Filmed within three days in 2002, just one year before his death at the age of 67, Edward Said: The Last Interview is a compelling portrait of a man who was not only a strong advocate of the Palestinian cause, but an accomplished teacher, literary critic, writer and musician. After living for more than ten years with a fatal strain of leukemia, which he was diagnosed with in 1991, Said refused interviews. However, former student D.D. Guttenplan along with director Mike Dibb convinced him otherwise. Jenny Gheith reviews the film for EI. Read more about Film review: "Edward Said: The Last Interview"
The Chicago Palestine Film Festival is issuing a call for films by Palestinian filmmakers and for films about Palestine for our fourth annual 2005 festival as well as subsequent festivals. Learn how to submit a film, or find out more information about the festival. Read more about Chicago Palestine Film Festival 2005: Call for Films
The new documentary The Israeli Wall in Palestinian Land is a prime example of how low-cost digital technology has great potential for activists - with a small camcorder, and some decent video editing software, one can make a finished film that can be cheaply burned onto DVDs or put up on a website. Like cheap 35 mm, Polaroid, and disposable cameras democratized photography, video as a medium is now highly accessible. But whether one makes the most out of the medium is another matter. EI’s Arts, Music, and Culture Editor Maureen Clare Murphy reviews the new film for EI. Read more about Documentary film review: "Israeli Wall in Palestinian Lands"
The 2004 International Children’s Day of Broadcasting (ICDB) marks the second anniversary of Alli Sotak (Speak Up), a two hour weekly programme, which is created by and for Palestinian young people. The inspiration for starting a new programme for youth was born when the Palestinian National TV network realized that, amidst the gloomy circumstances and grim news headlines which children are exposed to , there was a great hunger for positive content. As a result, Palestine TV began to participate in the annual ICDB event in the year 2000, by sponsoring annual special programmes. Read more about Palestinian youth produce their own TV programme
On Wednesday 1 December, this year’s Principal Prince Claus Award was presented to the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish at the Royal Palace. Darwish has been granted this award for his powerful and world-famous poetry that depicts his life as an exile and his desire for his native country. The award reflects the Fund’s new focus on the positive results of asylum and migration.The other nine laureates will be presented with their awards in their own countries. Since 1997 the Prince Claus Awards have been presented annually by the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development to artists, thinkers and cultural organisations that are mainly located in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Read more about Mahmoud Darwish wins Prince Claus Award
When I watched the Oscar-winning film The Pianist I had three distinct, uneasy reactions. I was not particularly impressed by the film, from a purely artistic angle; I was horrified by the film’s depiction of the dehumanization of Polish Jews and the impunity of the German occupiers; and I could not help but compare the Warsaw ghetto wall with Israel’s much more ominous wall caging 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in fragmented, sprawling prisons. Many of the methods of collective and individual “punishment” meted out to Palestinian civilians at the hands of young, racist, often sadistic and ever impervious Israeli soldiers at the hundreds of checkpoints littering the occupied Palestinian territories are reminiscent of common Nazi practices against the Jews. Read more about "The Pianist" of Palestine: Reflections on Israel's ubiquitous abuse
The Culture Park Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam provided a natural setting for an unique performance of The Shouting Fence. This musical expression of emotions about the Separation Wall built in the occupied Palestinian territories was performed by at least 1,500 voices. Between what resembles concrete parts of the wall and the audience in the middle, between a fence and barbed wires, on two sides of the arena two large groups of singers shout, sing and whisper. Shouting Fence is a vocal story of a community split in two. EI’s Arjan El Fassed went to the premiere in Amsterdam and reviews this unique musical event. Read more about Review: The Shouting Fence
Winner at festivals in Marseille and Jerusalem, Simone Bitton’s Franco-Israeli “Mur” (Wall), is about Israel’s Apartheid Wall. EI’s Arjan El Fassed saw this documentary during the seventeenth international documentary filmfestival in Amsterdam (Netherlands) which opened on 18 November. Mur (“Wall”) is nominated for the Amnesty International-DOEN Award, one of the awards presented at the festival. After the screening the audience got to ask Bitton some questions. “The moment I heard about the barrier going up, June 2002, I had to make this film,” she said in Cinerama 2 in Amsterdam. Read more about Documentary film review: "Mur" (Wall)
The wall Israel is building on Palestinian land is not only violating Palestinians’ right to freedom of movement and obstructing them from their source of income, but it is also blocking their view of natural sunrise and sunset. It is blocking the hope of a bright future and a just peace. History shows that building walls rarely solves conflicts or guarantees security. As a creative and non-violent protest against the Segregation Wall, the International Center of Bethlehem organized for three muralists from Mexico to join with locals to deface the wall. The three artists, Alberto Aragon Reyes, Gustavo Chavez Pavon and Erasto Molina Urbina arrived in Palestine Oct. 19 to begin work and stayed in Bethlehem. Read more about A cultural protest against the wall
The first prize winner in the first annual Ariel Sharon Short Story contest is Katherine Ludwig. The story is based on what happened to Rachel Corrie, although the story does not require the reader to know this for it to “work.” The story moves at a clipped pace yet flows remarkably well, as it opens up space and time for a reader to reflect on “the event” at hand. Ms. Ludwig’s understanding of the consciousness of these characters is evident. She is aware of the woman’s (and the other protestors’) possible flaws (e.g., their privelege) as perceived by the driver (e.g.”the smoothness of their pampered skin”). Read more about Ariel Sharon Short Story Contest: Announcing the Winner
