Cinema of Palestine
Encyclopedia
Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
cinema is relatively young in comparison to Arab cinema
Arab cinema
Arab cinema refers to the cinema of the Arab world.-Overview:There is increased interest in films originating in the Arab world. For example, films from Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Tunisia are making wider and more frequent rounds than ever before in local film...
as a whole, many Palestinian movies are made with European and Israeli funding and support. Palestinian movies are not exclusively produced in Arabic and some are made in English, French and Hebrew. It is believed that there have been over 800 films produced about Palestinians, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
, and other related topics.
The first period: The beginning, 1935-48
The first Palestinian film to be made is generally believed to be a documentary on King Ibn Saud of Saudi ArabiaIbn Saud of Saudi Arabia
King Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia was the first monarch of the Third Saudi State known as Saudi Arabia. He was commonly referred to as Ibn Saud....
´s visit in 1935 to Palestine, made by Ibrahim Hassan Sirhan, based in Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
(also spelled Ibrahim Hasan Serhan.) Sirhan followed the King and around Palestine, "from Lod
Lod
Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod...
to Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
and from Jaffa to Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
". The result was a silent movie
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
that was presented at the Nabi Rubin festivals. Following this documentary, Sirhan joined Jamal al-Asphar to produce a 45-minute film called The Realized Dreams, aiming to "promote the orphans´cause". Sirhan and al-Asphar also produced a documentary about Ahmad Hilmi Pasha, a member of the Higher Arab Commission
Arab Higher Committee
The Arab Higher Committee was the central political organ of the Arab community of Mandate Palestine. It was established on 25 April 1936, on the initiative of Hajj Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and comprised the leaders of Palestinian Arab clans under the mufti's...
.
In 1945 Sirhan established the "Arab Film Company" production studio together with Ahmad Hilmi al-Kilani. The company launched the feature film Holiday Eve, which was followed by preparations for the next film A Storm at Home. The films themselves were lost in 1948, when Sirhan had to flee Jaffa after the town was bombarded.
The second period: The epoch of silence, 1948-67
The Naqba of 1948 had a devastating effect on the Palestinian society, including its nascent film industry. Cinematic endeavours, requiring infrastructure, professional crews, and finance, nearly ceased for two decades. Individual Palestinian participated in the film-production of neighbouring countries. It is reported that Sirhan was involved with the production of the first Jordanian feature film, The Struggle in Jarash, (1957), and another Palestinian, Abdallah Ka´wash, directed the second Jordanian feature film, My Homeland, My Love, in 1964.The third period: Cinema in exile, 1968-82
After 1967 Palestinian cinema was founded under the auspices of the PLO, funded by FatahFatah
Fataḥ is a major Palestinian political party and the largest faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization , a multi-party confederation. In Palestinian politics it is on the left-wing of the spectrum; it is mainly nationalist, although not predominantly socialist. Its official goals are found...
and other Palestinian organisations like PFLP and DFLP. More than 60 films were made in this period, mostly documentaries. The first film festival dedicated to Palestinian films was held in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
in 1973, and Baghdad also hosted the next two Palestinian film festivals, in 1976 and 1980. Mustafa Abu Ali
Mustafa Abu Ali
Mustafa Abu Ali, was a Palestinian filmmaker.Ali studied cinema in London, graduating in 1967...
was one of the early Palestinian film directors, and he helped found the Palestinian Cinema Association in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
in 1973. Only one dramatic movie was made during the period, namely The return to Haifa in 1982, an adaptation of a short novel by Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassan Kanafani
Ghassan Kanafani was a Palestinian writer and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was assassinated by car bomb in Beirut, allegedly by the Mossad.- Early years :Ghassan Fayiz Kanafani was born in 1936 in the then Acre , British Mandate of Palestine...
.
