This Week in Palestine - Events
Issue no. 7  - April 1999

Events (15 Arpil - 30 April)

East Jerusalem
Ramallah
Gaza Strip
 
Cinema Club at the French Cultural Center, every Tuesday at 18:30
Reviews of main events
Film: The Destiny
Egypt 1996. Director: Youssef Chahine, 128 minutes. Colour. Arabic. The film is about the Arab-islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd and the political and social circumstances prevailing during the reign of the Abbasid Khalifeh, Al Mansour, in the 12th century AD in Al Andalus. Popular Art Center, Saturday 17/4 at 19:00. Palestinian National Theatre, Tuesday 20/4, Wednesday 21/4, Thursday 22/4 at 19:30.

Film: Fertile Memory

Palestine-Belgium 1980. Director: Michael Khleifi, 100 min. Colour. Documentary. Arabic with English subtitles. Michael Khleifi uses the techniques of feature to create a documentary about two Palestinian women. The First is Romia Farah Hatoum, 55 years old, from Jaffa of Nazareth whose story runs parallel to the story of her people. The second woman, the Palestinian writer, Sahar Khalifeh, living in the West Bank, struggles within her society to reach fulfillment as a woman. Popular Art center, Monday 19/4, Tuesday 20/4 at 19:00.

Film: Canticle of Stones

Palestine-Belgium 1990. Director: Michael Khleifi, 100 min, Colour. Feature and Documentary, Arabic. This is the story of two middle-aged Palestinians who met and fell in love for a few days in the early seventies, before being separated. He was condemend to life imprisonment for acts of resistance, while she immigrated to the United States. Eighteen years later the Intifada will rekindle their passion. When she returns to Jerusalem and finds him liberated. Amidst the revolt, they fall in love again and try to make up for lost time. We are thrown into the heart of the Intifada, bordering between reality and fiction, documentary and narrative, poetry and violence. Popular Art Center, Wednesday 21/4, Thursday 22/4 at 19:00.

Film: The Immigrant

Egypt 1996. Director: Youssef Chahine, 120 minutes. Colour. Arabic with English subtitles. The film is based on the story of the prophet Joseph. The film, as described by the director, is a special cinematic vision based on universal tradition. The film was banned in Egypt for three consecutive years. Popular Art Center Thursday 29/4 at 19:00.

Play: Women of Sand and Myrrh

Ashtar theatre, Jerusalem and Maralam theatre, Zurich,1999 Director: Peter Braschler Adaptation: Peter Braschler and Iman Aoun Lyrical composition: Ghassan Zaqatan Music: Odeh Turjman Based on the novel by Lebanese writer, Hanan Al Shaykh, this play is performed by four actresses reflecting the four main characters in  the novel. The novel, and the play, reflect on the way Arab women's lives interweave with the Arab desert through a limbo of alienation, sensuousness and cruelty, where beauty or intelligence are a trap, and where each struggles vainly to safeguard her inner truths. In striving to realize their individual identities, each of these four very different women evolve their own strategy for survival. Suzanne, a bland American housewife searching for significance; Nur seeks an inner axis to face a life born with loneliness; Suha, overwhelmed by alienation and confusion is determined to go back home; and Tamr, fighting for the right to self determination. Palestinian National Theatre, Saturday 24 April, Sunday 25 April at 19:30.

Play: Emergency Landing

Palestinian National Theatre 1999 Writer: Salman Natour Director: Mazen Ghattas Music: Mustafa Kurd Actors: Imad Mize'ro and Taher Najeeb "Forced Landing" reflects the Palestinian chronic situation since 100 years. As soon as he finishes drawing a dream and national aspirations, a force comes and destroys them, so he has to re- draw his dream. It is a "Sisphian" type of black comedy. More than carrying a message, the play carries an idea charged with situations, feelings, and pictures of the Palestinian existence, and the state of intellectual and emotional vagrancy it lives through. It is an attempt to dive deeply into the simple Palestinian character who carries dreams and ideas, wanting to clear them up for himself. The circumstances around this Palestinian deform these dreams in ways beyond his control, but for which he is partly responsible. Baladna Cultural Center, Tuesday 20 April at 19:30; Palestinian National Theatre 28-30 April at 19:30.

