Art, Music & Culture

Review: Diary of a Male Whore

Maureen Clare Murphy
21 April 2003

In Tawfiq Abu Wael’s Diary of a Male Whore, the main character, a young man who states, “My physical pleasures make me forget the hunger,” finds that humiliation is the way of life in an occupied land. EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival.

Review: Lord's Song in a Strange Land

Maureen Clare Murphy
21 April 2003

Nicholas Dembowski’s video, Lord’s Song in a Strange Land is a clever montage of found footage from Hollywood movies, cable news networks, European news stations, old Western films and edited it as though to let his viewers channel surf through the American media’s representation of what it considers “the Arab world.” EI contributer Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the film at the Chicago Palestine Film Festival.

Second Annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival to be held April 17-25

7 April 2003

Chicago will host its second annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival from April 17-25 2003. The festival will feature over 30 films including Hany Abu Assad’s Rana’s Wedding: Jerusalem, Another Day, an official selection for the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, Jeremy Hardy vs. the Israeli Army, a film by the London-based Palestinian filmmaker Leila Sansour, and Genet à Shatila from Swiss director Richard Dindo.

"On the brink of..."

Suheir Hammad
19 March 2003

“This is not a poem. This is not a threat. / This is a promise. / God has a better imagination / than all of us combined and I do not / know what form retribution will take / but I have seen karma happen and it will / again, and when it does I will chant / the names of the innocent and I will stand / with those who have kept their hands clean of blood/ and their hearts clear of hate.” Poet Suheir Hammad offers an elegy for the life and work of Rachel Corrie.

Israeli and Palestinian movies feature at Amnesty film festival

Arjan El Fassed
10 March 2003

Elia Suleiman’s “Divine Intervention” and Ruth Walk’s “The Settlers” will feature on Amnesty International’s fifth film festival which will take place between 20 and 23 March 2003 in Amsterdam.

Radio Intifada broadcasts 2nd show in CA on Feb 20th

Radio Intifada
19 February 2003

In Radio Intifada’s second program of the KPFK Fund Drive, we present different visions of the future for Palestine and Israel, with excerpts from a panel presented at Loyola Law School on February 16th. A Radio Intifada press release offers more information.

Ninja in Nazareth

Goel Pinto
9 February 2003

“When people ask me if the film is about the occupation of the Palestinian people, I say right away that this isn’t a film about anything. If it has to be reduced to one subject, I say it’s a film about occupation in the world as a whole — it focuses on Israel only because Israel serves as a kind of microcosm.” Elia Suleiman, director of the award-winning film “Divine Intervention,” which has just opened in Israel, talks to Goel Pinto of Ha’aretz about the ideas behind the film.

Review: 'Palestine' By Joe Sacco

Charles Shaar Murray
4 February 2003

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Buy Sacco’s Palestine from Amazon.com

”In 1991-2, Sacco, having “heard nothing but the Israeli side”, toured the occupied territories, seeking to immerse himself in Palestinian existence. The fruit of his labours emerged as a mini-series of nine comics, now a single set with an introduction by one of Sacco’s primary influences, Edward Said. Sacco is formidably talented. A meticulous reporter, he scrupulously interprets the testimonies of dozens of victims of the Israeli regime into cartoon form. He is also a gifted artist whose richly nuanced drawings tread a delicate path between cartoonishness and naturalism. His layouts shift in style to match the material: stories told to him emerge in symmetrical panel grids, while incidents in which he is involved, or engage his emotions, are rendered in a far looser style, in which images and captions slide across the page. ” Charles Shaar Murray reviews Palestine in the Independent.

Review: "Real DJs do Real Things" by DJ K-Salaam

Ismail Khalidi
27 January 2003

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Above: Real DJs do Real Things cover.

Although over 20 years old, hip-hop culture does not seem to have fulfilled the potential it once showed to become a serious political force in the U.S. Is there any hope for rappers to speak up and have their voices heard in a political climate much in need of constructive and intelligent dissent, debate and resistance? Ismail Khalidi reviews DJ K-Salaam’s album, Real DJs do Real Things and discovers that DJ tackles the taboo of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — largely untouched in the music industry as well as in showbiz in general. Much like the inventive, hard-hitting beats and musical collages on his album, Salaam is similarly courageous in his liner notes as he makes a plea for justice for the Palestinian people.

Review of Bernard Lewis' "What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response"

Juan Cole
27 January 2003

With regard to the Middle East, what does he mean by the question “what went wrong?” Does he mean to ask about economic underdevelopment? About lack of democracy? About a failure to contribute to scientific and technological advances? About ethnocentrism? All of these themes are mentioned in passing, but none is formulated as a research design. Michigan history proffesor Juan Cole reviews Bernard Lewis’ book.

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