events

Concert: The Oriental Music Ensemble An ensemble of five professional musicians of the National Conservatory of Music perform oriental music of the late 19th and 20th century on traditional Arabic instruments. The members of the Ensemble are Khalid Jubran on oud and buzuq, Suheil Khoury on Nay and Clarinet, Ibrahim Attari on qanoun, Samer Totah on oud and Yousef Hbeish on percussion. The ensemble has brought their spirit and virtuosity to audiences in various Palestinian cities as well as to music festivals in Jerusalem, Greece, and Belgium. Al-Bireh, Saturday 09 October 20:00, Baladna Cultural Center.

Exhibition: Beat Streuli Streuli works at the edge of cinema, the "outer limit between the static and the photographic" as he explains. He projects slides on a huge scale, cross-fading them in and out of view. His subject matter is very ordinary - groups of people walking down crowded streets- but the banality of the situation is transformed by his ability to find beauty in the most unlikely of places. His moody- looking subjects appear as serene beings moving in isolation. Streuli has been filming and taking snapshots of strangers on the streets of the world's major cities for a number of years. His current exhibition is based on photos he has taken of Jerusalem during a recent visit organized by Al Mamal foundation. Jerusalem, until 23 October, Gallery Anadiel, Jaffa Gate.

Play: The Thing

Palestinian National Theatre productions Written by: Ghassan Kanafani, Director: Yacoub Ismail, Music: Mustafa al Kurd Actors: Emad Mize'ro, Faten Khoury, Adel Tartir, Taher Najeeb, Ra'eda Adon The strange thing happens to a man who lacks everything: he is always in debt and cannot repay his debts. He loves a woman but cannot marry her,she gets pregnant and he can't afford to pay for an abortion. Then, suddenly, the thing falls in his hands. It is strange, enticing, and valuable. He refuses all temptations to give it up, even when he sees that "thing" transformed into a hat on the heads of others, even though he feels that it comes from inside the head rather than outside it. He then realizes that this rare alien thing cannot live in a world ruled by materialism. This play is adapted from Ghassan Kanafani's play "The Hat and the Prophet" which is an intellectual play where Kanafani reveals the estrangement of the intellectual in a materialistic world. Jerusalem, Sunday 03 October 19:30, Palestinian National Theatre.

Concert: Awj "The National Music Conservatory Choir" A new initiative on the part of the National Music Conservatory, this group was recently established to present classical Arabic songs, Muwashahat and Adwar. Khaled jubran, director of the Oriental Music department at the National Music Conservatory, leads the group. Their premiere performance at the Jerusalem Arabic Music Festival last summer received excellent acclaim and promising reviews. Birzeit, Saturday 16 October 20:00, Kamal Nassir Hall. Jerusalem, Thursday 14 October 20:00, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.

Concert: Ahmad al Khatib Al Khatib was born in Irbid, Jordan, and started studying the Oud at an early age. He took part in many musical events as a solo player and as part of the oriental music group of the Yarmouk University. He currently teaches Oud and Cello at the National Music Conservatory in Palestine. Ramallah, Saturday 30 October 20:00, Abdul Muhsen Qattan Foundation Jerusalem, Thursday 28 October 20:00, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. (With Khaled Jubran).

Play: Abu Shaker's Affairs 1999 Ashtar Theatre This play is an experimental play where the script develops with the form rather than the other way round. The play talks about an oppressive patriarchal character (Abu Shaker), played by Edouard Muallem, trying to use his patriarchal position in the family to oppress anyone who opposes him and to enforce his own laws, which he refers to as Abu Shaker's Laws. He abuses the children and controls his family members. In short, the play deals with the issue of violence and sexual abuse within the family. What is particularly new about this play is the method used to deal with these issues. The audience is an active and integral participant in the play. The play is performed twice (it lasts 30 minutes): the first time, it is performed fully without interruption, and the second time, anyone in the audience can interrupt, stop the show, and change the script. The audience can also mount the stage and replace any of the characters in the play (except for Abu Shaker). October tour of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, and Gaza.

Exhibition: Michael Najjar Michael Najjar was born in Akka in 1932, and emigrated to Beirut in 1948 where he specialized in Arabic calligraphy. In 1983 he left to Belgium where he studied in the Arts Academy in Bruxelles. Najjar is considered one of the few artists who have transported the spirit of Arabic calligraphy to the space of the painting. He esta"Arabesque" art gallery in Bruxelles, and has exhibited in cities all over the world. Jerusalem, Friday 08 - Sunday 31 October, Al Wasiti Art Center.

