Chicago Palestine Film Festival
From April 14 through 26, the Gene Siskel Film Center collaborates with the Chicago Palestine Film Festival to present the sixth annual festival representing the spirit and mood of contemporary Palestinian life. This festival is dedicated to exhibiting film and video work that is open, critical, and reflective of the culture, experience, and vision of the artists. This year’s festival opens with the Chicago premiere of the thought-provoking documentary LEILA KHALED: HIJACKER, in which the world’s first female hijacker reflects publicly for the first time on the actions that made her international news almost forty years ago.
The opportunity to meet artists and to engage in audience discussion with experts in the fields of history, cultural theory, and humanitarian aid, is a unique feature of the Chicago Palestine Film Festival. Opening night, April 14, features an introduction and discussion by renowned author and cultural critic Hamid Dabashi of Columbia University, N.Y. Historian and author As’ad Abu Khalil, who maintains the blog The Angry Arab News Service, leads a discussion at the April 21 shorts program, which includes PALESTINE, SUMMER 2006. On April 22, Jennifer Bing-Canar, Program Director for the Chicago American Friends Service Committee’s Middle East Program, will lead a discussion following ENCOUNTER POINT. Director Tariq Nasir will discuss his very personal documentary BELONGING on April 25
This year's festival is made possible in part through the support of the Crossroads Fund; the Illinois Arts Council, A State Agency; and individual contributions. For their invaluable cooperation the Gene Siskel Film Center thanks the members of the Chicago Palestine Film Festival Committee.
--Barbara Scharres
Tariq Nasir in person!
BELONGING
2006, Tariq Nasir, Palestine/Jordan, 68 min.
PALESTINE, SUMMER 2006
2006, Various directors, Palestine, 35 min.
BELONGING tells a very personal story in which loss is a repeating theme. In the U.S., the director’s mother’s family is made homeless by the Great Depression. In Palestine in 1948, his father’s family is driven from their ancestral home at gunpoint. In 1967, the saga continues with the next generation caught up in the refugee chaos of a newly erupted war with Israel.
PALESTINE, SUMMER 2006, a project initiated by the Palestinian Film Collective, is an entertaining compilation of short works by thirteen different film and video artists. Drama, animation, comedy, and cinema veritˇ segments of three minutes or less create singular evocations of Palestine. In Arabic with English subtitles. DV-CAM video. (BS)
Tariq Nasir, director of BELONGING, will be present for audience discussion.
Wednesday, April 25, 7:45 pm
Jennifer Bing-Canar in person!
ENCOUNTER POINT
2006, Ronit Avni and Julia Bacha, USA, 85 min.
“Unique glimpses into the hearts and minds of those who have turned reasons for hatred into a crusade for tolerance.”--Ronnie Scheib, Variety
Individuals most wronged on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict fight personal demons and peer pressure to reach out to the sworn enemies of their friends and families. Filmmakers Avni and Bacha feelingly capture the grief and struggle of subjects including a Palestinian activist whose brother was killed by Israeli soldiers, and an Israeli mother whose son was shot by a Palestinian sniper, as they risk everything to open dialogue. In Arabic, Hebrew, and English with English subtitles. HD video. (BS)
On Sunday, Jennifer Bing-Canar, Program Director for the Chicago American Friends Service Committee’s Middle East Program, will lead a discussion following the film.
Sunday, April 22, 3:00 pm
Wednesday, April 25, 6:00 pm
GOAL DREAMS
2006, Maya Sanbar and Jeffrey Saunders, USA, 86 min.
It’s not necessary to be a soccer fan to enjoy the roller-coaster ride of GOAL DREAMS, as the Palestinian national soccer team makes a passionate but unsuccessful bid to qualify for the World Cup tournament. Heart is the essence of the story as the dream takes root among players of Palestinian heritage but varying nationalities. With no common language, no home field, and no nation to cheer them on, this underdog team of all time plays the critical game with Uzbekistan with high hopes. In English and Arabic with English subtitles. DigiBeta video. (BS)
Saturday, April 21, 3:00 pm
Thursday, April 26, 8:15 pm
IT’S NOT A GUN
2006, Hˇl¸na Cotinier and Pierre-Nicolas Durand, France, 67 min.
HAPPY DAYS
2006, Larissa Sansour, Denmark/Palestine, 3 min.
IT’S NOT A GUN chronicles the triumphs and travails of al-Kamandjat, a summer music school in Ramallah for Palestinian children. Soaring spirits prevail through the film’s plentiful music, while the school’s founder, violinist Ramzi Aburedwan, and his multi-national cohorts face daily problems ranging from obstruction at checkpoints to efforts by vigilante religious extremists to shut them down. In Arabic with English subtitles. Beta SP video.
Preceded by HAPPY DAYS, a tongue-in-cheek music video with an ironic message. In Arabic with English subtitles. Mini-DV video. (BS)
Friday, April 20, 6:00 pm
Opening night!
Hamid Dabashi in person!
LEILA KHALED: HIJACKER
2005, Lina Makboul, Sweden, 58 min.
MAKE A WISH
(ITMANNA)
2006, Cherien Dabis, Palestine, 12 min.
For filmmaker Makboul, growing up in Sweden, her teenage hero worship of the world’s first female hijacker served as the catalyst for her pursuit of the present-day Leila Khaled, a motherly but unrepentant 60-year-old who staunchly defends guerilla action in service of the Palestinian cause. In Makboul’s increasingly intimate conversations with Khaled, and in interviews with airline personnel from the two planes she hijacked in 1969 and 1970, difficult questions elicit surprising answers. In Swedish, Arabic, and English with English subtitles. Beta SP video.
Preceded by MAKE A WISH. A secret motive gives urgency to a young girl’s mission to buy a birthday cake. In Arabic with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
Saturday, April 14, 8:00 pm
Monday, April 16, 6:00 pm
OPEN HEART
2006, Claire Fowler, Great Britain/USA/Palestine, 22 min.
CHECKPOINT BETHLEHEM
2006, Særen Lind, Denmark, 22 min.
GOOD MORNING QALQILIA
(SABAH EL KHAIR QALQILIA)
2006, Dima Abu Ghoush, Palestine, 26 min.
IN OPEN HEART, the life of baby Jamal hangs in the balance unless he has surgery to repair his congenital heart defect. But the road to survival starts with the arduous journey from the West Bank to Jerusalem by way of several checkpoints. In Arabic with English subtitles. DigiBeta video.
In CHECKPOINT BETHLEHEM, Danish filmmaker Lind checks in with his friend Elias just as the young tour guide gets his long-awaited permit to visit Jerusalem, the forbidden world only ten miles away. In Danish and Arabic with English subtitles. Mini-DV video.
GOOD MORNING QALQILIA exposes a land of contrasts, where the stoic residents of camps long for a life that is no more. In Arabic with English subtitles. Mini DV video. (BS)
Sunday, April 22, 5:30 pm
PALESTINE BLUES
2005, Nida Sinnokrot, USA, 80 min.
KEMO SABE
2005, Rana Kazkaz, USA, 13 min.
The demolished house that is the site of the death of American peace activist Rachel Corrie is only the first of the troubling markers in the landscape charted by PALESTINE BLUES as the director travels the route of the infamous security wall. A bereft farmer grieves for his ancient orchard as the bulldozers lay it to waste, but a new movement in nonviolent resistance grows in its place. In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. Beta SP video.
Preceded by KEMO SABE. A Palestinian boy discovers that clothes make the man when his American neighbors shut him out of their game of cowboys and Indians. DV-CAM video. (BS)
KEMO SABE director Rana Kazkaz will appear for audience discussion after the screening.
Sunday, April 15, 5:15 pm
As’ad Abu Khalil in person!
PALESTINE, SUMMER 2006
2006, Various directors, Palestine, 35 min.
TWO HANDS
2006, Fabio Wuytack, Belgium, 13 min.
SOUP OVER BETHLEHEM
(MLOUKHIEH)
2006, Larissa Sansour, Denmark/Palestine, 10 min.
PALESTINE, SUMMER 2006, a project initiated by the Palestinian Film Collective, is an entertaining compilation of short works by thirteen different film and video artists. Drama, animation, comedy, and cinema veritˇ segments of three minutes or less create singular evocations of Palestine. In Arabic with English subtitles. DV-CAM video.
TWO HANDS reflects on the work of a heart surgeon whose mission has been altered by conflict. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. Mini-DV video.
In the visually striking SOUP OVER BETHLEHEM, a group of friends on a rooftop feast on the Palestinian national dish amid a culinary debate with global resonance. In Arabic with English subtitles. Mini-DV video. (BS)
As’ad Abu Khalil, visiting professor of political science at University of California, Berkeley, and author of Bin Laden, Islam & America’s New ‘War on Terrorism,’ will introduce the program and lead audience discussion.