Despite a dearth in global film production over the last 18 months, the London Palestine Film Festival returns with an ever-crucial program of international films with a focus on Palestine and Palestine-related issues. LPFF 2021 presents 22 films, over 10 screen-talks, and 2 exclusive live events. Artists and filmmakers in attendance include Michel Khleifi, Larissa Sansour, Sophia AlMaria, Yumna Marwan, Eyal Sivan, Bashar Shammout and more.
The festival will open at the Barbican Centre with the UK premiere of The Stranger (Al Garib) – the first narrative feature to be shot on location in the occupied-Golan Heights. A breath-taking and accomplished directorial debut by Ameer Fakher Eldin, it stars two of Palestine's most celebrated actors, Ashraf Barhoum and Mohamed Bakri.
Exclusive special events include, Soundtrack to the Palestinian Revolution. This show-and-tell presentation, created especially for the LPFF, will explore the innovative sound design and role of music in revolutionary era cinema (1968 – 1982.) Jarman Award-nominated artist-filmmaker, Larissa Sansour, will be conducting a masterclass exploring her use of science fiction tropes in an art context. Sansour will show excerpts and images of her work covering more than a decade of her art practice with exclusive peeks at her grand upcoming project.
Sophia AlMaria's Jarman Award-nominated Beast Type Song gets its first cinema screening, instigating a discussion on imperialism, language and the sensitive intricacies of narrative.
Other timeless questions and themes made more urgent after this year's assaults, dispossession and normalisation recur throughout the programme. Among these are stories excavated from the land itself (The Sun and the Looking Glass – UK Premier); freedom of movement (Fadia's Tree – European Premier), the right of return (Ours is a Country of Words – UK Premier); colonisation (Mapping Lessons – UK Premier). Female-lead revolts – historical and contemporary – also feature (The Silent Protest; Naila and the Uprising; As I Want – UK Premiere.)
Please note more Q&A sessions following the screenings are yet to be confirmed. For up-to-date information, visit the official website HERE.
The 2021 London Palestine Film Festival is supported by the A M Qattan Foundation, Sawsan Asfari, The International Arab Charity, Centre for Palestine Studies at SOAS, University of London.
Film Synopses
The Stranger (Al Garib) (dir. Ameer Fakher Eldin, 2021, 113') – Nov 19th, 2021 at Barbican Centre
In a small village in the Golan Heights, an unlicensed doctor is going through an existential crisis caused by the pressures of living under occupation and in earshot from a looming war. His life takes another turn when he encounters a man wounded near the checkpoint. Overturning all community expectations in times of war and national crisis, he ventures forth to meet his newly found destiny. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A
Double Bill – Nov 20th, 2021 at ICA
“Living under occupation forces us to think differently. You have to learn to live with it.” These two documentaries present, both, in their cinematic form as well as the stories they convey, the powerful role of imagination and belief in resistance. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A
The Last Days of April (dir. Laurence Buelens and Jean Forest, 2021, 24')
Based on testimonials of Batir's village elders, this short documentary mixes video, animated stills and an ambient soundscape. Using these elements, it pays tribute to the ingenious resistance of its villagers who used candles, sticks and other forms of trickery to protect their homes from the Israeli army in 1949.
Ours is a Country of Words (dir. Mathijs Poppe, 2017, 43')
A documentary about a hypothetical situation, the story begins in an undetermined moment in the future when the Palestinian right of return becomes a reality. Balancing between fiction and documentary, we watch the subjects of this documentary, families in the Shatila refugee camp, perform their fictional return.
Soundtrack to the Palestinian Revolution – Nov 21st, 2021 at ICA
This is an exclusive presentation by sound archivist and researcher Bashar Shammout. The session promises a dynamic show-and-tell presentation of films and record samplings that exemplify the keen political and creative explosion of sound design in that era. Shammout will be hosted by sound researcher Hazem Jamjoum, and together they will discuss the roles of folk music, sound design and innovation, as well as the manufacturing of LPs in the PLO's cinema output.
EXCLUSIVE LIVE EVENT
The Sun and The Looking Glass + Beast Type Song – Nov 21, 2021 at ICA
Experimenting with different forms of language, this double bill interrogates the intricacies of narrative. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A.
The Sun and the Looking Glass: for one easily forgets but the tree remembers (dir. Milena Desse, 2020, 23')
This artistic essay-film paints a portrait of a place on a hill above the West Bank village of Ein Qiniya. There, we go back in time through objects uncovered in renovation works. The film is part performance, part historical document told through disappearances and revelations.
Beast Type Song (dir. Sophia AlMaria, 2019, 40')
Cast against the science fiction backdrop of a solar battle, as evoked by Etel Adnan in her 1989 war poem, The Arab Apocalypse, AlMaria explores the revision of history. When words cannot express trauma, a new language of drawings, movement and music gives voice to the speechless. The protagonists reflect on the narrative and languages they have inherited as children of various colonial legacies. The work features performances by Yumna Marwan, Elizabeth Peace and boychild, as well as Al Maria herself.
Women-Led Movements Double-Bill – Nov 23, 2021 at ICA
This double-bill focuses on two political movements lead by women in different eras of Palestinian history.
The Silent Protest (dir. Mahasen Nasser-Eldin, 2019, 20')
In 1929, Palestinian women launched a movement objecting the British High Commissioner's bias against Arabs in the Buraq uprising. Their story is told by researcher and director Mahasen Nasser-Eldin, whose works focuses on the construction of forgotten narratives of pre- and post-1948. Using found footage and archival material, Nasser-Eldin breathes new life into unseen images and remaps the urban trajectories of a 90-year-old story of defiance.
Naila and the Uprising (dir. Julia Bacha, 2017, 76')
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. But will the women be able to carry forward the vision of equality that their activism set in motion?
Tale of the Three Jewels (dir. Michel Khleifi, 1995, 112') – Nov 24, 2021 at Barbican Centre
This tale of innocence and love tells the story of twelve-year-old Yusef, who meets a beautiful gypsy girl and declares his intention of making her his bride. However, she says he must first find the three jewels missing from a necklace first. Yusef must draw a plan to cross the sea to fulfill Aida's request and win her love. Known to be the first feature ever filmed in the Gaza Strip, Khleifi effectively uses the grim backdrop as contrast for a whimsical story of romantic longing and the power of imagination. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A.
Renewed Narratives – Nov 25, 2021 at Barbican Centre
This double bill brings together two films that use found footage to explore collective, political pasts. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A
Return of Osiris (dir. Essa Grayeb, 2019, 14')
This film re-examines the moment then-Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the defeat of the 1967 war, along with his resignation. For many, this marked the doom of Arab nationalism. By collecting, cataloging, and rearranging visual materials from popular culture, director Essa Grayeb simultaneously highlights the challenge of conveying historical and political events in art and the power that cinema has in building a collective memory.
Mapping Lesson (dir. Philip Rizk, 2020, 61')
Sitting between a dream, a historical document and a plan for a looming future, Mapping Lessons is an essay-film made up almost entirely of found footage. Impeccably stitched, the outcome is a visual dialogue inspired by recent political defeats. Sharing a search for autonomy, it prepares us for the next attack.
Masterclass: Larissa Sansour – Nov 26, 2021 at SOAS
This talk by Palestinian filmmaker and artist Larissa Sansour will deal with the use of sci-fi tropes in an art context, and the shifting of meaning resulting from that. Sansour will show excerpts of films as well as images of her work covering more than a decade of her art practice. Discussing the ideas behind framing political discourse in speculative fiction, she will explore the inadvertent retro temporality this proximity generates.
Fadia's Tree [European Premiere] (dir. Sarah Beddington, 2021, 82') – Nov 27, 2021 at Curzon Soho
Fadia, a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon, wants to find the ancient mulberry tree next to her grandfather's house in Palestine. A mere 2 hour drive from Beirut, Fadia is barred from crossing that border so the director embarks on the quest to find the tree for her. Along the way, as she observes the homing instincts of millions of migrating birds, nature inadvertently revealing instinctive elements of the Palestinian yearn to return home. Through a birds' eye perspective, we reflect on freedom of movement, exile and return. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A.
Multibill: Today's Shorts – Nov 28, 2021 at Curzon Soho
All by Palestinian directors, this selection of short films give us glimpses of memories, thoughts and fears. Both surreal and based on actuality, the selection takes us in and out of the psyche of a society under occupation.
