I is a light-hearted look at identity and belonging in a time when it has never mattered more.
Francesca Jarvis.
The Palestinian Film Festival kicks off in Sydney at Palace Cinema Norton Street, Leichhardt from Thu 29 Oct - Sun 1 Nov; Melbourne at Cinema Nova, Carlton from Thu 12 Nov - Sun 15 Nov; and Adelaide's Mercury Cinema from Fri 13 Nov - Sun 15 Nov. Limited sessions so book early. http://palestinianfilmfestival.com.au/ for more information.
Picture caption: scene from Amreeka.