Days of Cinema 2017: Reviving Film in Palestine
Four Oscar-nominated films will be screened next week in the occupied Palestinian territories
Opening Ceremony: Tuesday, October 17 at 7 pm at the Ramallah Cultural Palace
This year Days of Cinema, will be screening 65 international and Palestinian fiction, documentary, short and kids’ films between October 17-23 in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus and Gaza. A record number of four Oscars-nominated films will be shown: Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s will be present to show her celebrated Wajib (opening film, “avant premiere”); Lebanese director Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult (closing film) starring Palestinian actor Kamel El Basha; Tempestad by Mexican director Tatiana Huezo; and The Last of Us by Tunisian director Alaeddine Slim.
For the second time, the Sunbird Awards for short narrative and feature-length documentary films will promote Palestinian talent. For the first time, one short film project will receive the Sunbird Production Award, enabling the winner to do post-production at Aarhus Film Workshop in Denmark. The winning film will be distributed by MAD Solutions (Egypt). Five documentary films and nine short films have been selected.
New this year will be Palestine Film Meetings (PFM), a one-of-a-kind networking platform for international and Palestinian film professionals attending Days of Cinema. PFM Talks aims at covering significant topics related to the film industry. PFM guests include Palestinian and international filmmakers, producers, distributors, and festival programmers, from institutions such as the Danish Film Institute, Doha Film Institute, Venice Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Festival Ciné-Palestine, MOOOV, Torino Film Lab, and the British Council. PFM will take place October 19-21.
Other titles in the lineup include the documentary film Gaza Surf Club by Philip Gnadt and Mickey Yamine; Ken Loach’s Golden Palm-winning social drama I, Daniel Blake; Hedi by Mohamed Ben Attia; Mahbas by Sophie Boutros; Ouroboros by Basma Alsharif; and In the Last Days of the City by Tamer El Said.
Days of Cinema is the only international, competitive film festival of this magnitude in the occupied Palestinian territories, and PFM the only industry platform aiming at providing local filmmakers with support and network opportunities.
Days of Cinema is an annual event organized by Ramallah-based Filmlab: Palestine. It includes film screenings for adults and children, panel discussions, and networking opportunities, and aims to revive Palestine’s long but interrupted tradition of cinema.
All screenings and activities are free of charge.
If you have any questions or would like to arrange an interview with one of the filmmakers or organizers, please contact Ms. Khulood Badawi, Spokesperson of Days of Cinema: media@flp.ps
Social Media: @filmlabpalestine #daysofcinema - facebook.com/daysofcinema