The film archives disappearance, 1982
The different organisations set up archives for Palestinian films. The largest such archive was run by PLO's Film Foundation/Palestinian Film Unit. In 1982, when the PLO was forced out of Beirut, the archive was in storage (in the Red Crescenty Hospital), from where it "disappeared" under circumstances which are still unclear.The fourth period: The return home, from 1980 to the present
The 1996 dramaDrama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
/comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
Chronicle of a Disappearance
Chronicle of a Disappearance
Chronicle of a Disappearance is a 1996 drama film by Palestinian director and actor Elia Suleiman. Suleiman stars in the film along with his family members, his relatives, and other non-actors. Dhat Productions produced the film. The film features no real storyline or character arc...
received international critical acclaim, and it became the first Palestinian movie to receive national release in the United States. A break-out film for its genre, it won a "New Director's Prize" at the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
and a "Luigi De Laurentiis Award" at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. Notable film directors in this period are especially:
- Michel KhleifiMichel KhleifiMichel Khleifi is a Palestinian film writer, director and producer. He emigrated from Israel in 1970 and now resides in Belgium. There, he studied television and theatre directing at the Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle . After graduating from INSAS, he worked in Belgium...
- Rashid MasharawiRashid MasharawiRashid Masharawi, film artist, born in Gaza in 1962 to a family of refugees from Jaffa. He grew up in the Shati refugee camp....
- Ali NassarAli NassarAli Nassar is an Arab-Israeli film director. Nassar was born in the Galilee village of Arraba, and graduated from the University of Moscow in 1981 with a degree in film...
- Elia SuleimanElia SuleimanElia Suleiman , is a Palestinian film director and actor. He is best known for the 2002 film Divine Intervention , a modern tragic comedy on living under occupation in Palestine which won the Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival...
An international effort was launched in 2008 to reopen Cinema Jenin
Cinema Jenin
Cinema Jenin is a movie theater in the Palestinian city of Jenin, located in the West Bank.The new building features plush seating that can accommodating over 300 people, an outdoor cafe, art gallery space, a children's park and playground, and a library that is sponsored by the German...
, a cinema located in the Jenin
Jenin
Jenin is the largest town in the Northern West Bank, and the third largest city overall. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major agricultural center for the surrounding towns. In 2007, the city had a population of 120,004 not including the adjacent refugee...
Refugee Camp.
In 2008, three Palestinian feature films and an estimated eight shorts were completed, more than ever before.
In 2010, Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, the governing authority in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
, announced the completion of a new film. Titled The Great Liberation, the film depicts the destruction of Israel by Palestinians.
Currently in the Gaza Strip, all film projects must be approved by Hamas' Culture Ministry before they can be screened in public. Independent filmmakers have claimed that the Culture Ministry cracks down on content not conforming to Hamas edicts. In a notable 2010 case, Hamas banned the short film Something Sweet, directed by Khalil al-Muzzayen, which was submitted at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. Hamas banned it from being shown locally due to a four-second scene where a woman is shown with her hair uncovered. In 2011, a film festival hosted by the Gaza Women's Affairs Center which included documentaries and fictional pieces on women's issues, but the Culture Ministry censored numerous scenes. One film had to remove a scene where a woman lowered one shoulder of her dress, and another had to remove a scene of a man swearing.
Notable directors
- Hany Abu-AssadHany Abu-AssadHany Abu-Assad is a Dutch-Palestinian film director. His film Paradise Now, about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.-Early life:...
- Scandar Copti
- Mustafa Abu AliMustafa Abu AliMustafa Abu Ali, was a Palestinian filmmaker.Ali studied cinema in London, graduating in 1967...
- Mohammed Bakri
- Tarek Al EryanTarek Al EryanTarek Alarian is a Palestinian-American film director living in Egypt. He is also credited as Tarek El'eryan and Tarek Eryan.- Family :...
- Annemarie JacirAnnemarie JacirAnnemarie Jacir was born on January 17, 1974, she is a Palestinian filmmaker and poet.She has been working in independent cinema since 1994 and has written, directed and produced a number of award-winning films including Until When, A Few Crumbs for the Birds, and a Post Oslo History. She was...
