Yesterday night, the French-German Cultural Center in Ramallah screened a series of short films produced by youth in refugee camps throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The screening was held in coordination with venues in Nablus, Gaza City and Amman, Jordan to commemorate International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
The programme, entitled “Will We Meet?” had debuted in Jerusalem on June 20, 2010 in honor of World Refugee Day. However, due to the difficulty for most refugees to gain access to Jerusalem, there was a joint decision to screen the series again at a variety of locations in Palestine and Jordan.
Phillipe Guiguet Bologne, the director of the French Cultural Center in Ramallah, said, “For us it is important to celebrate refugee day and solidarity day with the work of youth from the camps.”
The films are a result of a collaborative project between UNRWA and Shashat, a Palestinian NGO that works with under-represented communities to teach and develop filmmaking. Together, Shashat and UNRWA implemented film-training workshops in refugee camps across the West Bank and Gaza.
Running through the series were recurrent themes of returning to the land and the torment of an exiled identity. With a wide range in tone, style and narrative, the seven-film series represents just a sampling of the strongest films that were produced by the students.
One of the most well received films of the series compiled a montage of archive images of refugees and the camps immediately preceding the war in 1948. These stills ran to the backdrop of a young girl speaking proudly of her grandfather’s unrelenting drive to return to his home. The black and white photographs show Palestinians resettling in overcrowded camps of tents and shacks made of metal sheets. The film concludes with a poignant scene of the young girl and her grandfather standing at the end of a path, in the middle of a vibrantly golden field, gazing down at his abandoned home; the grandfather instills in her to never give up the key to their home.
For many, Palestinian refugee camps are a standing symbol of the Diaspora that today represents 6-7 million Palestinians worldwide.
One audience member said he enjoyed this film the most because it emphasised how crucial it is that future generations retain the memory of their ancestors and preserve the fight for their rightful return. He told me that the montage film most powerfully illustrated this point, “This is the kind of culture we need for our kids: to remember and not give up the fight.”
Guiguet Bologne identified another film from Gaza titled, “Shoes,” as his favorite. The short piece featured shoes acting as marionettes, dancing to a stately and pompous tune. In what could only be described as an ironic juxtaposition—worn-down shoes being controlled by strings to look as though they are marching to the beat of grandiosity— Guiguet Bologne thought the film powerfully reflected the unique humor and spirit in Gaza.
Another audience member, Ahmed commented on the series as a whole, “It was so good to see films set in both Gaza and the West Bank, because it shows a unity that is not often reflected in the rest of political and cultural life. It’s often just shown as one place or the other.”
Written by Charlotte Silver.
Palestine Monitor
