NOVEMBER 19 - December 03, 2021
barbican cinemas | ica | curzon soho | soas
MULTIBILL: TODAY’S SHORTS
BETHLEHEM 2001 | AMBIENCE | THE PRESENT | SOLOMON'S STONE | MOONSCAPE
sunDAY 28 NOVEMBER | 15:00
CURZON SOHO, SHAFTESBURY AVENUE, W1D 5DY
All by Palestinian directors, this selection of short films give us glimpses of memories, thoughts and fears. Both surreal and based on actuality, the selection takes us in and out of the psyche of a society under occupation.
Bethlehem 2001
Ibrahim Handal | 2021 | 14’
A young Palestinian wanders between his current reflections and his childhood memories of the military invasion and siege of Bethlehem, trying to understand how his parents led him though that difficult time, hoping it would help him cope in present time.
Ambience
Wisam Al Jafari | 2019 | 15’
In the refugee camp, two young aspiring musicians need to record some music for a competition. But there is chaos and noise around them and with each try, they fail to capture the sound they need - so they must get creative. An exercise in sound invention, this short film is sound-tracked with a perfect cacophony of machinery, marches, and madness.
The Present
Farah Nabulsi | 2020 | 24’
BAFTA-winning, Oscar-nominated short film, The Present, made a splash on the British and Palestinian film industry with its two grand mentions. Shot in the infamous Checkpoint 300, Farah Nabulsi's short film puts a regular day in the West Bank on the international stage. On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping? The film stars the talented Saleh Bakri and Mariam Kanj as his daughter.
Solomon's Stone
Ramzi Maqdisi | 2015 | 24’
Hussein, a young man in Jerusalem, receives a request from the Israeli post office to appear in person to receive a package. Upon arrival, he is charged $20,000 to collect that package. His curiosity to find out what the package contains drives him to sell everything he owns, despite his mother's outright rejection. The matter continues to develop towards the absurd, changing their lives forever. Adapted from the novel Blue Light by Hussein Barghouty, this wacky comedy short is written and directed by veteran screen and theatre actor, Ramzi Maqdisi.
Moonscape
Mona Benyamin | 2020 | 17’
Moonscape takes the form of a music video for a ballad that traces the story of Dennis M. Hope. Having claimed ownership of the Moon in 1980, he founded the Lunar Embassy, a company that sells land on various planets and Moons. In the song, performed as a duet between a man and a woman (marvellously played by the director's parents), we see director's connection with Hope's story. The director, a young Palestinian woman living under the Israeli occupation, longs to end the misery of her people in any way possible. Skilfully combining the film noir style with found footage from the NASA archives and screenshots of email correspondences with Lunar Embassy, Benyamin inventively explores the relationship between hope, nostalgia and despair.