St Antony's College are holding a series of Palestinian films this term. Members of the public welcome.
PALESTINIAN FILM SERIES
Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in St Antony's College Lecture Theatre
Map:
http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/about/collegemap.shtml
19 January
Rana's Wedding (2002, 90 minutes, by Hany Abu As'ad)
Shot on location in East Jerusalem, Ramallah and at checkpoints in-between, Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad sees the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the eyes of a young woman who, with only ten hours to marry, must negotiate her way around roadblocks, soldiers, stone-throwers, overworked officials ... and into the heart of an elusive lover. According to Abu-Assad, "When the abnormalities of barriers and occupation become an everyday reality, normal things like love and marriage turn into fiction".
26 January
Tale of Three Jewels (1995, 107 minutes, by Michel Khleifi)
A moving parable and the first feature film ever to be filmed in the Gaza Strip. Made in the days following the Hebron Massacre-and before the arrival of the Palestinian Authority-it tells the story of Yussef, a twelve-year-old boy who lives in an imaginary world of his own and often escapes from the surrounding violence to the beautiful Gaza countryside. One day he meets Aida, a ravishing gypsy girl with whom he falls in love. When Yussef declares his intention of marrying her when they grow up, she tells him that he must first find three jewels missing from her grandmother's necklace.
2 February
The Milky Way (1997, 104 minutes, by Ali Nassar)
In 1964, in a small Palestinian village in the Galilee, the villagers living under military rule must cope with the delicate coexistence of social ritual and deep, unhealed wounds. In the 1948 war of Israeli independence, many of the Palestinian villagers were killed or forced away from their homes and loved ones. Among those left behind is the childlike Mabruq who lost his parents and Jamili who lost her mother.
9 February
Route 181 - The North (2004, by Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi)
For more than a year, Khleifi and Sivan have dedicated themselves to producing what they consider a cinematic act of faith: a film co-directed by a Palestinian and by an Israeli. In the summer of 2002, for two long months, they traveled together from the south to the north of their country of birth, traced their trajectory on a map and called it Route 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in Resolution 181, which was adopted by the United Nations on November 29th 1947 to partition Palestine into two states. As they travel along this route, they meet women and men, Israeli and Palestinian, young and old, civilians and soldiers, filming them in their everyday lives. Each of these characters has their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbours. The film which is full of sorrow and confusion is divided into three sections: the south, the centre and the north.
16 February
Wedding In Galilee (1987, 104 minutes, by Michel Khleifi)
A richly-detailed allegory of marriage, tradition and national identity. The elder of a Palestinian Village is given permission to hold a traditional wedding for his son on the condition that the Israeli military governor and his staff are guests of honor at the ceremony. This film which is considered to be the first Palestinian feature is an erotic and often compelling meditation on two conflicting cultures that attempt to put aside their differences for one long day of celebration.
23 February
Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996, 86 minutes, by Elia Suleiman)
The film tries to deal with the question "What does it mean to be Palestinian in the second half of the twentieth century?" The director Elia Suleiman was born in Nazareth in 1960, well after the establishment in 1948 of the state of Israel in historic Palestine. After twelve years in exile, living in New York, Suleiman returns to the land of his birth in an attempt to find his roots.
Dr Masud Hamdan (Haifa University), Junior Israeli Visiting Fellow will give a talk on: Fathers, Sons and the Holy Land: Palestine and Palestinians in Wedding in Galilee and Chronicle of Disappearance (Thursday 24 February 1pm in the Deakin Room, St Antony's College)
2 March
Divine Intervention (2002, 92 minutes, by Elia Suleiman)
Subtitled, "A Chronicle of Love and Pain," DIVINE INTERVENTION follows ES, a character played by and clearly based upon the filmmaker himself. ES is burdened with a sick father, a stalled screenplay and an unrequited love affair with a beautiful Palestinian woman living in Ramallah. An Israeli checkpoint on the Nazareth-Ramallah road forces the couple to rendezvous in an adjacent parking lot. Their relationship and the absurd situations around them serve as metaphors for the lunacy of larger cultural problems.
