Film Works for Palestine is a three-day parallel program providing dedicated space to film workers and film lovers committed to the global struggle for Palestinian liberation.
Presented by Filmworkers for Palestine, Toronto Palestine Film Festival, Palestine Film Institute, and Film Students 4 Palestine.
Thursday, September 5, 7pm (doors 6:30)
Gaza Lives: Honouring Palestinian Artists and Writers
Please join TPFF and special guests on September 5th for a re-staging of Gaza Lives: Honouring Palestinian Artists & Writers. Our special guests from Toronto’s diverse arts community will help us share a selection of works from Palestinian artists we’ve lost - we will be reading their words, admiring their paintings and listening to music that may have inspired them. We will carry forward their aspirations to tell the stories of Gaza through their works.
Presenters include: Sofia Bogdanowicz, Deragh Campbell, Kaz Radwanzki, Helen Lee, Ibrahim Abusitta, Roula Said, Serene Husni, Amar Wala, Robyn Maynard, Emma Seligman
Click here to register (seats first come first served)
Saturday, September 7, 7pm
Searching For Solidarity (Screening)
Program
‘I Signed the Petition’ (Mahdi Fleifel, 2018) 11min
A conversation between two friends about the effectiveness and implications of publicly supporting the cultural boycott of Israel. One friend is wracked with worry having signed a petition asking Radiohead not to play Tel Aviv, the other is more sanguine. Their conversation offers a glimpse of what it is to be a Palestinian in today's world.
CR: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8150762/
‘Kings and Extras: Digging for the Palestinian Image’ (Azza El-Hassan, 2004) 64 min
The films of the PLO Media Unit were supposed to show a self-determined image of Palestinian reality – and they went missing during the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982. In a “road-movie” from Palestine to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, the director Azza El-Hassan follows the contradicting and confusing clues as to the whereabouts of the lost archive. The increasingly absurd search finally leads her to a martyr’s graveyard, where the films are said to be buried and where, for obvious reasons, no one is willing to dig. While Azza’s search for lost images leads her down various dead ends, she is confronted with new clues and starts to construct her own story. The film reflects the situation in the Middle East – a failed revolution, the problematic relationship with the Arab neighbours, the question of a Palestinian identity today. Azza El-Hassan shows myths, life stories and life lies, the personal effects of defeat and loss. She even brings some humour to the tragedy of the situation – to which she simultaneously feels a sense of belonging and opposition.
CR: https://www.palestinefilminstitute.org/en/pfp/archive/kings-and-extras
Click here to register (first come first serve)
Sunday, September 8, 3pm
Palestinian Film Institute Project Showcase + Mixer and 'Development to Distribution' Panel
3pm: An industry showcase of seven works-in-progress Palestinian films, allowing Palestinian filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their feature-length documentary projects to decision-makers, festival programmers, co-producers and potential collaborators, and general audiences, providing a platform for directors and producers to engage with the global film community, attend industry events and in the long term get their films made, and seen.
4:30pm Social hour + Mixer
5:30pm [Panel] Palestinian Cinema, From Development to Distribution, with Munir Atalla (Watermelon Pictures), Hamza Ali (Watermelon Pictures), Salma Abu Ayyash (Palestine Film Institute), Razi Jafri (Independent FIlmmaker), moderated by Devika Girish.
Click here to register