10th London Palestine Film Festival
Celebrating its 10th year (and 5th here at the Barbican), The London Palestine Film Festival returns with another selection of vital documentary, fiction, art, and animation work related to the question of Palestine.
Every year the Festival presents new as well as rarely seen archive films from across the world, and includes a rich series of panel discussions and Q&A sessions tackling both the films themselves and the many important and topical issues they raise.
Special highlights of the 2009 programme are the UK premiere of renowned Japanese photojournalist Ryuichi Hirokawa’s extraordinary personal/political journey, Palestine 1948: Nakba, with Hirokawa in attendance; screenings of new and award-winning Palestinian feature dramas from Annemarie Jacir (The Salt of This Sea) and Rashid Mashrawi (Laila’s Birthday), both with directors in attendance; and special thematic sessions on south Lebanon, Palestinian refugee youth culture, and the political thought of Edward Said.
Amongst the many striking new documentaries screening are the UK premieres of veteran Gaza filmmaker Abdelsalam Shehadeh’s For My Father, with Shehadeh in attendance, and Nasri Hajjaj’s Shadow of Absence.
Following the week of screenings at the Barbican, the Festival continues for an additional week at SOAS, University of London.
Programmed by the Palestine Film Foundation. See www.palestinefilm.org for more details.
Laila’s Birthday (12A*)
While always entertaining, Laila’s Birthday manages to expose and confront many of the most serious issues facing Palestinians today
24 – 25 Apr 09 / 19:30, 18:15 / Cinema 1 / Cinema 3
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The View + Divine Intervention (15)
16:00 / Passionate and surreal depiction of the political and human situation in Palestine
25 Apr 09 / 16:00 / Cinema 3
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To My Father (12*) – UK Premier + Story reading by John Berger
20:30 / Poetic and mesmerizing homage to the studio photographers of the 1950’s – 70’s
25 Apr 09 / 20:30 / Cinema 3
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Nakba: Palestine 1948 (15*) – UK Premier + Panel discussion
17:00 / The incredible film masterfully assembled from hundreds of hours of documentation
26 Apr 09 / 17:00 / Cinema 1
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Sedition + Palestine Remembered + Introduction to the End of an Argument… (15*)
20:30 / Triple bill of grounbreaking and experimental films
26 Apr 09 / 20:15 / Cinema 3
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R-Existence + Smile! You Are in South Lebanon (12A*)
18:30 / Lebanon Double Bill
27 Apr 09 / 18:30 / Cinema 3
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Shadow of Absence (15)
20:45 / An absorbing documentary exploring the anxiety of Palestinian exile through an interrogation of relationships between place, home, and death
27 Apr 09 / 20:45 / Cinema 3
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State of Siege (État de Siege) (15)
18:15 / A perfect balance between serious political cinema and absorbing story-telling
28 Apr 09 / 18:15 / Cinema 3
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Open Heart + This Way Up (12A)
18:30 / Sensual and memorable views on humanitarian issues
29 Apr 09 / 18:30 / Cinema 3
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A Space Exodus + Friendship’s Death (15*)
20:30 / Double Bill of thought-provoking films
29 Apr 09 / 20:30 / Cinema 3
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House Salad (Salata Baladi) (12A)
18:30 / A glimpse into one family’s fairy tales and history of mixed marriages
30 Apr 09 / 18:30 / Cinema 3
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Salt of this Sea (PG)
20:45 / Prize-winning debut feature-length work that premiered at Cannes last year to critical acclaim
30 Apr 09 / 20:30 / Cinema 3
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