- Michel KhleifiMichel KhleifiMichel Khleifi is a Palestinian film writer, director and producer. He emigrated from Israel in 1970 and now resides in Belgium. There, he studied television and theatre directing at the Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle . After graduating from INSAS, he worked in Belgium...
- Rashid MasharawiRashid MasharawiRashid Masharawi, film artist, born in Gaza in 1962 to a family of refugees from Jaffa. He grew up in the Shati refugee camp....
- Mai MasriMai MasriMai Masri is a U.S.-educated Palestinian filmmaker who has directed eight films.- Early life:Masri is the daughter of Munib Masri from Nablus and an American mother from Texas who was raised in Beirut, where she has lived most of her life. She graduated from San Francisco State University in 1981....
- Montaser MaraiMontaser MaraiMontaser Marai is a Palestinian - Jordanian Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker, working for Al Jazeera Channel since 2002.Documentary Films-References:...
- Rosalind NashashibiRosalind NashashibiRosalind Nashashibi is a British artist of Palestinian descent.Born in Croydon, Nashashibi studied at the Glasgow School of Art, and as of 2003 is based in Glasgow...
- Ali NassarAli NassarAli Nassar is an Arab-Israeli film director. Nassar was born in the Galilee village of Arraba, and graduated from the University of Moscow in 1981 with a degree in film...
- Mohamad Al-Sawalma
Notable films
- They Don't Existhttp://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6603.shtml
- Wedding in GalileeWedding in GalileeWedding in Galilee is a 1987 film directed by Michel Khleifi. It was awarded the International Critics Prize at Cannes in 1987.-Synopsis:...
(1987) (International Critics Prize, Cannes), - Chronicle of a DisappearanceChronicle of a DisappearanceChronicle of a Disappearance is a 1996 drama film by Palestinian director and actor Elia Suleiman. Suleiman stars in the film along with his family members, his relatives, and other non-actors. Dhat Productions produced the film. The film features no real storyline or character arc...
(1996) (“Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for a Debut Film at the 1996 Venice Film FestivalVenice Film FestivalThe Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
) - Divine InterventionDivine Intervention (film)Elia Suleiman has used entirely non-original music of various genres and artists in the film. These include artists such as the Belgian singer Natacha Atlas, Indian composer A.R...
(2002). - Olive Harvest, TheThe Olive HarvestThe Olive Harvest is a 2003 Palestinian film directed by Hanna Elias. It won the "Best Arab film" award for 2003 at the Cairo International Film Festival, and it was Palestine's submission to the 77th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a...
(2003) - Arna's ChildrenArna's ChildrenArna's Children is a 2003 Israeli/Dutch documentary film directed by Juliano Mer Khamis and Danniel Danniel about a children's theater group in Jenin in the Palestinian territories established by Arna Mer-Khamis, the director's mother, an Israeli Jewish political and human rights activist.The film...
(2003) - Women in Struggle (2004)
- Paradise NowParadise NowParadise Now is a 2005 film directed by Hany Abu-Assad about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel. It won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category....
. (2006) (Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film winner) - The Color of OlivesThe Color of OlivesThe Color of Olives is a documentary film that captures moments from the lives of a Palestinian family.The Color of Olives was filmed in Masha, a Palestinian village 15 miles from Tel Aviv...
(2006) - Iron WallIron Wall (film)The Iron Wall is a 2006 documentary film about the establishment of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which, the film argues, is a strategy for permanent occupation of the territory...
(2006) - Goal DreamsGoal DreamsGoal Dreams is a 2006 documentary by Maya Sanbar and Jeffrey Saunders, about the Palestinian national football team preparing for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.-Plot:...
(2006) - First PictureFirst PictureFirst Picture is a documentary film by Akram Al-Ashqar. If follows the story of a Palestinian child from Tulkarm Camp for the Palestinian refugees. Born in one of the Israeli prisons, he spent more than two and a half years there...
(2006) - Maria's Grotto (2007) (Silver Muhr Award, Dubai International Film FestivalDubai International Film FestivalThe Dubai International Film Festival is an international film festival based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Launched in 2004, it aims to foster the growth of filmmaking in the Arab world.-Overview:...
