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The Palestinian people are known for their resilience. But what does it mean to bear an expectation of everlasting elasticity, to be expected to remain endlessly steadfast in the face of daily oppression? How do we navigate intersecting identities and experiences? How do we preserve, meld, and adapt our culture? From Oct. 2-7, 2018, the eighth annual run of the DC Palestinian Film & Arts Festival, entitled "Threads of Resilience," weaves together the experiences of Palestinians across time and place with 13 films—including eight DC and one US premieres—embroidery and painting workshops, a pop-up, and stand-up comedy. From imagining rebuilding destroyed villages (Emwas: Restoring Memories) to celebrating women’s role in the resistance of the 1987 intifada (Naila and the Uprising) to mourning the destruction of the heart of the Palestinian diaspora—Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria—(194. Us, Children of the Camp), DCPFAF18 is unpacking 70+ years of Palestinian resilience. Through hands-on workshops, festival goers will explore cultural preservation and imagination, learn traditional Palestinian crossstitch embroidery at Tatreez & Tea’s Palestinian Embroidery 101 workshops, and paint their own interpretations of Palestine in Watan’s Painting Palestine workshop. We will build community and the crafts of Palestinian designers and creators at DC’s first-ever Palestine Pop-Up, which will be both a place to mingle and celebrate as well as support local and national Palestinian artists selling their work. And finally, stand-up comedian Mona Aburmishan will help us end DCPFAF18 on a hopeful note with a show that is guaranteed to make you laugh until you cry at the Kennedy Center, where DCPFAF is making Palestinian arts center stage for the second year in a row! We are thrilled that you are on this journey to build community, and showcase the range and complexity of Palestinian identities and narratives, with us. Here’s to another year!
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VENUES
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
555 11th St. NW DC 20004 Nearest metro: Metro Center (RD, OR, SV, BL), Gallery-Place Chinatown (GR, YL)
Landmark’s Atlantic Plumbing Cinema
807 V Street NW, between 8th & 9th Streets DC 20001 Nearest metro: Shaw-Howard Univ (GR, YL)
Suns Cinema
3107 Mt Pleasant St NW DC 20010 Nearest metro: Columbia Heights (GR, YL)
ICC Auditorium, Georgetown University
37th & O Streets NW DC 20007
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St NW DC 20005 Nearest metro: Shaw-Howard Univ (GR YL), DuPont Circle (RD), McPherson Sq (OR, BL) 5
194.
US,
CHILDREN
OF
THE
CAMP
BY SAMER SALAMEH
tuesday 10.2 | 7pm | e street cinema us premiere | documentary | 85 min. | 2017 Preceded by A Drowning Man by Mahdi Fleifel and followed by a discussion on Palestinian identities in diaspora and Palestine with Nidal Betare.
The film follows the director’s journey as he is forced to join the Palestinian Liberation Army in Syria only a month before the start of the Syrian uprising. With the escalation of violence and the increasing attacks by the Syrian regime army on the camp, the director and his friends attempt to document the hopes, struggles, departures and loss they experience.
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A
DROWNING
MAN
BY MAHDI FLEIFEL
dc premiere | short | 15 min. | 2017
Alone and far from home, The Kid makes his way through a strange city looking for the means to get through his day. Surrounded by predators, he is forced to make compromises merely to survive, his life of exile grows one day longer.
ARE
THE
KIDS
ALRIGHT? Five short films all about kids, their world, and navigating big problems. Followed by a conversation with Suhel Nafar and Mary Kate Chaath.
