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| Crossing KalandiaA Boy...Called MohamedRana's Wedding(Jerusalem, Another Day)Shatter HassanLeila's PicturesThe Mute | |
| Crossing Kalandia Sobhi al-Zobaidi Palestine, 2002, video, 52 min filmmaker attending Berkeley and San Jose screenings only Crossing Kalandia is a video journal the Sobhi al-Zobaidi kept. The motivation for this journal was not much the intifada and the war but the fact that our first baby Kenza was born in these difficult times and especially that she was born on Nakba (Catastrophe day). Before her birth May 15th was always the saddest day in my life, she transformed it into the happiest day. The film scans a year in the life of Palestinians in less than an hour to show people something about life in Ramallah during these horrible times. The filmmaker's intention was not to add one more to the films that show Palestinians as victims, and repressed, ...etc., But rather to show that Palestinians are like any other normal society, they are diverse, complex and very misunderstood. More than victimization and horrors of war and aggression the film focuses on people's ability to go on, continue trying to live a life of normalcy. An key interest of the filmmaker's is the power of life rather than the powers that can destroy it. Preceded by A Boy...Called Mohamed Najwa Najjar Palestine, 2001, Video, 10 min Arabic w/ English subtitles Mohamed explores his life in the refugee camp as the grandson of a refugee; his relationship with his sister, grandmother & stepmother, and friends as he finds ways to pass his time playing billiards and battle games, throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint ... and falling for a pretty girl. Roxie Cinema, Nov. 3rd, 8.15pm Fine Arts Cinema, Nov.9th, 7.30pm Towne Theater, Nov. 10th, 6.15pm |
| Rana's Wedding (Jerusalem, Another Day) Hany Abu-Assad Palestine, 2002, 35mm, 87min Arabic w/ English subtitles Rana, a young Palestinian woman sneaks out of her father's house at daybreak. It is the day she is set to go with her father to Egypt, but she doesn't want to leave. She wants to stay in Jerusalem with her boyfriend and does not want to marry any of the men her father has selected. She wanders through East Jerusalem and Ramallah, looking for her true love, Khalil. Upon finding him she tries to organise the wedding and convince her father to give his consent. For this is in her view the only way to remain here. While the people of East Jerusalem and Ramallah are living under oppression and occupation, while abnormal things like roadblocks and barriers, soldiers and guns are becoming the reality of everyday life, normal things like love or a wedding become fiction. Roxie Cinema, Nov. 1st, 10.00pm Fine Arts Cinema, Nov. 9th, 9.45pm Towne Theater, Nov. 10th, 8.30pm |
| Shatter Hassan Mahmoud All Massad Jordan/ Netherlands, 2001, 35mm, 40 min Arabic w/ English Subtitles Shatter Hassan is based on a Middle Eastern children's fable about the legendary Shatter Hassan, an adventurous and emphathetic young man whose stories have been told to more than 300 million children over the past hundred years. In this version of the tale, our hero is removed from the magical faraway surroundings and transformed into a real-life drug addict residing in Utrecht. Leila's Pictures Pierre Salloum Lebanon, 2002, Video, 20 min Arabic w/ English Subtitles Leila's husband passed away 20 years ago and all is left are a few pictures hanging in the house, a means of keeping a relationship alive.Leila decides to fix these aged pictures. She finds out that not only can she have them fixed, but she can actually change him. The Mute Samir Zedan Iraq/Poland/Norway, 2001, 35mm, 25 m A drama of an Iraqi family, where the man's tyranny provokes the revolt of its members. Roxie Cinema, Nov. 2nd, 1.30pm Fine Arts Cinema, Nov. 9th, 11.15am Towne Theater, Nov. 10th, 4.30pm |
