Bristol Palestine Film Festival expands into live theatre

Founded back in 2011 by David Owen after he visited Palestine with the Easton Cowboys football team, the Bristol Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) continues to develop and expand. This year’s fest runs from December 4-12 and spans four venues.

The Watershed, Cube and Palestine Museum and Cultural Centre host 2021’s diverse programme of nine feature films and five shorts. But in a first for BPFF, this year’s festival opens with two performances of a theatrical production at the 1532 Performing Arts Centre.

The Shroud Maker

Written and directed by Palestinian playwright and author Ahmed Masoud, The Shroud Maker is a black comedy about an 84-year-old woman who has turned decades of war, deportation and oppression into a business opportunity by selling shrouds for the deceased.

Masoud will be present in person to take part in a free panel discussion  alongside the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Dr. Husam Zomlot, prior to the evening performance.

The feature film programme includes several Q&As, some of them online. At the Watershed on December 12, Najwa Najjar will be taking part in an online discussion of her true-life drama Between Heaven and Earth. This tells the story of Salma and Tamar, a married couple from the Palestinian territory who are given a three-day permit to cross the border and file for divorce in Nazareth. Here they uncover a shocking secret that sends them off on a road trip of discovery.

Ahmed Masoud returns to talk about his own experiences of growing up in Gaza after a screening of Gaza Mon Amour at the Cube on December 6.  This is a modern-day drama about 60-year-old fisherman Issa, who’s secretly in love with local market worker Siham. When he hauls up an ancient phallic statue of Apollo in his fishing nets, he takes it home under the cover of darkness. But as Issa works up the confidence to talk to Siham, the Hamas authorities find out about his shameful find.

At the Watershed on December 11, director Ameer Fakher Eldin takes part in a online Q&A about The Stranger: the story of a desperate unlicensed doctor working in the Golan Heights whose life takes another unlucky turn when he encounters a man wounded in the war in Syria.

The programme also includes several documentaries. The pick of these is Mayor, an eye-opening and often unexpectedly humorous portrait of dignity amid the grind and absurdity of endless occupation. Its subject is Musa Hadid, the Christian mayor of Ramallah, during his second term in office. Surrounded on all sides by Israeli settlements and soldiers, most people in Ramallah will never have the chance to travel more than a few miles outside their home. Mayor Hadid makes it his mission to improve the city. His immediate goals: repave the sidewalks, attract more tourism, and plan the city’s Christmas celebrations. His ultimate ambition: to end the occupation of Palestine.

Go here for the full BPFF programme and ticket information.

Main pic from Batween Heaven and Earth. All images supplied by Bristol Palestine Film Festival.