Concert: John Kameel Farah John Farah was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1973. He studied privately at the Royal Conservatory of Music and attended a local school of the Arts in which he majored in music and visual arts. In later years he studied piano with Valerie Tryon, Artist-in-Residence at MacMaster University in Hamilton and completed his Bachelor of Music at the University of Toronto. In his musical life John has been extremely active as a composer, improviser, and pianist of twentieth century repertoire, free/experimental improvisation, and European classical music. In May 1998 he performed the complete solo piano works of Arnold Schonberg inToronto. Ramallah 23 october 20:00, Friends Girls School.

Film: Teaboy of Gaza

Raed al Hilou, 12 min., 1998, Arabic with English Subtitles Mohammad, who is forced to leave school because of the closure, becomes the Teaboy who doesn't know, even after returning to school, when the closure is off, if he will continue studying. No one knows how far is the next closure!! Ramallah, Thursday 21 October 19:00, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center.

Film: Calm Ships

Raed al Hilou, 25 min., 1997, Arabic with English Subtitles The film talks about a fisherman from Gaza who goes to Sea looking for a space to find his food, but even the sea is not open to him. Ramallah, Thursday 21 October 19:15, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center.

Film: Gaza Ghetto

John Mendel, 1984, 82 min., Arabic and English The film explores the very issues that caused the Intifada and continue at the heart of the conflict. Ramallah, Saturday 23 October 19:00, Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center.

Film: Sinbad is She

Palestine 1999, Dir. Azza El-Hassan, 30 min. doc.. Arabic with English subtitles "Sinbad is She" handles in a gentle and great cinematic art a very human story. It asks who is Sinbad the hero of One Thousand Nights to young women and men in Palestine today. After setting two different ways in which women and men dream and speak of Sinbad , the film starts by exploring how five people see their relationship with Sinbad today. These are Shereen, Hanaan and her twelve year old daughter Samah, Fareed and Tamer. By learning about their relationship with this fictional character we learn about how they see themselves and how they relate to the other sex. Ramallah, Sunday 10 October, 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Fadwa...A Tale of a Palestinian Poetess

Palestine 1999, Dir. Liana Badr, doc. Arabic with English subtitles The name of the eminent poet, Fadwa Tuqan, is linked to the name of her hometown Nablus. Generations of Palestinians have lived there, clinging to their dreams of independence. Fadwa has worked arduously to translate these dreams, pain and aspirations into poetry, marked by feminine eloquence. In the society that habitually silences women's voice, Fadwa has come to occupy a central role in literary circles. Ramallah, Saturday 09 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Romeo and Juliet

America 1997, Dir. Baz Luhrmann, 115 min., English Baz Luhrmann's dazzling and unconventional adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic love story is spellbinding. Leonardo Dicaprio and Claire Danes portray Romeo and Juliet, the youthful star-crossed lovers of the past. But the setting has been moved from its Elizabethan origins to futuristic urban backdrop of Verona beach. This brilliant and contemporary retelling of the world's most tragic love affair makes this wildly inventive 'Romeo & Juliet' unforgettable. Ramallah, Tuesday 05 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: The Battle of Algiers

France 1966, Dir. Gillo Pontecorov, 125 min. B& W. French with English subtitles Shot on location, and starring actual FLN rebels, "The Battle of Algiers" is one of the most viciously realistic films of all time. Initially banned by the French government, it quickly won wide acclaim; an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film and garnishing 11 international awards. Struggling to rid their country of French colonialism, Ali La Pointe and his terrorist group paint the streets of Casbah red with the blood of their enemies. Children shoot soldiers at point blank range. Women plant bombs in cafes. Soon the entire Arab population builds to mad fervor. French colonel Phillipe Mathieu, a highly decorated officer, is called upon to quash the uprising. But Algiers is on fire and the battle has just begun. Ramallah, Thursday 07 October & Tuesday 19 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Nusrat ! Live at Meany

This video illustrates Nusrat Ali Khan's masterful use of hand and facial gestures to convey meaning and generate excitement and participation from the audience. It also captures the great master at work, leading his outstanding eight-man ensemble and elevating each song to a state of unparalleled musical and spiritual intoxication. Nusrat live at Meany offers a rare opportunity to view the late master of Qawwali at his finest. Al-Bireh, Thursday 14 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Tierra

Spain 1996, Dir. Julio Medem, 118 min. Spanish with English subtitles Angel is a man with a very vivid imagination. Believing he is half man, half angel, he is governed by a voice that speaks to him from the cosmos. Arriving in a rural region of red earth hills, he has a professional mission to fumigate the district, ridding it of a plague of lice causing the local wine to taste earthy. He also hopes to resolve his split personality through two women he meets, Mari, a leather-clad teenage temptress and Angela, a shy and simple married women. But his feelings are further complicated by Patricio, Angela's husband who also happens to be Mari's lover. Angel tries desperately to keep body and soul together and his vivid imagination has to finally divide in two to choose between following the man or the Angel. Mari or Angela? Is he really connected to the cosmos or just insane? This film is suitable only for 18 years and over Al-Bireh, Monday 11 and Wednesday 27 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Das Leben ist eine Baustelle

