Cinema of Palestine explained

Cinema of Palestine
Screens:2 (2007)[1]
Screens Per Capita:0.1 per 100,000 (2007)
Admissions Year:2007
Admissions Ref:[2]
Admissions Total:64,026

Cinema of Palestine refers to films made in Palestine and/or by Palestinian filmmakers. Palestinian films are not exclusively produced in Arabic and some are produced in English and French.[3] [4]

History

The first period: The beginning, 1935–1948

thumb|left|Villagers of Halhul waiting for an open-air film show, around 1940

The first Palestinian film to be made is generally believed to be a documentary on King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia's visit in 1935 to Palestine, made by Ibrahim Hassan Sirhan (or Serhan), based in Jaffa.[5] [6] Sirhan followed the King and around Palestine, "from Lod to Jaffa and from Jaffa to Tel Aviv". The result was a silent movie that was presented at the Nabi Rubin festivals. Following this documentary, Sirhan joined Jamal al-Asphar to produce a 45-minute film called The Realized Dreams, aiming to "promote the orphans' cause". Sirhan and al-Asphar also produced a documentary about Ahmad Hilmi Pasha, a member of the Higher Arab Commission.[7] In 1945 Sirhan established the Arab Film Company with Ahmad Hilmi al-Kilani. The company launched the feature film Holiday Eve, which was followed by preparations for the next film A Storm at Home. The films themselves were lost in 1948, when Sirhan had to flee Jaffa after the town was bombarded.[8]

The second period: The epoch of silence, 1948–1967

The 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight (known in Arabic as the Nakba) had a devastating effect on Palestinian society, including its nascent film industry. Cinematic endeavours, requiring infrastructure, professional crews, and finance, nearly ceased for two decades.[9] Individual Palestinian participated in the film-production of neighbouring countries. It is reported that Sirhan was involved with the production of the first Jordanian feature film, The Struggle in Jarash (1957), and another Palestinian, Abdallah Ka'wash, directed the second Jordanian feature film, My Homeland, My Love, in 1964.[10]

The third period: Cinema in exile, 1968–1982

After 1967, Palestinian cinema found itself under the auspices of the PLO, funded by Fatah and other Palestinian organisations like PFLP and DFLP. More than 60 films were made in this period, mostly documentaries. The first film festival dedicated to Palestinian films was held in Baghdad in 1973, and Baghdad also hosted the next two Palestinian film festivals, in 1976 and 1980.[11] Mustafa Abu Ali was one of the early Palestinian film directors, and he helped found the Palestinian Cinema Association in Beirut in 1973. Only one dramatic movie was made during the period, namely Return to Haifa in 1982, an adaptation of a short novel by Ghassan Kanafani.[12]

The film archives disappearance, 1982

Different organisations set up archives for Palestinian films. The largest such archive was run by PLO's Film Foundation/Palestinian Film Unit. In 1982, when the PLO was forced out of Beirut, the archive was put into storage (in the Red Crescenty Hospital), from where it "disappeared" under circumstances which are still unclear.[13] Recently, several films from the archive were located in the Israel Defense Forces Archive in Tel HaShomer by scholar and curator Rona Sela.[14] Sela has called for the release of these films, and for the declassification of other Palestinian films that remain closed in the IDF Archive.[15]

The fourth period: The return home, from 1980 to the present

In 1987, there was the first Intifada, and this led to an increase in news coverage in Palestine, showcasing their occupation. This is when filmmakers started getting back up to make more films, in documentarian style, as they were given the understanding of film techniques through these news reporters. This is when a new era of Palestinian cinema emerged. Focusing on Israeli occupation and Palestinian experiences, it differed from their previous focus on exile during the PLO days. There were also “emergency films” and “roadblock films” which called spectators to action on behalf of Palestinians’ struggles and the other genre categorized for its use of checkpoints in its films. Now in the 2000’s, Palestinian cinema is re focused on collective resistance from Israeli forces.

The 1996 drama/comedy Chronicle of a Disappearance, from Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman, received international critical acclaim,[16] and it became the first Palestinian movie to receive national release in the United States.[17] A break-out film for its genre, it won a New Director's Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival and a Luigi De Laurentiis Award at the Venice Film Festival.[18] Notable film directors of this period include[19] Michel Khleifi, Rashid Masharawi, Ali Nassar and Elia Suleiman.

An international effort was launched in 2008 to reopen Cinema Jenin, a cinema located in the Jenin Refugee Camp.

In 2008, three Palestinian feature films and an estimated eight shorts were completed, more than ever before.[20]

In 2010, Hamas, the governing authority in the Gaza Strip, announced the completion of a new film. Titled The Great Liberation, the film depicts the destruction of Israel by Palestinians.[21]

Currently in the Gaza Strip, all film projects must be approved by Hamas' Culture Ministry before they can be screened in public. Independent filmmakers have claimed that the Culture Ministry cracks down on content not conforming to Hamas edicts. In a notable 2010 case, Hamas banned the short film Something Sweet, directed by Khalil al-Muzzayen, which was submitted at the Cannes Film Festival. Hamas banned it from being shown locally due to a four-second scene where a woman is shown with her hair uncovered. In 2011, a film festival hosted by the Gaza Women's Affairs Center included documentaries and fictional pieces on women's issues, but the Culture Ministry censored numerous scenes. One film had to remove a scene where a woman lowered one shoulder of her dress, and another had to remove a scene of a man swearing.[22]

Films from Palestine have been broadcast internationally through services such as Netflix.[23]

Name

In contrast to the way some other locations with associations to film industry are named in casual parlance, the term Pallywood has only derogatory acceptions.