Bethlehem: 2001 (dir. Ibrahim Handal, 2021, 14')
A young Palestinian wanders between his current reflections and his childhood memories of the military invasion and siege of Bethlehem. Trying to understand how his parents led him though that difficult time, he hopes this knowledge will help him cope in the present.
The Present (dir. Farah Nabulsi, 2019, 24')
BAFTA-winning, Oscar-nominated short film The Present puts a regular day in the West Bank on the international stage. On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping?
Solomon's Stone (dir. Ramzi Maqdisi, 2015, 24')
Hussein, a young man in Jerusalem, receives a request from the Israeli post office to appear in person to receive a package. Upon arrival, he is charged $20,000 to collect it. His curiosity to find out what the package contains drives him to sell everything he owns, the matter continuing to develop towards the absurd and changing their lives forever.
Ambiance (dir. Wisam Al Jafari, 2019, 15')
In the refugee camp, two young aspiring musicians need to record some music for a competition. But there is chaos and noise around them and with each try, they fail to capture the sound they need – so they must get creative. An exercise in sound invention, this short film is sound-tracked with a perfect cacophony of machinery, marches, and madness.
Moonscape (dir. Mona Benyamin, 2020, 17')
Taking the form of a music video, this film traces the story of Dennis M. Hope. After claiming ownership of the Moon, Hope founded the Lunar Embassy – a company that sells land on various planets. Skillfully combining the film noir style with found footage from the NASA archives and screenshots of email correspondences with Lunar Embassy, Benyamin inventively explores the relationship between hope, nostalgia and despair.
Jaffa: The Orange's Clockwork (dir. Eyal Sivan, 2009, 91') – Nov 29, 2021 at Curzon Soho
This modern documentary classic is a political essay in form, excavating the entwined visual and political histories of a citrus fruit originating in Palestine. While this orange has been translated into a symbol of the Zionist enterprise, for Palestinians it remains a powerful symbol of the loss and destruction of their homeland. Visually captivating and politically bold, director Eyal Sivan weaves a tapestry of rarely accessed archival material and interviews with the most sought after thinkers and historians. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A.
Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege (dir. Abdallah Al-Khatib, 2021, 83') – Nov 30, 2021 at Curzon Soho
In the four years leading up to his own expulsion by ISIS, Yarmouk-born documentary maker Abdallah Al-Khatib recorded the daily life of the besieged inhabitants of the Yarmouk Refugee Camp. What we see is a reality of bombings, displacement and starvation combined with music, love and joy. Hundreds of lives were irredeemably transformed by war and siege – from Al-Khatib's mother, who became a nurse for the elderly at the camp, to the fiercest activists whose passion for Palestine got gradually undermined by hunger.
As I Want [UK Premiere] (dir. Samaher AlQadi, 2021, 88') – Dec 1, 2021 at Barbican Centre
This film captures the spectacular strength of a women's rebellion clashing with structurally immersed patriarchy in Egypt. When Samaher becomes pregnant during filming, a personal journey begins, where she re-examines her own childhood in Palestine. Her imaginary conversation with her late mother forms words left unsaid, sharing her deepest secrets in an intimate inner voice. As I Want is as personally deep, as it is publically explosive, putting urgent women's voices at the fore. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A.
You Come From Far Away (dir. Amal Ramsis, 2018, 90') – Dec 2, 2021 at SOAS
This film tells the extraordinary story of a Palestinian family scattered by turmoils of the 20th century. From the Spanish Civil War to World War II, from the Nakba to the Lebanese Civil War, director Amal Ramsis' family was dispersed around the world. But what we see through their incredible story of distance and upheaval, is the importance of the most human of all bonds: family love.
Friendship's Death [Newly Restored] (dir. Peter Wollen, 1987, 78') – Dec 3, 2021 at Barbican Centre
September 1970: an extra-terrestrial on a peace mission to Earth lands in Jordan. She is helped by a jaded war correspondent covering the Palestinian revolution as the events of Black September erupt around him. Almost entirely structured around dialogue, the script unfolds as a series of questions about what it means to be human, and what it means to have one's humanity withheld. This bizarre and profound film has been impeccably restored by the BFI National Archive and got its re-introduction at Cannes Classics 2021. Screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A.
