The festival will take place from April 16 - 29 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The opening night feature will be the North American premiere of Zindeeq by acclaimed director Michel Khleifi on Saturday, April 16th beginning at 8:30 PM. The Chicago Palestine Film Festival will host a reception opening night prior to the film at the Gene Siskel Film Center beginning at 7 PM.
Zindeeq won the Muhr Award for Best Film at the 2009 Dubai Film Festival. The film is a veritable showcase for the talents of preeminent Palestinian actor Mohammad Bakri (Laila’s Birthday). Bakri, ‘M,’ plays a film director living in Europe who returns to his homeland to make a documentary about the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians. Over the course of a single day and night, M's self-absorbedexistence is shaken when his nephew kills a man in Nazareth, placing M’s entire family at risk of reprisals. Director Khleifi (Wedding in Galilee) creates a road movie of the mind as M traverses the geography of Palestine but regresses in memory, attempting to find his place between past and present. This masterful feature - a quietly witty, complex and occasionally surreal depiction of an exile's relationship with Palestine - marks a new direction in Khleifi's work.
Also included in this year’s line-up as the closing night film is the latest work of award-winning filmmaker Najwa Najjar – Pomegranates and Myrrh (Al-Mor Wa Al Rumman), a seductive drama that has been garnering rave reviews at festivals around the world. Using the theme of separation and division, Pomegranates and Myrrh is a metaphor for the political situation in a film that focuses strongly on the matters of conflicted hearts. The festival also brings together a varied, enlightening, and powerfully moving group of documentaries and dramas this year, including: Checkpoint Rock, an exploration of contemporary Palestinian music; the wrenching documentary Impunity by School of the Art Institute of Chicago graduate Edward Salem; City of Borders, a portrait of Jerusalem gay life centering on the city’s only gay bar; and the wryly humorous short A Boy, A Wall and A Donkey by Oscar-nominated director Hany Abu-Assad.
For a complete schedule and listing of this year’s films, please visit www.palestinefilmfest.com.
Tickets may be purchased at the Gene Siskel Film Center Box Office, which opens at 5:00 PM Monday-Friday and at 2:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. General admission tickets are also available through Ticketmaster, 312-575-8000, www.ticketmaster.com, and all Ticketmaster outlets.
Opening night film!
North American premiere!
ZINDEEQ
2009, Michel Khleifi, Palestine/UK/Belgium/UAE, 85 min.
With Mohammad Bakri, Mira Awad
Friday, April 16, 8:30 pm
Thursday, April 22, 8:00 pm
Winner of the Muhr Award for Best Film at the 2009 Dubai Film Festival, ZINDEEQ is a veritable showcase for the talents of preeminent Palestinian actor Mohammad Bakri (LAILA’S BIRTHDAY). M (Bakri), a film director living in Europe, returns to his homeland to make a documentary about the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians, and is soon drawn into a crisis involving a vendetta against his family. Director Khleifi (WEDDING IN GALILEE) creates a road movie of the mind as M traverses the geography of Palestine but regresses in memory, attempting to find his place between past and present. In Arabic with English subtitles. HDCAM video. (BS)
DEGREES OF INCARCERATION
2009, Amahl Bishara, USA/Palestine, 59 min.
WALLED HORIZONS
2009, Johan Eriksson, Palestine/Israel, 17 min.
Sunday, April 18, 3:00 pm
DEGREES OF INCARCERATION feelingly uncovers the price paid in human terms by Palestinian families whose sons and daughters are serving lengthy prison terms for activism, underlining the shocking statistic that 40% of Palestinian males have served time in Israeli jails. Filmmaker Bishara keeps the focus on individuals and families for frank interactions: teens discuss knowing up to forty imprisoned friends and relatives each, and boys practice how to deal with interrogation techniques by acting in a cautionary play. In Arabic with English subtitles. Mini-DV video.
