Past Film Series

The Jerusalem Fund and the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University are pleased to present their annual summer film series highlighting recent documentary and feature films from and about Palestine that explore the social, cultural and political complexities of Palestinian life and identity.  

All films begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. All films are screened at The Jerusalem Fund and are in English or have English subtitles. Attendance is free and open to the public. No RSVP required. However, space is limited. For directions and parking information, click here. For all other inquiries, call The Jerusalem Fund at (202) 338-1958, or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.

Wednesday | 1 July | 6:30 p.m. 
Pomegranates and Myrrh (Al Mor wa al Rumman)
Director: Najwa Najjar / 95 minutes / 2009

The director will be present at the screening.

Wednesday | 8 July | 6:30 p.m.
Young Freud in Gaza
Director: PeA Holmquist and Suzanne Khardalian / 58 minutes / 2009

Wednesday | 15 July | 6:30 p.m. 

VENUE CHANGE: McShain Lounge in McCarthy Hall at Georgetown University

Campus Map: http://explore.georgetown.edu/locations/index.cfm?Action=View&LocationID=79
Slingshot Hip Hop
Director: Jackie Reem Salloum / 94 minutes / 2008

Wednesday | 1 July | 6:30 p.m. 
Pomegranates and Myrrh (Al Mor wa al Rumman)
Director: Najwa Najjar / 95 minutes / 2009
The director will be present at the screening.



View Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgofDQxSGRQ
View episode of "The Fabulous Picture Show" on Al Jazeera English featuring Pomegranates and Myrrh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYCJ7mUYtMc

Kamar, a free spirited dancer, finds herself as the wife of a prisoner, Zaid, and away from everything she loves until she returns to the dance, defying society’s taboos.  When she returns to dance, Kamar is confronted with Kais, a Palestinian returnee, who has taken Kamar's role as the head choreographer. Sparks fly between Kamar and Kais, creating more than a passionate, emotional dance for the both of them.  Matters become even more complicated when Zaid's sentence is extended. At the same time, the family's legal case against land confiscation faces one obstacle after another, and the villagers from the nearby villages are unable to reach the family's olive groves, placing the annual harvest and consequently the family's livelihood in danger. Kamar's life is thrown into turmoil as she becomes increasingly attached to Kais and is caught in the midst of her desire to dance while breaking the family and societal taboos of the prisoner's wife's role as life under occupation rages on.

There will be a Q&A with Director Najwa Najjar after the screening.

This film is the first in the "Voices of Palestine" Summer 2009 Film Series. The annual film series is hosted jointly by The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. Films begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.  All films are in English or have English subtitles. Attendance is free and open to the public.  No RSVP required.  Films are screened at The Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. For more information, call The Jerusalem Fund at 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.

Wednesday | 8 July | 6:30 p.m. 
Young Freud in Gaza
Director: PeA Holmquist and Suzanne Khardalian / 58 minutes / 2009


Courtesy of Icarus Films

http://www.icarusfilms.com/new2009/yf.html

Young Freud in Gaza profiles Ayed, a young psychotherapist for the Palestinian Authority's Clinic for Mental Health. Filmed during 2006-2008, against the violent backdrop of armed clashes between Hamas and Fateh factions, Israeli missile attacks and the constant overhead presence of a surveillance dirigible, the film shows Ayed training young wives and mothers in deep-breathing exercises to calm anxiety, counseling maimed Hamas and Fateh militants in meditation techniques, and leading children in group therapy sessions in which they discuss their reaction to the death of siblings and draw pictures to cope with their emotions. The film also shows Ayed at home, relating to his parents and other family members and friends, in the process revealing that this young mental-health doctor is struggling with some personal issues of his own, including serious doubts that he is able to help his patients.

This film is the second in the "Voices of Palestine" Summer 2009 Film Series. The annual film series is hosted jointly by The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. Films begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.  All films are in English or have English subtitles. Attendance is free and open to the public.  No RSVP required.  Films are screened at The Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. For more information, call The Jerusalem Fund at 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.

