Tickets
Getting to the Schonell
Programme
Sponsors
Tickets
The Palestinian Days Film Festival will be held in Brisbane at the Schonell Theatre on October 16-17-18, 2009. The festival is sponsored by Justice for Palestine and the Palestinian Association of QLD.
Tickets available now:
Sponsorship ticket - entry to all session of festival including opening night: $50
Opening night: $20/12 concession
Day pass: $25/$15 concession
Each session: $10/$8 concession
To purchase tickets or to make a booking, please email contact@justiceforpalestinebrisbane.org or phone 0400 720 757.
Getting to the Schonell
Click here for information on getting to the Schonell Theatre
Film Festival Programme
Friday 16 October, 6:30pm - Opening Night
Tickets: $20/12 concession (light meal included)
Featuring:
The Palestinian Ambassador to Australia, Mr Izzat Abdulhadi
Performances by:
Amber Hansen
Phil Monsour
Films:
Lemonade
Director: Hicham Kayed
Duration: 13 minutes
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: PG
Palestinian brothers try to transcend their predicament as refugees by selling lemonade in their school break. Inspired by a true story, Lemonade is the outcome of a storytelling project run under the auspices of the Al-Jana Resource Centre in Lebanon, and was written, cast and edited with young residents of the Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut.
Arna’s Children
Written and directed: Juliano Mer Khamis and Danniel Danniel
Duration: 84minutes
Language: In English/Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: R 18+
Arna Mer (1929-1995) led a Palestinian children’s theatre group in the West Bank. Her son Juliano directed and filmed the performances by which the children try to cope with their refugee camp memories and daily reality. When the Israelis occupy Jenin, this ends. But Arna establishes an alternative educational system to replace the one paralysed by the occupation. After his mother’s death and the theatre closure, Juliano looks up 'Arna's children'. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has escalated again and bloody bomb attacks occur daily. Back in Jenin he discovers the tragic story of the children so dear to him. Juliano Mer Khamis is the son of the Jewish mother, Arna and an Arab father.
Saturday 17 October, 11am
Tickets: $10/8 concession
A Letter from Sarah
Director: Muraz Jan Kot
Duration: 14 minutes
Language: English subtitles with Arabic subtitles
Rating: R 18+
The filmmaker asks a 12-year-old Palestinian girl to write a film script recounting her ordeal. A Letter from Sara was shown in The 24th International Mediterranean Film Festival of Montpellier – France; Tabor Film Festival - Yugoslavia and Carthage Film festival – Tunisia. The film also won the Special Festival award at the 9th Cairo Television Film Festival. 2003 Nominated for best film and best script award in Carthage
Palestine Blues
Director: Nida Sinnokrot
Duration: 72 minutes
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: R 18+
Palestine Blues follows the repercussions of Israel's security wall and settlement expansion throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Focusing Jayyous village and its non-violent campaign against the wall, the film documents the heroic victories and tragic defeats of this farming community’s fight for survival. “An affecting cri de coeur” – The Chicago Reader. Official selection New York Underground Film Festival. Jury Award Best Film New Orleans Film Festival.
Saturday 17 October, 2pm
Tickets: $10/8 concession
Frontiers of Dreams and Fears
Director: Mai Masri
Duration: 56 minutes
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: R 18+
Winner of 14 international awards. From Shatila camp in Lebanon to Dheisha camp in Palestine, this heart aching narrative is the story of two refugee girls and their extraordinary journey to the borders of exile separating them from their homeland and from each other. “A vivid and touching testimony to love and hope”- Pillar to Post- USA
Jerusalem. The East Side Story
Director: Mohammed Alatar
Duration: 57 minutes
Language: In English/Arabic/Hebrew with English subtitles
Rating: R 18+
In 1948, the western part of the city fell under Israeli control; in 1967, the eastern part fell under Israeli occupation. Since then, Israel has pursued a policy of Judaizing the city, aiming to achieve “Jewish demographic superiority.” Part of this policy is to drive Palestinian Muslims and Christians out of the city; denying their presence, history, and ties to the land. The documentary exposes Israel’s policy to gain supremacy and hegemony over the city and its inhabitants. It also touches on the future of the city: Jerusalem is the key to peace; without Jerusalem, there is no peace for anyone.