Preceded by WALLED HORIZONS, in which Roger Waters, founding member of the band Pink Floyd, offers personal commentary on the wall. Produced by the United Nations Jerusalem. In English. Format? (BS)
CHECKPOINT ROCK: SONGS FROM PALESTINE
(CHECKPOINT ROCK: CONCIONES DESDE PALESTINA)
2009, Javier Corcueran and Fermin Muguruza, Spain, 73 min.
END OF SEPTEMBER
2010, Sama Alshaibi and Ala Younis, Jordan/Palestine, 25 min.
With Majd Hijjawi, Abdel Salam Akkad
Saturday, April 17, 8:00 pm
Wednesday, April 21, 8:00 pm
The spirit of poet Mahmoud Darwish infuses this documentary on Palestine’s vibrant music culture, from traditional singers to cutting-edge rap artists. Darwish’s writings comprise the inspiration or the lyrics for numerous soulful numbers as the film evokes a range of Palestinian locations through breathtakingly beautiful cinematography while presenting the music of Marcel Khalife, Dam, Khalas, Amal Murkus, Safaa Arapiyat, Walla’at, Habib Al-Deek, Muthana Sha’ban, Shadi Al-Assi, Sabreen, Ayman PR, and Le Trio Joubran. In Arabic with English subtitles. Format?
Preceded by END OF SEPTEMBER, in which a woman’s journey becomes a haunting and haunted recollection. In Arabic with English subtitles. Mini-DV video. (BS)
RACHEL
2008, Simone Bitton, France/Belgium, 101 min.
Saturday, April 17, 5:00 pm
Director Bitton follows her award-winning WALL with another compelling documentary that skillfully weaves personal accounts, official evidence, and her own investigation into a comprehensive and moving portrait of the life and times of young American activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer while acting as a human shield to protect private homes in 2003. From the recollections of Rachel’s companions to the sworn testimony of soldiers and the account of the doctor who performed the autopsy, this is an unforgettable chronicle of the truth and its opposite. In English, Arabic, and Hebrew with English subtitles. Format? (BS)
IMPUNITY
2010, Edward Salem, Palestine, 70 min.
GAZA-LONDON
2009, Dima Hamdan, UK/Palestine, 15 min.
With Sami Metwasi, Valerie Dent
Sunday, April 18, 5:00 pm
Monday, April 19, 8:00 pm
Shot a month after Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s assault on Gaza, IMPUNITY is a harrowing yet powerfully compassionate account of the repeating catastrophe that is visited upon Gaza residents, now bereft, bereaved, and carrying on under the most deprived conditions. With disturbingly up-close access in sensitive situations, filmmaker Salem, an alumnus of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, covers the human tragedy--the boys living in the rubble of the house where their mother lies dead; the frantic farmer helpless to save his olive grove from destruction--and provides an unprecedented look at the resistance. In Arabic with English subtitles. DigiBeta video.
Preceded by GAZA-LONDON. A Palestinian student based in London spends anxious hours attempting to learn the fate of his mother back in Gaza, as Operation Cast Lead plays out in the media. In Arabic and English with English subtitles. Beta SP video. (BS)
BIL’IN MY LOVE
(BIL’IN HABIBTI)
2006, Shai Carmeli Pollack, Israel, 84 min.
A BOY, A WALL AND A DONKEY
2008, Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine/Netherlands, 5 min.
Friday, April 23, 8:15 pm
Sunday, April 25, 5:00 pm
The village of Bil’in becomes the sole holdout against the construction of the security barrier that will deprive them of more than half of their lands. In a prolonged non-violent protest that soon takes on the aspect of a yearlong war game, village leaders devise ever more ingenious methods of protest to foil the Israeli army, as increasing numbers of Israeli peace activists join weekly marches by the busload. In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. Format?
Preceded by A BOY, A WALL AND A DONKEY, an ironically humorous gem about three little boys attempting to make an action movie, by the Oscar-nominated director of PARADISE NOW. In Arabic with English subtitles. DigiBeta video. (BS)
AMERICAN RADICAL: THE TRIALS OF NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
2009, David Ridgen and Nicolas Rossier, USA, 84 min.