) - Salt of this SeaSalt of this SeaSalt of this Sea is a 2008 Palestinian film directed by Annemarie Jacir. It is Palestine's submission to the 81st Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film-Awards:* FIPRESCI PRIZE - INTERNATIONAL CRITICS AWARD...
(2008) - Taste the Revolution (2008)
- The View (2008) (Best Short Film ($75,000) , Middle East International Film FestivalMiddle East International Film FestivalAbu Dhabi Film Festival is an international film festival. Created in 2007, the ceremony is held annually in October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage , under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of the ADACH...
) - Till When? (2008) (Officially selected in Cergy Pontoise Film Festival in Paris,Honorable Mention in Digicon 6 Festival in Tokyo)
- cup final (1991) takes place during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Notable film festivals
- Boston Palestine Film FestivalBoston Palestine Film FestivalThe Boston Palestine Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Boston, Massachusetts which shows the Palestinian narrative to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Started in 2007, the 2008 version highlighted Palestinian expulsion, also known as al-Nakba, while the opening night film was ...
- Chicago Palestine Film FestivalChicago Palestine Film FestivalThe Chicago Palestine Film Festival is an annual film festival begun in 2002 in Chicago and is one of the most important venues in the US for the screening of Palestinian cinema. It accepts works in a variety of genres — documentaries, dramas, comedies — in both long and short formats...
- Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival
- DC Palestinian Film and Arts FestivalDC Palestinian Film and Arts FestivalThe DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival is an international film festival held in Washington, D.C. that was established in 2011. Its purpose is to showcase the work of Palestinian filmmakers and artists. The First Annual DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival will take place September 26-30,...
- London Palestine Film Festival
- Al-Kasaba International Film Festivalhttp://www.alkasaba.org/fistival/index.html, in RamallahRamallahRamallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
, West BankWest BankThe West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
Further reading
- Rapfogel, Jared: A Report of Dreams of a Nation - A Palestinian Film Festival, January 24-27, 2003, Senses of Cinema.
- Palestinian film festival planned, 18 May, 2004, BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
- Dabashi, HamidHamid DabashiHamid Dabashi born 1951 in Ahvaz is an Iranian-American Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City.He is the author of over twenty books...
: For a Fistful of Dust: A Passage to Palestine, 23 - 29 September 2004, Al-AhramAl-AhramAl-Ahram , founded in 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya . It is majority owned by the Egyptian government.... - Film Jan. 14, 2006, IMEU,
- Kemp, Rebecca: “Interviews with Palestinian Filmmakers”, 6 Degrees Film, Fall 2006
- Rastegar, Kamran, "Palestine Only Exists in Cinema", Bidoun Magazine, Issue 8, Vol. 1, Fall 2006
- Annemarie Jacir: Coming Home: Palestinian Cinema, 27 February 2007, The Electronic Intifada
- Khaled Elayya: A Brief History of Palestinian Cinema, This week in Palestine
- Khadija Habshneh: Palestinian Revolution Cinema, This week in Palestine
- Nana Asfour: Reclaiming Palestine, One Film at a Time, Cineaste Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 3, Summer 2009
External links
- Dreams of a Nation, an independent project founded to provide resources and information on Palestinian cinema. Based at Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, USA. - Palestinian Film: News and Reviews at IMEU.net
- Review of a film that explores the story of the lost archives of the PLO film unit
- History and Trends in Palestinian Filmmaking
Literature
- Dabashi, HamidHamid DabashiHamid Dabashi born 1951 in Ahvaz is an Iranian-American Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City.He is the author of over twenty books...
, and Said, EdwardEdward SaidEdward Wadie Saïd was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and advocate for Palestinian rights. He was University Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and a founding figure in postcolonialism...
(preface) (2006): Dreams Of A Nation: On Palestinian Cinema, Verso Books, London, United Kingdom, ISBN 1844670880 - Gertz, Nurith; Khleifi, George (2008): Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, Trauma, and Memory, Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253220076