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Crossing
Kalandia by Sobhi al-Zobeidi (Palestine,
2002, 50 minutes, BetaSP)
Synopsis:
In
a casual, video-diary style, Sobhi al-Zobeidi records a year in
the life of Palestinians living in the West Bank through the daily
routine at the Kalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
Recording the humiliations and the violence of segregation during
the second Intifada, the roving camera takes in the tragedies and
altercations, the tedium of curfews and the rare moments of freedom,
like driving without stopping. What emerges is an intimate, graceful
portrait of average Palestinians who withstand daily suffering,
yet are dedicated to preserving their dignity and the simple pleasures
of daily life.
In Arabic with English subtitles.
Post-screening
panel discussion with filmmaker Nadine
Shamounki, Charles Anderson (NYU) and Joseph Massad
(Columbia University)
Biography:
After
studying at New York University, Sobhi al-Zobeidi returned to Palestine
where he created, in 1998, a production company, ReFugee Camp Productions.
Since then, he has directed and produced several documentaries and
"docu-fictions" dealing with Israeli-Palestinian realities,
including My Very Private Map (1998), Ali, His Friend And Their
Wishes (1999), and Light At The End Of The Tunnel (2000). In 1999
he also devised Deep Shit, a multimedia installation depicting a
street in the camp in al-Jalazone. Crossing Kalandia came about
from a vital need to film: "During the Israeli strikes, I was
clinging onto my camera like a lifebelt. And most of the time it
was not to film the big event, but my little world, the two people
I love most, my wife and my child. I filmed to overcome my fear
of losing them..."
Festivals
& Awards:
Locarno
Film Festival, Best Asian Film, 2002
Palestinian Film Festival at Columbian University, New York, 2003
Göteborg Film Festival, 2002
6th Annual Arab Film Festival, San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose,
2002
Copenhagen Film Festival, 2003
Singapore Film Festival, 2003
Sarajevo Film Festival, 2003
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