Wednesday | 22 July | 6:30 p.m. 
Salt of this Sea (Milh Hadha al-Bahr)
Director: Annemarie Jacir / 109 minutes / 2008



View Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBbPUxbjiuc&feature=related

Soraya, born in Brooklyn in a working class community of Palestinian refugees, discovers that her grandfather’s savings were frozen in a bank account in Jaffa when he was exiled in 1948. Stubborn, passionate and determined to reclaim what is hers, she fulfills her life-long dream of “returning” to Palestine. Slowly she is taken apart by the reality around her and is forced to confront her own internal anger. She meets Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever. Tired of the constraints that dictate their lives, they know in order to be free, they must take things into their own hands, even if it’s illegal.

This film is the fourth in the "Voices of Palestine" Summer 2009 Film Series. The annual film series is hosted jointly by The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. Films begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.  All films are in English or have English subtitles. Attendance is free and open to the public.  No RSVP required.  Films are screened at The Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. For more information, call The Jerusalem Fund at 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.

Wednesday | 29 July | 6:30 p.m. 
Made in Palestine
Director: Benoit Faiveley / 15 minutes / 2008



Directed by French journalist Benoit Faiveley, this documentary follows the industry and symbolism of the Keffiyah, the traditional headdress of Palestine. The Keffiyah has seeped into popular western culture and at the same time fallen victim to the strict trade restrictions throughout the West Bank and cheaper Chinese imports. Made in Palestine explores the changing landscape of the Keffiyah trade, how it impacts the 76-year-old man who is the only remaining manufacturer within Palestine, and how its symbolism has developed throughout the recent changes in the West Bank.

Chronicles of a Refugee: Identity Without a Homeland
Director: Perla Issa, Aseel Mansour and Adam Shapiro / 78 minutes / 2008



http://www.chroniclesofarefugee.org/

Chronicles of a Refugee: Identity Without a Homeland, the fourth part of the series, starts to unpack the meaning and attributes of Palestinian identity today, given the experience of 60 years of dispossession and refugee status around the world. Taboo subjects, such as the role of refugee camps and the usefulness of citizenship, are debated by those who live with the consequences of decisions taken about these matters. Chronicles of a Refugee is a 6-part documentary series looking at the global Palestinian refugee experience over the last 60 years.

The series will be available for purchase at the screening.

These films are the fifth and sixth in the "Voices of Palestine" Summer 2009 Film Series. The annual film series is hosted jointly by The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. Films begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.  All films are in English or have English subtitles. Attendance is free and open to the public.  No RSVP required.  Films are screened at The Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. For more information, call The Jerusalem Fund at 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.

Wednesday | 5 August | 6:30 p.m. 
Wounds of the Heart: An Artist and Her Nation
Director: John Halaka / 52 minutes / 2009



http://www.sittingcrowproductions.com/WoundsOfTheHeart.html

Born and raised in the village of Tarsheha in the Galilee, Rana Bishara is a Palestinian visual artist whose creative practice includes sculpture, installation work and performance art. Her artwork functions simultaneously as an elegy to the Palestinian Nakba (the Arabic term for "The Great Disaster" that began in 1948), an unmasking of the brutality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and a critique of the biased Western media’s depiction of the Palestinians’ struggle against their occupiers. The objects employed in her artwork perform as surrogates for the body and spirit of Palestine and its people. Her work, in both its physical and conceptual manifestations, is an expression of the inseparable blending of the personal and political experiences that define the identity of every Palestinian.

This film is the last in the "Voices of Palestine" Summer 2009 Film Series. The annual film series is hosted jointly by The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. Films begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.  All films are in English or have English subtitles. Attendance is free and open to the public.  No RSVP required.  Films are screened at The Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. For more information, call The Jerusalem Fund at 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.