Saturday 17 October, 7:30pm
Tickets: $10/8 concession
Palestine, Summer 06
Director: Rowan Al Faqih & Nahed Awwad
Duration: 35 minutes
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: PG
Established and new Palestinian filmmakers came together in a project that reflects the “mood” of the summer of 2006 when Israel carried out military assaults in Gaza and Lebanon. In 3 minutes or less, filmmakers tell their stories in a single shot. The result is a mosaic of 13 short films. A crossover between film, video art, individual expression and a collective voice - is a unique experience in the Palestinian cultural scene — Viewer
Arus el Jaleel (Bride of Galilee)
Director: Basel Tannous Duration: 48mins
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Year of production: 2006
Rating: PG
Fatma Hawari (78 yrs) was a recently engaged woman in 1948, when her village was bombed during the Nakba. Found under the rubble with her lower body paralyzed, she sent her fiancé away and remained alone in a wheel chair, living in what became Israel. 10 yrs ago, a man came to ask forgiveness for the bombing. Unable to forgive, she sent him away, to later learn he was Abe Nathan, an Israeli peace activist. Told by Israel she is ineligible for compensation, as only ‘Arabs’ could have caused her injuries, Fatma asks Nathan to confirm that he had bombed her home. Basel Tannous worked for over 4 years to gain the trust of Fatma and her family in the making of this painful and moving account of the encounters between two individuals, and their consequences. He has produced a unique and intimate portrait of an individual as well as of the enduring conflict itself.
Sunday 18 October, 11am
Tickets: $10/8 concession
Gaza Strip
Director: James Longley
Duration: 72 mins
Language: Arabic with Englishsubtitles
Rating: R 18+
This film documents the lives of ordinary Palestinians inside the Gaza strip during the intifada. There is no narration or explanation: the film lets the people and events speak for themselves.
Sunday 18 October, 2pm
Tickets: $10/8 concession
Jenin Jenin
Director: Mohammad Bakri
Duration: 54 minutes
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: MA15+
The film includes testimony from Jenin residents after the Israeli occupation forces' so-called "Defensive Wall" operation, when the city and camp were scenes of fierce fighting. The operation ended with Jenin flattened and scores of Palestinians dead. Palestinians as well as human rights groups accused Israel of committing war crimes in the April 2002 attack on the refugee camp. The film shows the extent to which the prolonged oppression and terror has affected the state of mind of the Palestinian inhabitants of Jenin.
Since You Left..
Director: Mohammad Bakri
Duration: 60 minutes
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: MA15+
In this autobiographical essay, Palestinian actor Bakri returns to the grave of his former mentor, the writer and communist Emile Habibi, and attempts – using archive footage, personal films, and documentary materials – to account for the personal and political transformations that have occurred in Palestine as well as within his own thinking since the author’s death.
Sunday 18 October, 6pm
Tickets: $10/8 concession
Watani Habibi, My Beloved Homeland
Director: John Mandelberg
Duration: 24 minutes
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: MA15+
This rich musical expose reveals the exquisite sun drenched landscapes of ancient Palestine. We hear the haunting sounds of traditional Arabic instruments: the Ney, the Qanun and the Oud, in harmony with the passionate voices of Palestinian cultural resistance. An introductory exploration of Palestinian protest music and dance which features the treasured singular voice of the traditional village singer, Jawaher Shofani; the warm melodic tones of the banished maestro of folk, Mustafa al Kurd, and the youthful sounds of Arab rap calling to the world. They dance to remember their past, they perform for their futures, they believe in the enduring richness and vibrancy of their artistic heritage.
The Iron Wall
Director: Mohammed Alatar
Duration: 52 minutes
Language: In English and Arabic with English subtitles
Rating: MA15+
In 1923 Vladimir Jabotinsky, leading intellectual of the Zionist movement and father of the right wing of that movement, wrote:
"Zionist colonization must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population - behind an IRON WALL, which the native population cannot breach."
From that day this became the official and unspoken policy of the Zionist movement and the state of Israel. Settlements were used from the beginning to create a Zionist foothold in Palestine. After 1967 and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the aim of the settlement movement became clear - create facts on the ground and make the creation of a Palestinian state impossible. 39 years of occupation and the policy started showing results. There are more than 200 settlements and outposts throughout the West Bank blocking the geographic possibility of a contiguous Palestinian territory.
The Iron Wall documentary exposes this phenomenon and follows the timeline, size, population of the settlements, and its impact on the peace process. This film touches on the latest project to make the settlements a permanent fact on the ground - the wall that Israel is building in the West Bank and its impact on the Palestinian's peoples.
Settlements and related infrastructures are impacting every aspect of life for all Palestinians from land confiscation, theft of natural resources, confiscation of the basic human rights, creation of an apartheid-like system, to the devastating impact on the future of the region and the prospect of the peace process. The film includes interviews with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, human rights activists and political analysts.
Sponsors
The Palestinian Days Film Festival is proudly supported by: