Palestine Film Festival

My Father from Haifa; dir. Omar Sharqawi

My Father From Haifa tells the very personal story of Danish Palestinian director, Omar Shargawi’s bid to persuade his father Munir to embark on an emotionally fraught journey back to Haifa, with the aim of finding his childhood home.

Munir Shargawi says his entire life was shaped by one event - his family's forced evacuation from Palestine in 1948, when he was a boy of eight. He then wandered the world before ending up in Denmark, where he married and raised a family.

As much a personal as a political exposition, the documentry opens an intimate window on a father and son vying bitterly for control over memories of their family history, yet ultimately growing closer mentally and emotionally as they confront that past together.

Palestine Film Festival

Eid and My Land

“Eid” is a delightful short film about a young man (called Eid) who lives in a small village in the West Bank.  He combs the land and finds scrap materials which he uses to sculpt miniature models of the vehicles of the occupation.  The film shows how Eid strives to cope with the occupation and the hardships that come from this by channelling his energy into creating art.  It is an incredible example of how an ugly and tragic situation can be turned into something beautiful through the positive outlook of one individual.

“My Land” is a bold documentary style film which explores the attitudes of mainly young inhabitants from different parts of Israel towards the Palestinians that used to live in the houses and land which they now occupy.  The director records a series of moving testimonials by Palestinians now living in refugee camps around the region.  These refugees talk about a range of historical, political and social aspects of their past and present lives showing how they went from being happy, content and living normal and productive lives to having virtually no prospects at all in their current situations.

In the film he interviews the Israelis about their lives and their love of the land before showing them the Palestinian testimonials he recorded.  It was very interesting to see emotions ranging from those who were obviously affected by guilt and discomfort to others who were apparently not affected at all!  Another aspect of the film showed that some of these Israelis had not previously been aware that Palestinians had been forced out of their homes through fear of being killed and had thought that they had moved on through choice. An excellent film which unfortunately demonstrated the impossibility of finding a mutual solution to the Palestine/Israel conflict.

PALESTINE FILM FESTIVAL

SOAS, Khalili Lecture Theatre

PALESTINIAN REFUGEES AFTER THE IRAQ WAR: SCREEN TALK
Palestine in the South | Ana Maria Hurtado | 52' | 2011 UK Premiere
+
Displaced Lives | João Marcelo Gomes | 14' | 2010
+
Talk by Abbas Shiblak on the impact of the Iraq war on Palestinian refugees

These were a pair of fascinating films about the recent migrations of Palestinians to Chile, echoing earlier migrations from Palestine during the British colonial era. It appears that a whole Palestinian community exists in Chile, which continues to identify itself as Palestinian and which has known family histories dating back up to 100 years. Imagine my surprise to see flashed up on screen a group photo of migrants to Chile from Beit Jala, a small village on the outskirts of Jerusalem in which my last known relatives in Palestine lived and died, and where my father and mother went regularly as children. Hurtado's film traced the recent migration of Palestinian refugees from Iraq, who suffered terribly from recrimination and reprisals following the fall of Saddam Hussein and fled to camps in the desert, to Chile. This was as part of the UN arranged refugee programme allowing tiny numbers of Palestinians from Iraq to travel to often far-flung destinations to try and make new lives for themselves yet again. It raised a number of issues about integration and the desperate attempt to preserve identity and culture. The main protagonist, a baker, strove hard to earn a living for his growing family, became more politically active and potentially reactionary, and moved me tremendously when describing how no opportunity to see his father before he died had arisen.

But it was perhaps Gomes' shorter film that contained the most memorable moment, describing how recent Palestinian refugees in Chile only had identity cards which did not allow them to return, with the consequence that they could not travel out of Chile to see their families anywhere else in the world. The utility of skype takes on a new meaning in such circumstances. As Shiblak suggested after the films, the securing of a passport is itself an achievement for Palestinians, who just want to live normal lives like other people. Shiblak was knowledgeable and informative on refugee matters, but the questions he faced were extraordinary in their ignorance, dullardliness and insensitivity. Note to self: avoid staying on for audience questions in future!

Palestine Film Festival 2012

British Colonial Film in Palastine: 1917 TO 1947 - Barbican

Britain’s colonial rule in Palestine was closely recorded on film. This selection from the imperial archives included a number of silent home movies by amateur film makers, usually soldiers and Portrait of Palestine, a film made by the Colonial Office in 1947 which had the aim of giving a positive spin to Britain's chaotic withdrawal from Palestine. This was followed by a very interesting commentry by Francis Gooding of the Colonial Film project who gave the story behind the film and the many political decisions made on the wording of the commentry.