Notable directors

thumb|220px|Emad Burnat is a Palestinian farmer and filmmaker.

Notable films

See main article: List of Palestinian films.

Notable film festivals

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See also

Further reading

For a Fistful of Dust: A Passage to Palestine, 23–29 September 2004, Al-Ahram

Coming Home: Palestinian Cinema, 27 February 2007, The Electronic Intifada

Khleifi, George (2008): Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, Trauma, and Memory, Indiana University Press.

External links

32.0519°N 34.7594°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Table 8: Cinema Infrastructure - Capacity. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 5 November 2013. 24 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181224225516/data.uis.unesco.org/?ReportId=5542. dead.
  2. Web site: Table 11: Exhibition - Admissions & Gross Box Office (GBO). UNESCO Institute for Statistics. 5 November 2013. 25 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181225053209/data.uis.unesco.org/?ReportId=5538. dead .
  3. Web site: Palestine Film Foundation. https://web.archive.org/web/20080612083355/palestinefilm.org/default.asp. dead. June 12, 2008. palestinefilm.org.
  4. Web site: Xan Brooks on Palestinian directors. Xan. Brooks. 12 April 2006. the Guardian. 9 July 2018.
  5. Gertz and Khleifi, p. 13
  6. Dabashi (2006), p. 9
  7. Khaled Elayya: A Brief History of Palestinian Cinema, This week in Palestine
  8. Gertz and Khleifi, p. 13-14
  9. Gertz and Khleifi, p. 19
  10. Gertz and Khleifi, p. 20
  11. [Joseph Massad]
  12. Gertz and Khleifi, p. 20-30
  13. Gertz and Khleifi, p. 28-30
  14. Sela. Rona. 2017-06-01. Seized in Beirut: The Plundered Archives of the Palestinian Cinema Institution and Cultural Arts Section. Anthropology of the Middle East. en-US. 12. 1. 83–114. 10.3167/ame.2017.120107. 149169819 . 1746-0727.
  15. Sela. Rona. 3 March 2017. The Genealogy of Colonial Plunder and Erasure – Israel's Control over Palestinian Archives. Social Semiotics. 28. 2. 201–229. 10.1080/10350330.2017.1291140. 149369385 .
  16. http://www.answers.com/topic/chronicle-of-a-disappearance Chronicle of a Disappearance
  17. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_n10_v35/ai_19677864/ Chronicle of a Disappearance
  18. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115895/awards Awards for Chronicle of a Disappearance
  19. Gertz and Khleifi, p. 30-34
  20. Web site: Palestinian filmmakers beat the odds to hit silver screen. Edition.cnn.com. 9 July 2018.
  21. Web site: 2010-09-14 . Gaza-made film shows Israel's destruction by Palestinians . 2023-11-28 . The Jerusalem Post JPost.com . en-US.
  22. News: Gaza filmmakers decry Hamas censorship. 19 August 2011. Ynetnews. 9 July 2018.
  23. Web site: Watch Salt of This Sea Netflix . 2024-03-27 . www.netflix.com . en.
  24. Web site: 200 Meters . 2024-08-18 . Doha Film Institute . en-US.
  25. Web site: Wiseman . Andreas . July 15, 2024 . ‘Kneecap’ Wins Big At Galway Film Fleadh, Full List Of Winners . 3 August 2024 . Deadline.
  26. Web site: Johnson . G. Allen . April 30, 2024 . Palestinian film ‘The Teacher’ captures SFFilm’s top audience award . 7 July 2024 . San Francisco Chronicle.
  27. Web site: Past Festivals Audience Award Winners . 7 July 2024 . Filmfest DC.
  28. Web site: Festival Winners @ Brooklyn Film Festival . 7 July 2024 . Brooklyn FIlm Festival.
  29. Web site: The winners of the new directors award and audience award 2024 . 7 July 2024 . Kosmorama.
  30. Web site: Economou . Vassilis . 23 April 2024 . 78 Days and Embryo Larva Butterfly win big at the 22nd Cyprus Film Days . 7 July 2024 . Cineuropa.
  31. Web site: Berlinale Documentary Award and Jury . 2024-03-16 . www.berlinale.de . en.
  32. Web site: Goodfellow . Melanie . 2024-01-17 . Berlinale Unveils Full Panorama, Forum & Generation Line-Ups With New Films By Nathan Silver, Levan Akin, André Téchiné & Bruce LaBruce . 2024-03-16 . Deadline . en-US.
  33. Web site: Poppies of Palestine Film Festival - Kuwait. 248am. 21 May 2021.

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