The Occupation Will Still Be Televised
The 2nd Annual Canada-Palestine Film Festival
Ryan Hladun, Volunteer Staff
Courtesy of Jarmaq Films.
This time last year, all of Winnipeg’s major media outlets gave attention to a small protest over at the Cinematheque. The reason for the protest was the inaugural Canada-Palestine Film Festival. The festival’s aim was to shed light on the plight of Palestine. It was allegedly one-sided and, of course, the protestors weren’t shy about saying so.
But, as the saying goes, “any publicity is good publicity.” Interest was generated and money was made. Enough to warrant another go-around anyway, with the hope that the interest would carry over.
Yet, what a difference a year makes. Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s “road map to peace” was marred by suicide bombings and retaliatory military incursions (or vice versa, depending on which way you look at it). Hot news for heated discussion, for sure. Then the event that some say changed everything happened. After months of being holed up in his compound, Yassar Arafat died, and a new Palestinian authority leader was named. Recently, the Israeli flag was lowered over Gaza, signifying the end of a 38-year occupation.
So, certainly, one could now argue against the relevance of a festival dedicated to the defence of the Palestinian struggle against occupation, with images of Israeli soldiers packing up and heading home plastered all over the media lately. One could also argue that there are pullout skeptics on both sides. The occupation is still very real in other areas, and the festival aims to shed light on this.
I would argue: screw that. A film festival is about the celebration of great films. Put politics aside. The festival should be shedding light on a budding film industry that’s nearly non-existent outside of the Middle East.
With films like Women in Struggle and The Olive Harvest, this industry deserves some recognition, and The Occupation Will Still Be Televised is key in exhibiting a wide range of talents from the region.
Women in Struggle is the gripping testimonial of four women who survived hell in an Israeli detention camp. We often hear about why young men decide to end it all with a suicide bomb — but rarely the women. This film explores the enigmatic reasons why these seemingly harmless women — mothers, sisters and daughters — would risk imprisonment by carrying out violence in the name of their political views. It also looks at how they plan to reintegrate back into a society they must accept.
While the film’s style doesn’t offer anything new, its value is in the people behind it, namely the woman director Buthina Canaan Khoury. Khoury captures the lives of these women and their environment with great precision, as well as the women themselves who risk everything — reputation and safety — to get their story told.
The Olive Harvest takes as much from European filmmaking as it does from Palestinian culture. And the story is very American, which makes for a satisfying combination. The film tells the story of two Palestinian brothers, — one of which has just been released from a prison camp, — who fall in love with the same woman. Not a terribly new concept, save for the prison camp angle.
But the film delivers a great sense of Palestinian culture, and of normalcy in Palestinian life, even though the backdrop of military occupation is clearly evident. The brothers’ family has an olive harvest. They sing and dance and celebrate. It’s an uplifting film, as opposed to being depressing, as it would have been if it had focused on political struggle.
The cinematography is this film’s greatest attribute. The writer-director Hanna Latif Elias (also a woman) reveals a remarkable command of the vast landscape, which is sometimes harsh, like in the sun-engulfed dessert, or beautiful, like in the lush green valleys.
Other films in the second annual Canada-Palestine Film Festival include Writers on Boarders, where several of the world’s intellectuals weigh in on the Middle East conflict after having visited there, and On the Objection Front, a documentary exploring a group of Israeli soldiers who chose to leave the army rather than enforce the law in occupied areas.
The Occupation Will Still Be Televised runs from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 at Cinematheque.