wednesday 10.3 | 7pm | atlantic plumbing cinema AND
AN
IMAGE
by Firas Khoury
WAS
BORN
dc premiere | short | 9 min. | 2017
Palestinian two-year-old Razi loves to hear the story of The Monster. The story is an allegory of the Palestinian problem, but he is too young to comprehend the political association. He just wants to imagine and live through its details over and over again. The narrator has his own film in his head. RUPTURE
by Yassmina Karajah
dc premiere | short | 18 min. | 2017
Introducing a cast of first-time actors and survivors of war who channel their personal experiences of loss and new beginnings through a fictional narrative, Rupture follows the journey of four Arab teens on their quest to find the local public pool in their new Canadian city. MADAM
by Laila Abbas
EL
dc premiere | short | 15 min. | 2017
Nader and Abed roam the mountains and dig caves to look for historical remains. The two boys deliver the pieces they find to an antiques dealer who gives them very little money in return. What they find in one remote cave will challenge their friendship. Things become more complicated when adults force themselves into the simple world of the two boys. YALA
TO
THE
MOON
by Jacqueline Reem Salloum & Suhel Nafar short | 7 min. | 2011
Peddling CDs on the streets of the West Bank, Aseel uses her imagination to remake the world around her. AYNY
-
MY
SECOND
EYE
by Ahmad Saleh dc premiere | Short | 11 min. | 2017
A cruel war has taken two brothers’ home. Their mother protects them and fosters the seed of their new life, anxious that leaving the house could endanger them. Still, the boys chase their dream to play the sound of a beautiful oud. They collect scrap metal to earn the money, but find out that their mother’s fear was for good reason. But as strong birds will always fly, the two boys become one to overcome their trauma. 8
NAILA AND
THE
UPRISING
BY JULIA BACHA
wednesday 10.3 | 7pm | georgetown university, ICC auditorium documentary | 76 min. | 2017
Presented in partnership with the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and Just Vision. Followed by discussion with Executive Producer and Just Vision Executive Director Suhad Babaa, Dr. Mouin Rabbani, and Dr. Amal Amireh.
When a nation-wide uprising breaks out in 1987, a woman in Gaza must make a choice between love, family and freedom. Undaunted, she embraces all three, joining a clandestine network of women in a movement that forces the world to recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination for the first time. Naila and the Uprising chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh whose story weaves through the most vibrant, nonviolent mobilization in Palestinian history – the First Intifada in the late 1980s.
WAJIB BY ANNEMARIE JACIR
thursday 10.4 | 7pm | e street cinema feature | 97 min. | 2017
Preceded by Bonboné by Rakan Mayasi and followed by a talkback with Dr. Maha Haddad
Abu Shadi, 65, is a divorced father and a school teacher living in Nazareth. After his daughter’s wedding in one month he will be living alone. Shadi, his architect son, arrives from Rome after years abroad to help his father in hand delivering the wedding invitations to each guest as per local Palestinian custom. As the estranged pair spend the day together, the tense details of their relationship come to a head challenging their fragile and very different lives. Winner of 29 international awards including Best Film in Mar Del Plata, Amiens, Kerala, Kosovo and Dubai, Wajib is Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir’s third feature film.
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BONBONÉ BY RAKAN MAYASI
dc premiere | short | 15 min. | 2017 Screening supported by Neal Mufti, Strategic Capital Advisors *PARENTAL ADVISORY*
The film revolves around a couple in Palestine as the husband is serving time in an Israeli jail. Where physical interaction in the jail is prohibited, the anxious couple decide to smuggle semen out of prison and give birth to a child. There follows a series of events pushing their trial to the edge, will they be able to meet their objective?
EMWAS:
RESTORING MEMORIES BY DIMA ABU GHOUSH
saturday 10.6 | 1:30 pm | suns cinema documentary | 56 min. | 2016
Preceded by Setback of the Spirit by Sa’ed Arouri and Memory of the Land by Samira Badran and followed by a talkback with Dima Abu Ghoush.
The film follows the journey of the director, Dima Abu Ghoush, as she rebuilds her demolished hometown, Emwas, in the form of a maquette (model). Dima was born in Emwas, but she was forced to leave it when she was two years old, along with the town’s inhabitants, on the second day of the 1967 war. All her life she heard stories about Emwas, but she only knew it as a public park, for that’s what the Israeli government turned the village into, some years after it demolished it. In 2009, Dima decided to rebuild Emwas as a model with the help of her family and friends. The film succeeds to bring the demolished village to life through the memories of its people, and raises questions about the future of Emwas and its people who still dream to return to it.
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SETBACK OF THE by Sa’ed Arouri dc premiere | short | 15 min. | 2017
SPIRIT
The film Setback of the Spirit, directed by Sa’ed Arouri, portrays the Palestinian cause through the life of a “Jeddeh,” a grandparent that finally returns with her grandson to one of the Palestinian cities after the demise of the occupation. She finds her home exactly as she left it. Her memory takes her back to 1967 where she remembers the last moments she spent in the house. In these memories she finds something completely unexpected.
