Film Festival Review: Palestine, Summer 2006

“Palestine, Summer 2006” is a collection of short films, videos and art animation by a panorama of directors who approach diverse subjects within Palestinian culture, society and politics. The directors are members of the Palestinian Film Collective Balata Films and their cinematic vignettes cover different subjects pertaining to people living under occupation.

The introduction to the compilation is Akram Al Ashqar’s “Red, Dead and Mediterranean.” With white chalk a girl draws on a concrete wall a map of where she lives in relation to three bodies of water: the Red Sea, the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

“And here is Tulkarem we can’t go on a trip to the Dead Sea, the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea,” and from a rooftop she points to the Mediterranean Sea.

Hence the film begins with a longing for the water. As a result, viewers understand that the Palestinians living in Palestine do not have normal lives.

In “Security leak,” a driver listens to the news on the radio about an Israeli air raid in Rafah, Gaza. News about Arabs all over the world, such as the detainees in Guantanamo, or Arabs detained Europe, reveals that Arabs and Muslims are confined and are under attack.

In “Checkmate,” a young man’s sleeping is disturbed by the lights and sounds of an Israeli truck patrolling the street outside his bedroom window. He turns on his TV to see himself, which illustrates life with the Israeli Army means peoples’ lives are occupied.

What I liked about this compilation is that each director covers a subject within several minutes, and together these subjects cover Palestinian life. For example in the video, “Coffee and Cigarettes,” the director shows two women gossiping about their friends. When they find out their conversation has been filmed, the women are more concerned with people seeing them smoke, and less concerned about their bad-mouthing.

In “Flee,” artistic expression on glass shows how an artist perceives the dreams of normal living. With water-based paint, perhaps tempura paint, the artist molds one image after another successively. The sea, birds, a flute, trees, a flying kite, and a mother holding a child come to life. Through the imagination, people escape to normal, daily-life activities via artistic expression.

In “Red, Dead and Mediterranean” occupation prevents access to water and in “Not just any Sea,” the narrator explains she has not touched the water in 15 years. Yet she has dreamt of standing in the sea all these years of absence. Her thoughts reveal people continue striving for their human rights.

I like that the film begins and ends with water because it sets the tone, mood and feeling. In the final work, the woman stands on the shore and talks to the water. The Mediterranean Sea, with its alluring scents and sounds, affects people in different ways; people who are separated from their native sea are like fishes out of water, fishes always dreaming of swimming in the return.

One of the most interesting pieces, “A World Apart in 15 Minutes” shows a woman driving her car in Jerusalem. Numerous times she stops her car and from her car window she asks Israelis for directions to Ramallah. Although the two cities are a few kilometers apart, most Israelis do not know the way. The few people who know the way are reluctant to answer. Why? It means Israeli acknowledgement of the indigenous Palestinians living next door.

Some people answer as if Palestinians live in some alternative reality . . . one that does not involve Israeli society.

When an older woman asks the driver if she wants to attend a garden celebration, the driver explains she is asking for directions to Ramallah. The older woman does not want to help her. When the driver proceeds to ask the woman about the garden celebration, the older woman closes her car door and says, “Nevermind.” She represents some of the people within Israeli society who pretend Palestinians are not a part of life in the Holy Land.

This film is an anthology of summer 2006 and it is a condensed collage of Palestinian perspectives on many diverse topics through artistic expression. In the future I hope the Palestinian Film Collective continues to create more films together because this film is just the beginning.

This film is showing Saturday, April 21, 2007 and Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at the Gene Siskel Film Center for the 6th Annual Palestine Film Festival.

Red, dead and Mediterranean – akram al ashqar

Not just any sea – nahed awwad

Football on a thursday afternoon – liana badr

Jenan – riyad deis

Security leak – rowan al faqih

Flee – ahmad habash

Coffee & cigarettes – ismael habbash

Sound of the street – Annemarie jacir

A world apart within 15 minutes – enas muthaffar

To the Arabs of Haifa a special message… - razi najjar

Ferkesh (cancelled) – may odeh

Checkmate – amer shomali

Traffic – mohanad yaqubi

Concept/idea – ismael habbash, annemarie jacir, raed andoni
Editing: nahed awwad, Annemarie jacir
Executive producers: rowan al faqih, nahed awwad
Country: Palestine
Year: 2006
Duration: 35 minutes

-U.S. journalist and film critic Sonia Nettnin writes about social, political, economic, and cultural issues. Her focus is the Middle East.

© Scoop Media