Featuring Director Emily Jacir

OCAD University with TPFF presents an artist talk with Emily Jacir.

Emily Jacir is an internationally renowned Palestinian conceptual artist. Through her works, Jacir has brought the Palestinian narrative to the contemporary art world in the West. Many of her works represent the defiant existence of Palestinians under occupation.

Journalist Kaelen Wilson-Goldie has observed that “[t]he strength of Jacir’s work lies in her combination of opposites, seamlessly exchanging the sublime and the banal, the sentimental and the cynical, the spontaneous and the studious, the poetic and the political within a single piece.” Emily Jacir achieves her consistently groundbreaking work through a diverse range of media and strategies including film, photography, social interventions, installation, performance, video, writing and sound.

Jacir has shown extensively throughout Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East since 1994. Solo exhibitions include Beirut Art Center (2010), Guggenheim Museum, New York (2009), Kunstmuseum, St. Gallen (2008). Jacir participated in dOCUMENTA (13) (2012); the 51st (2005), 52nd (2007), 53rd (2009), 54th (2011) and 55th (2013) Biennale di Venezia; the 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006); Sharjah Biennale 7 (2005); and the 8th Istanbul Biennale (2003). Awards include a Golden Lion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); a Prince Claus Awards from the Prince Claus Fund in the Hague (2007); the Hugo Boss Prize at the Guggenheim Museum (2008); and the Alpert Award (2011) from the Herb Alpert Foundation. In addition to these awards, Jacir has two monographs devoted to her work and has served on prestigious international juries.

Co-presented by Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) University

Udi Aloni is an artist, writer and filmmaker , Omar Robert Hamilton is an independent filmmaker, producer , Richard Fung, TPFF advisor, film professor at OCADU and filmmaker

Film, video, art and theatre have played an important role in Middle Eastern revolutions and resistance of occupation. Join us as we explore with our esteemed guests the role art plays in societies struggling for change.

Omar Robert Hamilton is an independent filmmaker, producer of the Palestine Festival of Literature and a founding member of the Mosireen Collective in Cairo. Since 2011, Hamilton has made dozens of short documentaries on the Egyptian revolution, helping to make Mosireen the most watched non-profit YouTube channel in Egypt. His third fiction short, Though I Know the River is Dry, will screen at TPFF 2013 on Tuesday October 1 at 9pm with Khaled Jarrar's Infiltrators.

Udi Aloni is an artist, writer and filmmaker whose work focuses on the interrelationships between art, theory and action. His artworks and his films have been shown in various museums and festivals, including the Metropolitan Museum and the Berlin Film Festival. In 2009, he joined the Freedom Theatre in Jenin refugee camp. After the assassination of Juliano Mer-Khamis in 2011, he staged an Arabic adaptation of Waiting for Godot with Juliano's graduate students. Aloni's book, What Does a Jew Want?: On Binationalism and Other Specters, was published by Columbia University Press in 2011. His film Art/Violence will screen at TPFF 2013 on Monday September 30 at 9pm.

The panel will be moderated by Richard Fung, TPFF advisor, film professor at OCADU and filmmaker.

Special musical performance by: Dr. Radwan Taleb
by acclaimed executive chef of 93 Harbord, Isam Kaisi.

Join TPFF for our most exciting Palestinian Brunch yet! Our always popular brunch will be catered again by acclaimed executive chef of 93 Harbord, Isam Kaisi. We are thrilled to have been invited to host this year’s brunch at Kaisi’s brand new restaurant (College and Ossington). Guests will be some of the first people in Toronto to enjoy an array of delicious traditional Palestinian brunch dishes at the new location. Get your tickets early because this event always sells out fast every year. Please note the TPFF 10 Card cannot be used to purchase tickets to this event.

Special musical performance by: Dr. Radwan Taleb

Dr. Taleb was born in Damascus, Syria to a family that was musically inclined. His father played the Oud and violin, and at the age of 11, he was enrolled in the Arab Music Institute of Damascus. At the age of 18 he assembled his first band called Palmira. He relunctantly left music and entered into a career in pharmaceutical studies. However, in 2003, Dr. Taleb came to Canada and decided to pursue his passion for music and now teaches it professionally. He loves bringing Arab culture to the Canadian music scene and enjoys teaching his students.