This year's 5th anniversary Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) program has several different themes, including:
- The films of Elia Suleiman (The Time That Remains, Chronicle of a Disappearance, Divine Intervention)
- Celebrating the legacy of the late Edward Said ( Special Event at Berklee College of Music, Knowledge is the Beginning, The Last Interview)
- Paying homage to past and present revolutions in honor of the Arab Spring (We Are Egypt, Nasser 56, This is My Picture When I Was Dead, Gaza Hospital, We Were Communists, Genet in Chatila)
The Palestine film festival in Boston will close with the film Man Without a Cell Phone (2009), a feature debut by Sameh Zoabi, a Palestinian director who is a citizen of Israel. Zoabi, who will attend the screening, was named “one of the top 25 2 new faces of independent cinema” by Filmmaker Magazine, according to BPFF press information.
"The film is a humorous, sharp take on the social milieu of a Palestinian village inside Israel. The film was selected to screen last March at the New Directors/New Films festival, presented jointly by The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. " (BPFF)
Music Programs at the Boston Palestine Film Festival
A reception after the Opening Night Film, will feature Shusmo (which means “Whatchamacallit” in Arabic), an "clectic NY-based band that has created a unique mélange of alternative Arabic music" according to the BPFF.NPR called Shusmo "ew Yorkers with Middle Eastern roots.”
The Opening Night Reception takes place at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at 9 pm, with directors and special guests, buffet and cocktails.
On Saturday, October 22, BFFF will also host a special event to celebrate the legacy of the late Edward Said, who facilitated "access to music education and involvement for Palestinian youth, and creating opportunities for youth from antagonistic cultures to communicate and listen through a common language, that of music," according to BPFF.
The event, starting at 5:30 pm,at the David Friend Recital Hall of Berklee College, includes a screening of the award-winning film Knowledge is the Beginning, which tells the story of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (WEDO), established in 1999 by Edward Said and Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim.
The aim of the WEDO project was "to bring together young musicians from Israel, Palestine, and various Arab countries, supported by Spanish musicians, so that they could get to know each other in a neutral, free space through the shared language of music. The WEDO opened up channels of communication based on equality, cooperation, and justice for all," according to the BPFF press release.
Knowledge is the Beginning, follows the orchestra’s history from its founding through its historic live concert in Ramallah’s Cultural Palace in the occupied West Bank in 2005. The West-Eastern Divan, a name that came from a collection of poems by Goethe, is not only a music project, but also a model of democracy and civilized living. Edward Said called it the most important thing he had done in his life.
The second part of the event highlights the recent ongoing efforts of Berklee College to collaborate with the Edward Said National Music Conservatory in the occupied West Bank to identify and recruit gifted Palestinian musicians to study at Berklee. This is no easy task "when the student is from an area under military occupation" said the BPFF in its press release
Performers include: Naseem al-Atrash, cello; Ali Amr, qanun, vocals; Utar Artun, piano; Tyreek Jackson, bass; Maysaa Karaa, vocals; Maya Khaldi, vocals; Sergio Martines, percussion; Tareq Rantissi, percussion; Layth Sidiq, violin.
As the BPFF said, the film festival "honors the way that Berklee is carrying on Said’s legacy of facilitating access to the gift of a music education for youth."
For more information about the Boston Palestine Film Festival visit the BPFF website
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