Palestinian movie night: Homage by Assassination (Elia Suleiman, 1992), Aisheen, Still Alive in Gaza (Nicolas Wadimoff, 2010)

By: börek - November 1st, 2023  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday 5 november 3023, Palestinian movie night: Homage by Assassination (Elia Suleiman, 1992), Aisheen, Still Alive in Gaza (Nicolas Wadimoff, 2010). Free admission. Doors opens at 20:00, films start at 20:30

Homage by Assassination – Short film by Elia Suleiman – 1992 – 23 minutes – Arabic with English subtitles
A Palestinian filmmaker is writing a script in his New York apartment during the first Gulf war. As much as he tries to shut himself off from the exterior world, images of past wars in the Middle East come back to haunt him.

Aisheen, Still alive in Gaza – Documentary by Nicolas Wadimoff – 86 minutes – 2010 – Arabic with English subtitles
Synopsis: « Where is the ghost town? », asks the little boy to the theme park attendant. « It’s there, right there. But it has been bombed… Do you want to see it? » It is with these words that the film, « Aisheen», begins – an impressionist journey through a devastated Gaza after the war. And the ghost town? Gaza is the ghost town.
Clowns that try to make children forget the bombing, armed with rubber balloons; a beached whale, “as big as a building” that feeds the fantasy; a scrawny, stuffed lion, bizarrely hanging in a cage at a zoo as if it were a trophy. A woman, at the side of the road, who has already been waiting for three weeks for a petrol delivery…
“Aisheen” (Still alive in Gaza) tells the story about the wait after the disaster. The wait for a better future inside the biggest prison in the world.
Through encounters in these otherwise ordinary places (but places that, here, take on another meaning), the film portrays a different Gaza. Poetic, surreal at times. “Aisheen” is a tribute to life…
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/240881521

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

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It Must Be Heaven (Elia Suleiman, 2019)

By: börek - October 25th, 2021  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday 31 october 2021, It Must Be Heaven (Elia Suleiman, 2019) 97 minutes, with English subtitles. Free admission. Doors open at 20:00, film starts at 20:30

The film, which stars Suleiman, follows him as he goes from Paris to New York in a semi-autobiographical tale of a Palestinian man seeking a new homeland, only to find similarities with his homeland wherever he goes.
The jury (from the Cannes film festival) said in a statement: “In a subtle, stylistically strong and humorous way, this film tells a story that goes beyond politics, religions, authorities and cultural differences. Even though those differences are observed with a sharp eye for the absurd that slides through hypocrisy and are delivered with great cinematic and often surprising choreographies.”

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

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The Time That Remains (Elia Suleiman, 2009)

By: börek - July 1st, 2019  Filed under: Filmavond


Sunday July 14th 2019, Movie night: The Time That Remains (Elia Suleiman, 2009). 109 minutes. In Hebrew, Arabic and English with English subtitles. Doors open at 20:00, Film starts 20:30.

Elia Suleiman about his film: The Time That Remains is a semi-autobiographical film, in four episodes, about a family, my family, from 1948 until recent times. The film is inspired by my father’s private diaries, starting from when he was a resistance fighter in 1948, and by my mother’s letters to family members who were forced to leave the country. Combined with my intimate memories of them and with them, the film attempts to portray the daily life of those Palestinians who remained and were labeled “Israeli-Arabs”, living as a minority in their own homeland. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/32169756

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net

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Palestinian Film: Chronicle of Disappearance (Elia Suleiman, 1996)

By: börek - December 3rd, 2018  Filed under: Filmavond

Sunday 23 December 2018, Palestinian Film: Chronicle of Disappearance (Elia Suleiman, 1996). 88 minutes. In Arabic with English subtitles. Doors open at 20:00, Film starts 20:30.

After spending more than a decade in New York, Palestinian director Elia Suleiman returned to his homeland in 1992 to make his first feature film. Chronicle of a Disappearance is an extended meditation of the contemporary life of Palestinians in “the Holy Land.” Elders recount absurdly funny tales and jokes; Russian emigres talk about tourism’s ravaging of the country; tourists pontificate about Israeli politics; and a young Palestinian actress struggles to find an apartment, while Suleiman, himself a character, tries to figure out what kind of film he should make. Suleiman weaves these narratives together with extraordinary irony and grace.

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net

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Movie night: Divine Intervention (Elia Suleiman, 2002)

By: börek - January 8th, 2017  Filed under: Filmavond

divine_intervention_elia_suleimanSunday January 15th 2017, Movie night: Divine Intervention by Elia Suleiman, 2002, 92 minutes, in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begin at 9pm. Free admission.

When Elia Suleiman’s “Chronicle of a Disappearance” hit the festival circuit in 1996 and 1997, it was a real revelation. The Palestinian director touched on the frustration of being an Arab in Israel, maintaining a strong sense of humor. Rather than agitprop, he made a witty, semi-autobiographical comedy, reminiscent of Jim Jarmusch’s “Stranger Than Paradise” and Jacques Tati. Using himself as a silent protagonist named E.S., Suleiman treated the film as a fictional diary. In many ways, “Divine Intervention” is a close follow-up to “Chronicle of a Disappearance.” Once again, Suleiman stars and remains silent. He plays a filmmaker struggling to write a script, inspired by his experiences. It also begins in his birthplace, Nazareth, and ends in Jerusalem. However, “Divine Intervention” is likely to be far more controversial than “Chronicle.” That film’s gentle tone and ironic ending were taken by some viewers as signs of acquiescence; on the other hand, the violent revenge fantasies of “Divine Intervention” are in danger of being taken literally.

Synopsis – Nazareth, birthplace of the Christian carpenter is also a Palestinian enclave inside Israel. Under the cover of a seemingly banal everyday life, the city is becoming overwhelmed by madness. An old man, a father, breaks down under the pressure of a decaying business. The son, a Palestinian from Jerusalem, is in love with a Palestinian woman from Ramala. Torn between his sick father and his love, he is trying to keep them both alive. Due to the political situation, the freedom of movement for women ends at the Israel Defence Forces checkpoint between the two cities. As the lovers cannot cross the border together they start meeting each other at an abandoned parking lot right at the checkpoint. They cannot free themselves from the clutches of occupation. Their intimacy is fatally marked with the military siege. Lonesome yearnings begin to produce violent retaliations, angry hearts beat with the spasm of imaginary getaways.
trailer: https://vimeo.com/8623241

Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Doors open at 8pm, film begins at 9pm, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net

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