Art is a powerful form of storytelling, changemaking, visioning and resistance. It has always been an integral part of Palestinian society and movements to express our narratives. Yet, despite Palestinian art increasingly being programmed on screens and in galleries, attacks on  Palestinian or allied artists for their public support for Palestinian human rights persist across North America and Europe.  Palestinians and their allies are naming these incidents as anti-Palestinian racism; and are more often using an anti-racism lens to challenge attempts to silence, erase, exclude, dehumanize Palestinians in the public sphere. 

This panel will discuss the manifestation of anti-Palestinian racism in the arts and its impacts on both artists and community. It will also explore lessons learned from experiences of anti-Palestinian racism and actions that build solidarity within the arts community.  

Speakers

Amany Khalifa, feminist activist, member of The Question of Funding collective  

Amany Khalifa is a feminist activist, organizer, and researcher. She is part of the collective Question of Funding (QoF). Amany holds a BA in social work and a master's in Cultural Studies. Currently, she is pursuing her MA in Performance Studies at NYU.

Rehab Nazzal, artist and filmmaker

Rehab Nazzal is a Palestinian-born multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Canada. Her work deals with the effect of settler colonial violence on the bodies and minds of colonized peoples and on the land and other non-human life. Nazzal’s video, photography, and sound works have been exhibited across Canada and internationally in both solo and group exhibitions. Nazzal holds a PhD in Art and Visual Culture from Western University (London, Ontario). 

Dania Majid, lawyer and festival programmer

Dania Majid is the co-founder and president of the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association and is the lead author of ACLA’s 2022 report “Anti-Palestinian Racism: Naming, Framing and Manifestations.” Dania is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Toronto Palestine Film Festival; and she sits on the steering committee for the Hearing Palestine program at the University of Toronto. In addition to being a long-time advocate for the Palestinian and Arab community, Dania is also a human rights lawyer and housing advocate with a legal aid clinic in Ontario.

The panel will be moderated by Lubna Taha, writer, curator, research.

Lubna Taha is a Palestinian art writer, curator and a researcher in the field of Cultural Studies. Her studies are focused on the cinema of the Palestinian revolution, music education in occupied Palestine and community projects based on escaped letters written by Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons. She also has worked for cultural organizations in Palestine and in Canada including Khalil Sakakini cultural center in Ramallah, the Palestinian Art Court in Jerusalem, and the Isabel Bader Center in Kingston. In Kingston, Lubna is collaborating with local artist Don Maynard and assisted in the Sky Project and in Aqua Nova collective. She is now working on here first curatorial debut with the Canadian/ Portuguese artist Fernando Monte.

Sahtain! Take a culinary trip through Palestine's traditional breakfast cuisine and enjoy a wide array of delicious dishes with our very welcoming TPFF community. Join us on Sunday, September 25 for our always popular Sahtain! Brunch at Petra Restaurant. Worth the trip to Mississauga!

Tickets are selling fast! Get your tickets as soon as possible to guarantee admission.

Vegetarian friendly.

Sahtain! Brunch is generously sponsored by Petra Restaurant.

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Providing the inspiration for ‘Migrant Birds’, the recent album from TootArd, the band’s new sound is a captivating and nostalgia-inspired homage to the era of synthed-out Arabic disco pop. While inspired by the pioneering musicians that electrified contemporary Arabic music with synthesizers and electric guitars, the 80s, with glittering, carefree vibe may be the catalyst, but the real roots of the music run deeper.

Under the beats and the joy, there’s a dark contrast, a sorrow that casts its shadow across the lyrics. Yet, the solemnity also creates a melancholic feeling to soothe boiling emotions, sad love songs that facilitate one's' understanding of the struggle. Notably, it’s also a strong and intriguing departure from the band’s iconic guitar-driven desert blues and mountain reggae iconised in their 2019 Glitterbeat release ‘Laissez Passer’.

The album’s core is based on a simple idea – freedom; the freedom to be a Migrant Bird that can fly away. But perhaps that’s a tough feat for people who remain officially “undefined” and stateless. Those who are born in the occupied Golan Heights – like the Nakhleh brothers – have no passport, a situation that has existed since the late 1960’s when Israel occupied the region.

