April 2012 1. Theatrical Release: The Turtle’s Rage by Pary El-Qalqili
2. Regional Focus: The Arab World at the International Women’s Film Festival Dortmund | Cologne
3. Publications: Funding Guide for Arab Documentary Producers; The Revolution before the Revolution. Three Arab Women Film Makers
4. Events
5. DVD of the month: LESH SABREEN? by Muayad Alayan (Palestine)
----------------------------------- 1. Theatrical Release: The Turtle’s Rage by Pary El-Qalqili
mec film is proud to announce the German theatrical release of Pary El-Qalqili’s THE TURTLE’S RAGE on May 10th, 2012. The film will have it’s World Premiere at Vision du Réel International Documentary Film Festival in Nyon and further screenings the international Women’s Film Festival Dortmund | Cologne, DOK.Fest Munich and Achtung Berlin! Award before the theatrical opening. Content
When I was 12 years old my father left us to return to Palestine. His dream to build a house and pursue the fight for freedom in Palestine failed. He was expelled by the Israelis. suddenly he was back in Berlin, ringing at our front door. My mother looked at him, did not say a word and let him in. Now he spends his days sitting in the cellar of our small row house. Withdrawn in his turtle shell. My mother lives upstairs. They are not fighting anymore. They try not to cross each other´s path. Not a sound is to be heard. Only the creaking steps of my mother on the stairs. The whirr of the television. And my nagging questions to my father.
The Turtle´s Rage tells the story of a mysterious man, whose life has been molded by flight, expulsion, life in exile and the failed return to Palestine. A torn biography which was affected tremendously by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The film is composed of a daughter’s search for answers from her father. Answers he cannot give.
A road movie crossing Egypt, Palestine and Jordan. Father and daughter: Fighting at the airport. Singing with the cab drivers. Lonely nights in hotels. Negotiations at abandoned gas stations. Drinking beer in the Naqab-desert. A story traversed by many nuances, which makes it nearly impossible to think in categories like ‘good and bad’, ‘victim and offender’ or ‘black and white’.
Germany 2012, 70 min, digital, German/Arabic
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-------------------------------- 2. Regional Focus: The Arab World at the International Women’s Film Festival Dortmund | Cologne (17.-22.4.2012)
What’s going on? Country Focus: the Arab World; curated by Irit Neidhardt (mec film/Guest Curator), Betty Schiel, Sonja Hofmann (IWFF)
The Country Focus section at the film festival acts as a showcase for the cinematic oeuvre of women directors working in a given region. A year after the Arab Spring, the festival is pleased to organise an encounter with women film-makers based in North Africa and the Middle East whose films were made before the actual uprisings. The women's multi-layered and imaginative analyses of their societies from within offer an intriguing look at areas of conflict and levels of contradiction in the Arab world. What stories do the Arab film-makers have to tell and what are the female characters like?
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-------------------------------- 3. Publications
On behalf of DOCmed in Beirut Irit Neidhardt compiled a FUNDING GUIDE FOR ARAB DOCUMENTARY PRODUCERS which was presented at the DOCmed session in March in Tunis. The Revolution before the Revolution. Three Arab Women Film Makers: Moufida Tlatli, Jocelyne Saab, Maysoon Pachachi (German) was released in German cinema magazine Film Dienst this Tuesday. The three directors are represented with one film each at the Arab Focus at the International Women’s Film Festival in Cologne, Maysoon Pachachi will give a Masterclass.
------------------------- 4. Events
22.4.2012, 14h at Kino Odeon, Cologne (International Women Film Festival Dortmund | Cologne)
The political upheavals and emergencies of recent decades have led to the exile and being permanently on the move for countless people from the Arab region. In her documentary films Iraqi Maysoon Pachachi, who lives in London, tells stories of women from various countries from the region, describing their many different types of usually quiet resistance and their everyday survival strategies. The future plays just as important a role in their work as the past.
In a discussion with Irit Neidhardt, Maysoon Pachachi will introduce her works, using extracts from her documentaries. What is the significance for heavily fragmented societies of collecting these stories? To whom are the films directly addressed and for whom are they preserved? What role is played by writing history from exile? 29. April 2012, 10-12h at Festival Space, Oberhausen (International Short Film Festival Oberhausen)
Mavericks, Movements, Manifestos
A discussion on temporary affiliations between filmmakers, artists and intellectuals who make themselves heard through manifestos, rallying cries and declarations of intent — and whether they’re fit to face present-day challenges.
with Margit Czenki, artist and filmmaker (Hamburg); Sarah Günter, film scholar (Frankfurt/M.); Irit Neidhardt, mec film (Berlin); Jed Rapfogel, Anthology Film Archives (New York)
Moderated by: Ralph Eue, curator of "Mavericks, Mouvements, Manifestos" (Berlin)
------------------------- 5. DVD of the month: LESH SABREEN? by Muayad Alayan (Palestine)
Content
In today’s Jerusalem, a young Palestinian couple navigates dreams through economic hardship, a conservative society and a surrounding Israeli occupation weighing on them. The stories, events and characters that make up “Lesh Sabreen?” represent the experiences of an entire generation of young Palestinians, specially Palestinian Jerusalemites like myself. It shows the interplay between social, economic and political factors that seem to subconsciously reinforce each other and limit the young Palestinians’ prospects and hopes for the future. […]
“Lesh sabreen?” was shot on location in my village, Beit Safafa, the only Palestinian village to survive the 1948 war and remain in west Jerusalem. It is now considered a neighborhood of the larger city of Jerusalem but the contrast between its village nature and its surrounding commercial centers and Israeli settlements is still very clear. The contrast in landscape and space is captured in the film. We tried to show the older and organic Palestinian village nature with its old and sometimes run-down houses, its fields and its animals, and the larger scale modern surrounding areas. The contrast in landscape and space symbolizes in a lot of ways the economic and political status of the Palestinian community in the city. As in the case of many independent filmmaking projects - Palestinian films included -the “Lesh Sabreen?” team faced many obstacles from limited budget to lack of access to equipment. However, working on this film in a village community like Beit Safafa opened my eyes to a unique and special style of independent filmmaking which builds on the talents and resources from within the local community and its grass root village culture which is very generous and supportive but also very much about pulling the community together to do what a single person cannot do alone. My father fixed the cables for the gaffers. My cousin, who is an expert in setting up village weddings and outdoor family parties, was our location manager. My mother, my aunts and their neighbors took care of the catering. Many people were also eager to invite the crew into their home for meals. Add to that the non-professional actors from the village who became part of the cast and the many more extras volunteering to be in the film. (Muayad Alayan) Muayad Alayan, Palestine 2009, shortfilm, fiction, 20 min, Arabic
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
DVD PAL, region free, on stock Awards
Best International Film - Youth Jury Award - Cork Film Festival 2009
Special Jury Mention - La Cittadella Del Corto film Festival 2009
Special Jury Mention - Ismailia International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2009 Institutional rights: according to the rights you whish to acquire and your territory the fee varies,
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