MEMORY OF THE LAND by Samira Badran dc premiere | short | 13 min. | 2017
Palestine. A body is trapped at a checkpoint; an essential mechanism of the Israeli occupation. The body is pierced by structural and physical violence, which is aggressive and arbitrary and prevents and attacks its free movement and existence.
STAND-UP
COMEDIAN MONA
ABURMISHAN ON
MILLENNIUM STAGE
6pm | john f. kennedy center for the performing arts
The hysterically sharp and witty Palestinian-American comedian Mona Aburmishan closes out the 8th annual DCPFAF with a show that will be sure to bring you to tears of laughter.
Mona is an international comedian based in her hometown of Chicago. She has performed, emceed, and produced comedy shows, competitions and events in major clubs, theaters and universities around the world. In addition to comedy, Mona is a sought-after speaker for her experience using stand-up comedy to bring joy and affinity in various socio-political topics in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Mona has a Master’s in International Development and is fluent in English, German and Arabic and performs in these languages. Having lived and worked around the world, Mona uses her global insight and homegrown Chicago-style to offer a fresh look at shifting frustration into funny. Most notably, Mona became the first Arab and Muslim woman to perform standup comedy in the nation’s most prestigious institutions: Carnegie Hall in New York City as well as the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
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2018
SPONSORS
PLATINUM OLIVE TREE [$3,500+] Dr. Nabil Qaddumi Samar and William Langhorne Violet Jabara Charitable Trust
GOLD TATREEZ [$1,500-$3,400] Bank al Etihad Elias and Annette Aburdene Frederick T. Hadeed Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development Jewish Voice for Peace-DC Metro Rockefeller Brothers Fund US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
SILVER ZA’ATAR [$500-$1,450] Anera Arab Studies Institute Center for Contemporary Arab Studies Institute for Palestine Studies Nabil Mufti, Strategic Capital Advisors Zahi Khouri
Our sponsors help amplify the beauty of Palestinian artistry in the DC metro area. Want to join them? Contact Laila Rseabah at lailar@dcpfaf.org to become a sponsor or make a confidential donation.
COMMUNITY
PARTNERS
We are tremendously thankful to have an array of community partners. These partnerships have been vital to the growth of the festival and community for the past eight years! See the work of our community partners at dcpfaf.org/ community partners. Aftab Committee | Al-Quds Festival | American Muslims for Palestine | Center for Black Equity | Institute for Policy Studies | Museum of the Palestinian People | Muslim Writers Collective | ONE DC | The Sanctuaries | Story District | Women in Film and Video DC
SISTER
FESTIVALS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As we shine a spotlight on Palestinian artists in the eighth annual run of the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival, we recognize the dedication of the board members, volunteers, and supporters who made this possible. The DCPFAF is an entirely volunteer-powered project and labor of love by, and for, our community. Each board member brings their unique touch to the festival: Michael Kamel for co-directing and curating a unique program that pays homage to the artists and their crafts; Lena Ghannam for lending her eye and talent to every design, including this program; Ruqiyyah Abu-Anbar for foreseeing every bump in the road and ensuring the festival runs smoothly; Nada El-Eryan for opening up new roads we had never imagined and forging new relationships; Noura Erakat for her guidance and deft development; and Nusayba Hammad for heading it all up. We are also deeply appreciative of our advisory committee, Huda Asfour, Sara Elchoufi, Angelina Jarrouj, and Nehad Khader for their sage advice and making themselves available as resources. Our core of volunteers is the backbone of the festival. Our sincere gratitude to Diana Salman, Maryam Rashid, Deema Zein, Razan AlSalah, and Eva Yuma on the programming committee; Laila Rabah and Meredith Lee on the fundraising committee; Marya Hannun, Dina Kesbeh, Ghadeer Awwad, Lana Kesbeh, and Rana Fayez on the outreach committee; and Vanessa Faraj, Triana Kazaleh Sirdenis, and Nadia Shebaro on the logistics committee. The DCPFAF exists for the community of artists, filmmakers, community organizers, and attendees who inspire what we do, support us financially, emotionally, and artistically, and come out to the festival every year. To the filmmakers, artists, and panelists who share their profound and creative work, to our audience who encourages us to do it again year after year, and to our Palestinian people, who, wherever they may be, demonstrate an unwavering resilience in the face of injustice and oppression: thank you. 18
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