While proudly rooted in the Middle East, Migrant Birds has become an infectious and globally accessible sound. The Nakhleh brothers hope that one day, TootArd will be free to fly away wher ever they choose. Until then, though, the Migrant Birds can fill the dancefloors.

Keep up with TootArd

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Community Partner

Co-Presented By

On a burning planet, foraging and maintaining relationships of reciprocity with neighbours, friends, flora, fungi, and bacteria may be our only way through. Nurturing kinship with “invasive” plants growing in degraded lands, vacant lots and unexpected alleyways offers important lessons toward integrating the natural world in “unnatural” settings.

As part of Ishtar’s Network of Feral Gardens this year, SAVAC commissioned Meech Boakye and Christina Kingsbury’s “Transplant Field Guide”. This text provides insight on a number of species deemed “invasive” across Turtle Island, and provides alternative modes of knowing, understanding, and being in relation to them. Guided by Boakye and Kingsbury’s Field Guide, we will consider what forms of life exist in spaces which we otherwise view as barren, form relationships with them, learn from them, and reciprocate with gratitude and curiosity.

TPFF thanks the South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC) for their colloberation and sharing their exhibition with TPFF audiences.

Graphic novels are a popular form of storytelling - especially with youth fiction.  The series of expressive images are both art and story, which enthralls readers.  Curious about how comics can tell your own story?  TPFF invites our youth audience to join us for this free workshop to learn about great comics by Palestinians followed up by a zine-making lesson.  The workshop will be led by graphic novellist Nadia Shammas, author of Ms. Marvel comics among her many other works. 

Please use the registration link to register for one of the limited spots.  Priority will be given to registered youth participants - unclaimed spots will be opened to general audience.  Parents of younger participants should accompany children that may require assistance.

Filmmaker Ahmad Saleh has moved audiences around the world with his stunning stop-motion animated films.  These beautiful creations are the result of pain-staking techniques he uses to bring shapes to life, and characters we fall in love with.  TPFF is pleased to take audiences behind the scenes with Ahmad who will share how he turns his imagination into award-winning film. The conversation will be live online and all ages are welcome to join. A Q&A with Ahmad will follow. 

Ahmad’s latest film Layl (Night) will be screening in theatre and online on Saturday September 24 at 4pm with feature film Foragers. 

Ahmad Saleh is an Academy Award-winning writer, director, and art director. His unique storytelling voice is inspired by his engineering studies in the West Bank. Winning a young writers award in Palestine encouraged Ahmad to leave engineering and pursue a career in filmmaking instead. His debut film, ‘House’ (2012), came runner up in the German Short Film Awards, and his second film, ‘Ayny’ (2016), won a Golden Medal at the Student Academy Awards. His third short film is ‘Night’, had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival.

TPFF is proud to host the book launch for Her First Palestinian by Saaed Teebi. The book is a collection of elegant, surprising short stories about Palestinian immigrants in Canada navigating their identities in circumstances that push them to the emotional brink.  Saeed will be doing readings from the book as part of his conversation with Huda Hassan. We are also pleased to announce there will be a book signing after the event.  Please order your copy of the book in advance using the registration link. This is event is organized jointly with our literary partners Another Story Book Shop. 

Her First Palestinian

Saeed Teebi’s intense, engrossing stories plunge into the lives of characters grappling with their experiences as Palestinian immigrants to Canada. A doctor teaches his girlfriend about his country, only for her to fall into a consuming obsession with the Middle East conflict. A math professor risks his family’s destruction by slandering the king of a despotic, oil-rich country. A university student invents an imaginary girlfriend to fit in with his callous, womanizing roommates. A lawyer takes on the impossible mission of becoming a body smuggler. A lonely widower travels to Russia in search of a movie starlet he met in his youth in historical Jaffa. A refugee who escaped violent circumstances rebels against the kindness of his sponsor. These taut and compelling stories engage the immigrant experience and reflect the Palestinian diaspora with grace and insight.

About the Author

Saaed Teebi is a writer and lawyer based in Toronto. His story "Her First Palestinian" was shortlisted for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize. He was born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait and, after spending time in Connecticut and California, has lived in Canada since 1993.

About the Moderator

Huda Hassan is a writer and cultural critic. She writes about art, culture, and power as a columnist for CBC Arts. She is a juror for Polaris Music Prize and SOCAN Songwriting Prize.

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