FilmLab: Palestine is ready to launch the second edition of Days of Cinema in Palestine. The event, which will take place from October 12 to 20, is the biggest of its kind in Palestine, featuring 60 films from across the globe.
Days of Cinema is an international event with strong local roots. International directors, producers, and cinema experts will join FilmLab: Palestine in putting the spotlight on Palestinian independent cinema as an essential part of developing the Palestinian cultural sector.
Hanna Atallah, artistic director and founder of FilmLab: Palestine, offers this description: “Days of Cinema is a unique event with the capacity to bridge international outlook and local impact, it aims to bring the world to Palestine and opens a new window on the world for the Palestinian audience.”
A film industry in, from, and for Palestine
The opening film of Days of Cinema is Palestine’s own Dégradé, by Arab and Tarzan Nasser from Gaza, which premiered at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival. Days of Cinema will also close with a Palestinian film, namely, Love, Theft and Other Entanglements by Muayad Alayan, which was premiered at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. Further, a number of Palestinian films exclusive to Days of Cinema will be screened.
Days of Cinema is bringing an excellent selection of Palestinian and global independent cinema to the Palestinian audience. Through this year’s program, a special focus will be placed on Nordic films, and the program will also create a Berlinale Spotlight, in partnership with the World Cinema Fund and the Goethe-Institut.
But Days of Cinema is more than film screenings. This year, Ramallah Doc, an annual pitching session for Palestinian filmmakers, will convene during the Days of Cinema program to expose Palestinian film projects to regional and international producers. The aim is to support talented Palestinian filmmakers in transforming their projects into reality.
Just as Days of Cinema is not only about film screenings, FilmLab: Palestine is not only about Days of Cinema. In the absence of a national framework to support the Palestinian film industry, FilmLab: Palestine hopes to contribute to building more of an infrastructure for local filmmakers. In this way, Days of Cinema is part of a wider program, emphasizing the importance of a vibrant film industry and cinema culture to support the development of the creative and cultural sector in Palestine.
FilmLab: Palestine is a young organization. Established in Ramallah in 2014, it was launched through the first edition of Days of Cinema in December 2014. The FilmLab is working in four strategic areas to support the local film industry: to equip and make space available for both young and experienced filmmakers; to develop Palestine’s talent base by organizing training sessions and workshops; to increase the volume of Palestinian film production by creating co-production and funding options; and finally – with Days of Cinema as the main initiative so far – to contribute to a more esthetic and critical cinema culture in Palestine.
As part of the talent development program, the FilmLab will organize a script-writing workshop this autumn for filmmakers. More details will be published very soon.
Bigger than before
Days of Cinema took place for the first time in 2014 in Ramallah and Jenin. Meanwhile, the event has grown, and this year films will be screened in Ramallah, Jenin, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, Haifa, and Gaza. Sixty films from around the globe will be screened – from Uganda, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Lithuania, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, Denmark, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Cuba, Argentina, UK – and of course, Palestine.
In the periphery of the film program, a number of workshops and panels will be offered through the participation of the World Cinema Fund, the Danish Film Institute, and NAAS network, among others. Discussion topics include Archive Reproduction, Independent Cinema, The Status of Palestinian Movie Theatres, Cinema Critique, and Cinema Productions for Children.
A new feature this year is a special program for children. A number of children’s films, translated into Arabic, are on the program, alongside teachers’ workshops for children. The focus on children is something that FilmLab: Palestine wishes to develop further in the coming years, including the introduction of an audio-visual summer camp for children.
The Days of Cinema program will soon be available online at www.filmlabpalestine.com.
