Film / News
Bristol Palestine Film Festival returns
Award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir has teamed up with Bristol Palestine Film Festival director David Owen to programme a timely short season of films at the Watershed under the – deep breath – Conversations About Cinema: Impact of Conflict banner. The season runs from March 13-22 and each event is followed by a Q&A session or discussion. In addition to the screenings, there’s a Poetry, Prose and Palestine evening, which also forms part of the Bristol Women’s Literature Festival.
Here are those screenings in full:
When I Saw You + Director’s Q&A
is needed now More than ever
Annemarie Jacir’s period drama set in 1967 Jordan, following an 11-year-old refugee as he makes his way home to Palestine. Ms. Jacir will be present for a Q&A after the screening.
Villa Touma + Discussion (pictured)
The feature debut of female screenwriter Suha Arraff, whose credits include the award-winning Lemon Tree. It’s the story of three Palestinian Christian sisters who are so traumatised by aftermath of the 1967 war with Israel that they retreat into their crumbling villa. The screening is followed by a discussion with Annemarie Jacir.
Often described as the first Palestinian film, even though director Kassem Hawal is an Iraqi, this 1981 drama is the powerful allegorical tale of a couple who are forced to leave their child in Haifa when they’re expelled in 1948. On their return 20 years later, they find the boy has been adopted by Jewish immigrants and has now enrolled in the Israeli army. The screening is introduced by Kais Al-Zubaidi, an Iraqi-born filmmaker living in Berlin who has worked as a cameraman, editor, author and director in Syria, Lebanon and Germany.
Chronicle of a Disappearance + Q&A
The rarely seen first part of Elia Suleiman’s absurdist comic trilogy about the Israeli occupation of Palestine that continued with Divine Intervention and The Time That Remains. It’s followed by a Q&A with Kais Al-Zubaidi.
There’s an opportunity for further discussion of the issues raised by these films in a live online chat with Suha Arraff, Annemarie Jacir, David Owen and Watershed Curator Mark Cosgrove. This takes place via Twitter on Thursday 12 March at 2pm. See #convocinema for more details.
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