Saturday, April 24, 5:00 pm
AMERICAN RADICAL is the definitive documentary about American academic Norman Finkelstein. A devoted son of holocaust survivors, ardent critic of Israel and US Middle East policy, and author of five notable books including The Holocaust Industry, Finkelstein has been steadfast at the center of many controversies, including his recent denial of tenure at DePaul University. Called a lunatic and disgusting self-hating Jew by some, and an inspirational revolutionary figure by others, Finkelstein is a deeply polarizing figure whose struggles arise from core questions about identity, academic freedom, nationhood, and justice. DigiBeta video. (Nicolas Rossier)
CITY OF BORDERS
2009, Yun Suh, USA, 66 min.
INTIFADA NYC
2009, David Teague, USA, 47 min.
Saturday, April 24, 8:00 pm
Shushan, Jerusalem’s only gay bar, is seen as a welcoming haven of peaceful camaraderie and good times for Palestinians and Israelis alike, in a city that presents a relentlessly hostile face to its gay and lesbian citizens. Director Suh documents the struggles of of Sa’ar Netanel, Jerusalem’s first openly gay city council member and the bar’s owner, and follows regulars including Boody, a devout Muslim drag performer, and Samira and Ravit, a Palestinian/Israeli lesbian couple. In English, Hebrew, and Arabic with English subtitles. HDCAM video. (BS)
Preceded by INTIFADA NYC, a documentary chronicling the heated cultural melee that ensued when the nation’s first Arabic-language public school opened in post-9/11 New York City. In English. HDCAM video. (BS)
VOICES BEYOND WALLS: YOUTH VISIONS OF JERUSALEM
2009, Various directors, Palestine, 55 min.
INTIFADA NYC
2009, David Teague, USA, 47 min.
Sunday, April 25, 3:00 pm
Six films produced by children and teens, ages 10 to 16, express cultural identity, personal narratives, and views on their city. The films are collaborative efforts, and were created in a workshop conducted by Voices Beyond Walls to celebrate Jerusalem’s tenure as 2009 Arab Cultural Capital. The program includes: WHISPERS IN JERUSALEM (5 min.); LAMEES’ DAYDREAM (4 min.); PALESTINIAN COSTUMES IN JERUSALEM (10 min.); LIFE IS LIKE SHISHBESH (8 min.); AFTER THE RETURN: YEAR 2161 (11 min.); and TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT: THE CURSED NECKLACE (9 min.). In Arabic with English subtitles. Mini-DV video.
Preceded by INTIFADA NYC, a documentary chronicling the heated cultural melee that ensued when the nation’s first Arabic-language public school opened in post-9/11 New York City. In English. HDCAM video. (BS)
Closing night film!
POMEGRANATES AND MYRRH
(AL-MOR WA AL RUMMAN)
2008, Najwa Najjar, Palestine, 98 min.
With Ashraf Farah, Yasmine Elmasri, Ali Suleiman
Thursday, April 29, 8:00 pm
“A romantically-infused tale of love and life in a besieged Ramallah…the director has a strong and seductive voice.”--Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily
“Love in the time of razor wire…fiercely political and fiercely charged.”--John Anderson, Variety
The theme of separation and division is director Najjar’s metaphor for the political situation in a film that focuses strongly on the matters of conflicted hearts. Arab Christian newlyweds Zaid, an olive farmer, and Kamar, a traditional dancer, settle only briefly in their home before Zaid is thrown in an Israeli jail on a trumped-up charge. Against the wishes of her in-laws, Kamar rejoins her dance troupe, where her stunning beauty does not go unnoticed by their new choreographer, a renowned artist returning to Palestine after an absence of twenty years. In Arabic, English, and Hebrew with English subtitles. 35mm. (BS)
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