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13 January 2003
When Elia Suleiman brought his film Divine Intervention to Ramallah he found the Israeli soldiers had got there first. The entrance to the cinema had been bombed, the cash till rifled, the Dolby stereo stolen. It was never going to be easy for a Palestinian to film in the West Bank. Elia Suleiman tells The Guardian’s Xan Brooks how he became a hit-and-run director . Read more about 'When we started shooting, so did they'
1 January 2003
“I was searching for the humane side of people’s dreams, people’s hunger and people’s disappointments. I was not looking for numbers, who is right, or why this happened,” Bakri said. “For me, it’s a prayer to stop this hell we are living in.” Joshua Mitnick of the New Jersey Star Ledger reports on a censorship move that calls Israeli democracy into question. Read more about Israeli film board bans "Jenin, Jenin"
24 December 2002
“In 1982, lacking e-mail, a cell phone, activist list serves, or websites, the best outlet for my horror, sorrow and anger at the Sabra and Shatila massacres was to crank up The Clash’s music to full volume as I cleaned the house in fury. ” The EI’s Laurie King-Irani pays homage to the late Joe Strummer of “The Clash.” Read more about It's up to us not to heed the call-up
20 December 2002
James Longley, director of the acclaimed 2001 documentary “Gaza Strip” will return the prestigious Student Academy Award he received from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) unless the Academy explains why it has deemed Palestine ineligible to enter the Oscars competition. Read the story and the full interview with EI. Read more about "Gaza Strip" director to return student Academy Award to protest exclusion of Palestine
18 December 2002
Although Divine Intervention has been draped with awards at film festivals, including the Jury Prize at Cannes last May, it is not eligible for consideration in the Oscar’s best-foreign-film category because Palestine is not a country. Michael Posner reports for the Globe and Mail. Read more about Oscar draws ire for snubbing Palestinian film
10 December 2002
Above: Elia Suleiman in the director’s chair.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences operates a double standard that may have kept Elia Suleiman’s award-winning feature film “Divine Intervention” out of the competition for the Oscars, EI has learned. The film, a dark comedy about a love affair between two people on opposite sides of an Israeli military checkpoint, won a prestigious jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and the European Film Award. EI’s Ali Abunimah and Benjamin Doherty investigate. Read more about Oscars' double standard turns Palestinian film into refugee
27 November 2002
“Jenin Jenin”, a 54-minute documentary made by Palestinian filmmaker/actor Muhammad Bakri, features at the International Documentary Filmfestival (IDFA) in Amsterdam. This film is Bakri’s most cutting statement yet. Bakri says that the film is about “human suffering as such - about a wounded soul, a demolished home, a felled tree, a picked flower, a broken heart.” Read more about "Jenin Jenin" features at International Documentary Filmfestival
Minneapolis 10 April 2002
“From the man who could page the world” is a poem by Saleh Abudayyeh, a poet who lives in Minnesota. Read more about Poem: From the man who could page the world
25 November 2002
The Chicago Palestine Film Festival is issuing a call for films by Palestinian cinematographers, directors and artists for the 2003 and subsequent festivals. The deadline for all film submissions is January 31, 2003. Read more about Chicago Palestine Film Festival: Call for Films
20 November 2002
Peace Fire: Fragments from the Israel-Palestine Story, edited by Ethan Casey and Paul Hilder, joins public figures and analysts with vivid street-level diaries from the people in the conflict - Israeli soldiers, peace activists, settlers, Palestinian gunmen, NGO workers, and refugees. “As the individual narrators offer their accounts, an explosive story unfolds.” Read more about Peace Fire: "An explosive story unfolds"