Life is a Building Site Germany 1997, 113 min., 16 mm, German with English subtitles The film deals with young people, their half baked concepts of life and their constant reactions to the mischief and fragility of everyday situations. The scenes of building sites, which run through the story, are of symbolic value. The figures of the film still find it difficult to adapt themselves to their apparently inhospitable world. Wolfgang Becker's film portrays with a deep insight the sentiment of a young generation in the second half of the nineties. Al-Bireh, Sunday 17 and Tuesday 26 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Rossini

Germany 1997, 110 mins., 16 mm, German with English subtitles The film is a comedy combining different stories of some regular guests of a stylish restaurant in Munich called " Rossini". Although the stories are different, they are in a way connected to each other. Rossini is a film about relations between men and women, men and men, women and women, about love, passion, death etc. with melodramatic accents. Comedy and melodrama in "Rossini" confirm each other in the endeavor to take the figures seriously and at the same time to make fun of them. The German film critics as well as spectators took this film more seriously than any other German production of the last years.

Al-Bireh, Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 20 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Date Wine

Egypt , Dir. Radwan El-Kashef, 110 min., Arabic All the able men of a small Egyptian village migrate in search of wealth, except for Ahmad, on the threshold of adolescence, who insists on staying behind in the hope of fulfilling his dream of climbing "al-'alia", the tallest palm tree in the village. In the absence of the village men, however, the women quickly see Ahmad as the man of the village-a role he rejects and does his best to avoid. Nevertheless, he gradually accepts this gigantic responsibility. When the migrant men return to village, the village is thrown into turmoil. Al-Bireh, Wednesday 13 & Thursday 21 and Saturday 30 Oct19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Broken Wings

Lebanon, Dir. Yousef Malouf , 90 min. Arabic with English subtitles In "Broken Wings", Lebanese artist/poet Khalil Gibran reveals the same artistry and wisdom that have enshrined his name in the hearts of millions. With great sensitivity and lyricism, Gibran describes his youthful passion for his first love, Selma Karamy, the beautiful girl from Beirut. But theirs was a love doomed from the beginning: Social conventions and family tensions eventually force Selma to marry another man. Broken Wings is a film of great historical and artistic value. Al-Bireh, Sataurday 16 and Monday 25 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: The Dove's Lost Necklace

Tunisia 1991, Dir. Nacer Khemir, 90 min. English Set in Andalusia during the eleventh century this is the fairytale story of Hassan, a calligraphy student obsessed with love. Infatuated with the master calligrapher's daughter, Hassan enlists the aid of the local messenger boy, Zin, who frequently plays the go-between for the city's lovers. But when Zin becomes distracted and Hassan finds a fragment of an ancient love poem, Hassan embarks on a journey to find the original poem and the princess for whom it was written.

Al-Bireh, Monday 18 & Sunday 24 & 31 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: The Cyclist

Winner of the Golden R for Best Film at the Rimini Cinema International Film Festival Iran 1989, Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 75 min. Farsi with English subtitles Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf's early work is distinguished by its visual sophistication and treatment of contemporary social problems. Here, as in The Peddler, he embroiders his regular themes of man's exploration of man and the inequities between rich and poor. The cyclist of the title is Nassim, an Afghan refugee in need of money to pay for his wife's medical expenses. With work difficult to come by, a sleazy promoter suggests he undertake a bicycle marathon. Touting him as the Afghani superman, the huckster wagers that Nassim will circle a small area on the outskirts of town, day and night, for a week. Gamblers, bookies, and food vendors gather to watch the desperate cyclist from the sidelines, cynically turning his suffering to their own profit. Al-Bireh, Wednesday 06 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: Life and Nothing More

Winner of Roberto Rossellini prize at Cannes Film Festival Iran 1992, Dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 91 min. Farsi with English subtitles. This film represents Abbas Kiarostami's stunning inquiry into the aftermath of a devastating 1990 earthquake which killed some 50,000 people in Northern Iran. A father and son travel to the earthquake site and along the way meet earthquake survivors who desperately and valiantly work to reconstruct their lives. Al-Bireh, Wednesday 23 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.

Film: The Key

Winner of the award for best Children's Film Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival Iran 1986, Dir. Ebrahim Forouzesh, 76 min. Farsi with English subtitles. A charmingly suspenseful tale about a four-year- old and his toddler brother left home alone. When the smell of burnt food attracts a neighbor, it's up to Amir Mohammed to find the extra set of Keys to let her in. Tension mounts as the pot boils over dousing the flame on the gas range. Full of humor and psychological insight, The Key is written By Abbas Kiarostami (The White Balloon) Al-Bireh, Thursday 28 October 19:30, Popular Art Center.