Art Exhibition: Palestin(a) Women's Art from Palestine

Art Exhibit by 8 Palestinian women artists:
Azza El Hassan - Ramallah
Dina Ghazal - Ramallah
Faten Nastas - Bethlehem
Jumana Aboud -  Shafa 'Amr
Nidaa Khoury - Fassouta
Noel Jabbour - Nazareth
Rana Bishara - Tarshiha
Suheir Ismail - Deheishe
Al-Wasiti Art Center, 8-26 April.

Art Exhibit: New Faces for Catherine

Deneuve
Gazan Artist, Mohammad al Hawajri, lets his imagination add a thousand and one touches to the printed image of Catherine Deneuve with an astounding result. Opening at the French Cultural Center, Gaza, 29 April at 17:00.

Photo Exhibition: Wadi Slaleib in 9 volumes

by Ahlam Shibli.
Nine books exhibited on stands are more like a photographic inventory of the memory of Wadi Saleib. Ahlam Shibli speaks the language of disposessino when the victims - inhabitants of the village were forced to an indefinite displacement in 1961 into apartments in Haifa and its suburbs, and all the village houses were totally shut down. Opening at the French Cultural Center, Ramallah 15 April at 19:00.

Art Exhibit: Assem Abu Shaqra (1961 - 1990)

Abu Shaqra's powerful and tortured works, well known in Israel and in Europe, have never been seen here before, even though they have become controversial symbols of national identity. Opening at the Khalil Sakakini center, Ramallah 17 April 18:00.

Concert: Opus

National Conseravtory of Music Teachers will  take the audience on a journey through classical music from the 18th century to the Tango... Soloists: Nadia Abboushi (Piano), Jeanne Roningen & Anita masters (Violin), Ahmad Khatib (Cello), Amer Nakhleh (Guitar), & Heather Macdonald (Flute). Ramallah Saturday 17 April 20:00 at Khalil Sakakini Center.

International Cultural Day: Holland

Khalil Sakakini center's first international cultural day is dedicated to Holland, and it aims to present various aspects of the Dutch culture to Palestine. The program will feature screenings of films on such Dutch painters as Van Gogh and Rembrandt, a lecture about the arts and arts policies in holland, samples of Dutch cuisine, and a dutch authors book exhibit in English. Also, Palestinian-born Dutch filmmaker Hani Abu Asad will present his new short film "13". Ramallah Sunday 25 April 16:00 at Khalil Sakakini Center

Concert: Dozan Wa Awtar

The all-new, all-female vocal ensemble Awtar and the somewhat less new, less female men's ensemble, Dozan will each perform from varied repertoire that includes classical, Broadway, pop, Arabic and more. Both are directed by Shireen Abu Khader of the National Music Conservatory. The craziest men and the hottest women sing together for the first time during the Sprin Season organized by the National Music Conservatory. Ramallah 29 April 20:00 at Khalil Sakakini Center.
Play of the Week

I Dream of Tomorrow

Director and script-writer: Fatthi Abdul Rahman

Lyrics: Ahmad Dahbour
Music: Walid Hasheem
Choreography: Omar Barghouti & Maysoon Rafidi
Costumes: Imad Saber and Maher Saber
Producer: the Secretariat for the National plan of action for
Palestinian Children
March 1999
Synopsis: A pioneering musical dance-theatre production in
Palestine, this play consists of "condensed flashes that dig into the group memory of Palestinian refugees who have walked the via dolorosa for half a century...". Twenty actors and dancers and ten children, all who have experienced life in the refugee camp, try to portray in ten scenes life in the refugee camps and beyond. A dream of tomorrow beginning with a re-creation of yesterday carries the audience into the painful experience of the forced migration and experience of refuge in a comic and satirical style that appeals both to children and adults, Palestinian and foreign.

Touring in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in April.

For further information contact: Mr. Fatthi Abdul Rahman (052) 394824
 
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Jerusalem Media & Communication Centre (JMCC),
PO Box 25047, East Jerusalem, Palestine
Tel. 972-2-5819777, Fax. 972-2-5829534
E-mail: ptw@jmcc.org