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Chronicles of a Refugee Episode I – “The Nakba Dailies”
Directed by Perla Issa, Adam Shapiro and Aseel Mansour (USA, 2008, DigiBeta, 79min)
October 8, 2008 7:30 PM
Cantor Film Center, New York University, 36 East 8th Street, New York City
Setting up the historical framework for the series, The Nakba Dailies recounts the events of 1947-48 in Palestine as experienced by those who lived them and explores how the Palestinian refugee issue was created
Special guest speakers Pierre Dulaine, Dina Mikdadi & Adam Shapiro
Adam Shapiro is a documentary filmmaker, human rights activist and Palestinian rights activist. Currently he is filming a documentary on Palestinian refugees all over the world to be released in time for the 60th anniversary of al-Nakba. He is also working with a colleague in an independent effort to help find durable solutions for the Palestinian refugees of Iraq. He last served as Country Director in Afghanistan for the international human rights organization Global Rights. Adam is a Ph.D. candidate in International Relations at American University, and holds a MA in Politics from New York University and a MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. He is a founding member of InCounter Productions which produced the award-winning documentary film, 'About Baghdad' (Spring 2004). He has also directed and produced 'darfur diaries: message from home' (Fall 2005), 'becoming nadya' (short film, 2007) and is currently working on 'Kabul Dolls' (2009). His films have screened at film festivals all over the world and have been broadcast on television in the Middle East, Europe and the US. Adam is co-author of the book, "darfur diaries: stories of survival" (Nation Books). In Palestine, Adam was a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and lived and worked in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for three years. He serves on the Advisory Board of UMMA, and was named an Honorary Veteran for Peace in 2002.
Perla Issa is a documentary filmmaker and human rights activist based in Beirut, Lebanon. She has volunteered with the ISM in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and with Samidoun in Lebanon during the 2006 summer war. She has worked on the documentary series “Arabs and Terrorism” (2007), and has produced short films on displaced refugees from Nahr El-Bared. Perla has also volunteered teaching in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. She holds a MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University and a MA in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Perla is a Palestinian refugee.
Aseel Mansour is an award winning Palestinian filmmaker and photographer currently living and working in Dubai at Microsoft. He has directed and produced a number of short films and has been selected to attend international film institutes on account of his work. Aseel holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Jordan
Pierre Dulaine was born in Jaffa, Palestine in 1944. His Irish father was serving with the British Army stationed in Palestine; his mother is part Palestinian and part French. In 1948 his parents had to flee the troubles leaving their home behind for the creation of the state of Israel. After 8 months of wandering around first in Cyprus, then in England and Ireland, Pierre’s family settled in Amman, Jordan. Growing up in Amman, Pierre learned to speak French at school, Arabic on the street and English at home. In 1956, because of the problems in Egypt and the Suez Canal (see Suez Crisis), Pierre’s parents had to flee yet again, leaving everything behind. With a stop in Beirut the family resettled in Birmingham, England, where one year later at age 14, Pierre began his dancing career. Pierre is a well-known ballroom dancer and dance instructor. He invented the Dulaine method of teaching dance. He also developed Dancing Classrooms, a social development program for 5th grade children that uses ballroom dancing as a vehicle to change the lives of the children and their families, which was featured in the documentary film "Mad Hot Ballroom" (2005)
Dina Mikdadi was born in San Francisco. Her grandparents fled Palestine in 1948. Dina began her work as a student activist while completing her undergraduate studies at the University at Albany (SUNY). Dina now serves on the board of Students for Justice in Palestine at NYU, where she is pursuing her graduate studies in International Health Policy and Management. She has written on the US, Palestinian and Iraqi healthcare systems.
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