“People who were not that open to the boycott campaign previously [are now] willing to support the international boycott campaign against Israel.” The Electronic Intifada contributor Stefan Christoff interviewed Canadian filmmaker Malcolm Guy about a Quebec film festival’s recent decision to cancel a “tolerance award” and the growing movement for a cultural boycott of Israel. Read more about Cultural solidarity in Quebec: An interview with filmmaker Malcolm Guy
Maryse Gargour’s 61-minute film The Land Speaks Arabic documents the founding of the Zionist movement and the expulsion of Palestinians in the early part of the 20th century. Maymanah Farhat reviews this “must-see” film for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Film review: A Zionist state where "The Land Speaks Arabic"
Visual artist Van Thanh Rudd recently created a stir in Melbourne, Australia with his installation “Economy of Movement - A Piece of Palestine.” Rudd was invited to exhibit at an art space called the Platform in the group show Resisting Subversion of Subversive Resistance. Adri Nieuwhof reports for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Installation criticizing occupation, Veolia causes stir
On 11 March 2009 at 8 pm, the Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival will make its debut at the world-renowned Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As one of the few Palestine film festivals to take place in the Midwest of the United States, the Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival will surely bring attention to the growing number of films made about and by Palestinians. Read more about Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival debuts early March
Sami Abu Shehadeh and Fadi Shbaytah26 February 2009
The story of Jaffa’s ongoing Nakba is the story of the transformation of a thriving modern urban center into a marginalized neighborhood suffering from poverty, discrimination, gentrification, crime and demolition since the initial wave of mass expulsion in 1948 to the present day. Sami Abu Shehadeh and Fadi Shbaytah trace Jaffa’s modern history. Read more about Jaffa: from eminence to ethnic cleansing
The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From its Ashes claims that the Shoah (the Nazi holocaust) has been “nationalized” and “privatized” and seeks to reclaim its memory for a universalist vision. Only thus, claims author Avraham Burg, can Israelis be rescued from their obsession with spurious victimhood, and Hitler finally be defeated. Raymond Deane reviews for The Electronic Intifada Read more about Book review: Avraham Burg and the denying of denial
To say that Palestinians are absent in Waltz with Bashir, to say that it is a film that deals not with Palestinians but with Israelis who served in Lebanon, only barely begins to describe the violence that this film commits against Palestinians. There is nothing interesting or new in the depiction of Palestinians — they have no names, they don’t speak, they are anonymous. But they are not simply faceless victims. Instead, the victims in the story that Waltz with Bashir tells are Israeli soldiers. Naira Antoun reviews the film for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Film review: "Waltz with Bashir"
The Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) is now accepting entries for its third annual festival to be held in October of 2009. BPFF seeks to present the extraordinary narrative of a dispossessed people living in exile, under military occupation and siege, and within Israel. Palestinian cinema represents a powerful means of interpreting the collective identity, historic struggle and surreal challenges that Palestinians face. Read more about Boston Palestine Film Festival extends deadline for 2009 submissions
The Toronto Palestine Film Festival is now accepting entries for the festival’s second year to be held in September-October 2009. The festival was conceived by Palestine House last year to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. This year’s festival will continue to present the extraordinary narrative of a dispossessed people living in exile or under Israeli occupation and will continue to introduce Canadian audiences to the rich variety of Palestinian cinema. Read more about Toronto Palestine Film Festival calls for submissions
I read Jonathan Cook’s new book Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s experiments in human despair before Israel committed its most recent massacres in Gaza. Israel’s massive disregard for Palestinian life and the clearly deliberate destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure shocked many poorly informed observers, but few of those acquainted with the knowledge contained in this book would have been taken by surprise. Gabriel Ash reviews for The Electronic Intifada. Read more about Book review: Un-erasing the erasure of Palestine