9 March
Route 181 - The South (2004 by Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi)
Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in St Antony's College Lecture Theatre
Map:
http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/about/collegemap.shtml 19 January
Rana's Wedding (2002, 90 minutes, by Hany Abu As'ad)
Shot on location in East Jerusalem, Ramallah and at checkpoints in-between, Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad sees the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the eyes of a young woman who, with only ten hours to marry, must negotiate her way around roadblocks, soldiers, stone-throwers, overworked officials ... and into the heart of an elusive lover. According to Abu-Assad, "When the abnormalities of barriers and occupation become an everyday reality, normal things like love and marriage turn into fiction".
26 January
Tale of Three Jewels (1995, 107 minutes, by Michel Khleifi)
A moving parable and the first feature film ever to be filmed in the Gaza Strip. Made in the days following the Hebron Massacre-and before the arrival of the Palestinian Authority-it tells the story of Yussef, a twelve-year-old boy who lives in an imaginary world of his own and often escapes from the surrounding violence to the beautiful Gaza countryside. One day he meets Aida, a ravishing gypsy girl with whom he falls in love. When Yussef declares his intention of marrying her when they grow up, she tells him that he must first find three jewels missing from her grandmother's necklace.
2 February
The Milky Way (1997, 104 minutes, by Ali Nassar)
In 1964, in a small Palestinian village in the Galilee, the villagers living under military rule must cope with the delicate coexistence of social ritual and deep, unhealed wounds. In the 1948 war of Israeli independence, many of the Palestinian villagers were killed or forced away from their homes and loved ones. Among those left behind is the childlike Mabruq who lost his parents and Jamili who lost her mother.
9 February
Route 181 - The North (2004, by Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi)
For more than a year, Khleifi and Sivan have dedicated themselves to producing what they consider a cinematic act of faith: a film co-directed by a Palestinian and by an Israeli. In the summer of 2002, for two long months, they traveled together from the south to the north of their country of birth, traced their trajectory on a map and called it Route 181. This virtual line follows the borders outlined in Resolution 181, which was adopted by the United Nations on November 29th 1947 to partition Palestine into two states. As they travel along this route, they meet women and men, Israeli and Palestinian, young and old, civilians and soldiers, filming them in their everyday lives. Each of these characters has their own way of evoking the frontiers that separate them from their neighbours. The film which is full of sorrow and confusion is divided into three sections: the south, the centre and the north.
16 February
Wedding In Galilee (1987, 104 minutes, by Michel Khleifi)
A richly-detailed allegory of marriage, tradition and national identity. The elder of a Palestinian Village is given permission to hold a traditional wedding for his son on the condition that the Israeli military governor and his staff are guests of honor at the ceremony. This film which is considered to be the first Palestinian feature is an erotic and often compelling meditation on two conflicting cultures that attempt to put aside their differences for one long day of celebration.
23 February
Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996, 86 minutes, by Elia Suleiman)
The film tries to deal with the question "What does it mean to be Palestinian in the second half of the twentieth century?" The director Elia Suleiman was born in Nazareth in 1960, well after the establishment in 1948 of the state of Israel in historic Palestine. After twelve years in exile, living in New York, Suleiman returns to the land of his birth in an attempt to find his roots.
Dr Masud Hamdan (Haifa University), Junior Israeli Visiting Fellow will give a talk on: Fathers, Sons and the Holy Land: Palestine and Palestinians in Wedding in Galilee and Chronicle of Disappearance (Thursday 24 February 1pm in the Deakin Room, St Antony's College)
2 March
Divine Intervention (2002, 92 minutes, by Elia Suleiman)
Subtitled, "A Chronicle of Love and Pain," DIVINE INTERVENTION follows ES, a character played by and clearly based upon the filmmaker himself. ES is burdened with a sick father, a stalled screenplay and an unrequited love affair with a beautiful Palestinian woman living in Ramallah. An Israeli checkpoint on the Nazareth-Ramallah road forces the couple to rendezvous in an adjacent parking lot. Their relationship and the absurd situations around them serve as metaphors for the lunacy of larger cultural problems.
9 March
Route 181 - The South (2004 by Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi)