Palestine Cinema Days: Around the world

Ma'lou Celebrates it's Destruction

Palestine Cinema Days: Around the World - Ma'lou Celebrates Its Destruction

As part of Palestine Cinema Days, de Brakke Grond is organizing, during Museumnacht, a screening of the short documentary Ma’loul Celebrates Its Destruction. Unfortunately, this year, the Palestine Cinema Days festival will once again not take place physically in its hometown of Ramallah. Instead, it will be held as a decentralized global film festival, occurring simultaneously at multiple locations on the symbolic anniversary of the signing of the Balfour Declaration on November 2nd, to amplify Palestinian voices. Last year, 86 cities participated, with a total of 171 screenings. On 2 November, several screenings will also take place in Amsterdam and the Netherlands.

Ma'loul Celebrates Its Destruction is a short, poetic documentary about the inhabitants of Ma’loul, who, during an annual picnic, recall memories of their village, occupied and destroyed by Israel.

Since the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, countless Palestinian villages have been erased from the map. Ma’alul, just west of Nazareth, is one such ruined village. It was primarily inhabited by Palestinian Christians, who were forced to leave in 1948 during the Arab-Israeli War. A painting preserves their memory of the village, which, since ancient times, had fallen under Jewish, Roman, Ottoman, and Palestinian rule. Since the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, countless Palestinian villages have been erased from the map. Ma’alul, just west of Nazareth, is one such ruined village. It was inhabited principally by Palestinian Christians, who were forced to leave in 1948 during the Israeli War of Independence. A painting contains their memories of the village, which had seen Jewish, Roman, Ottoman and Palestinian rulers come and go since ancient times.

Each year on Independence Day, the elderly take their grandchildren to their ancestral ground. Apart from the ruins of their houses, only a mosque and two churches remain, hidden amidst the fir trees that the Jewish National Fund has planted on the land. That same day, a Palestinian schoolteacher explains the history of Zionism to his young students—and why in the wake of the Holocaust, the Jewish people had such an urgent need for their own nation, a place where they could feel safe. An older man considers it unjustifiable that the Palestinians have become the indirect victims of the Nazi terror, in which they played no part whatsoever. In his mind, “We are the real children of Israel”.

About the director

Michel Khleifi is a Flemish-Palestinian filmmaker, born in Israel to an Arab-Palestinian family. He moved to Belgium at a young age, where he studied theater directing, radio and television at INSAS in Brussels. He first returned to Palestine in 1980 to make his documentary debut Fertile Memory, the first feature film shot in the Palestinian West Bank. His fiction debut Wedding in Galilee (1987), a political film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, brought him international recognition, including the Prix de la Critique Internationale at the Cannes Film Festival.

Khleifi's films show the complexity of life under occupation and represent a major turning point in Palestinian cinema. He breaks the stereotype of homogeneous identity by exploring different voices and personal trajectories. His innovative blending of documentary and fiction, as well as his labyrinthine approach to collective memory, remain an influential voice in the world of cinema. Michel Khleifi will also be showing his film Route 181, which he made with an Israeli filmmaker, at IDFA in November.

Location de Brakke Grond

Data

Sa 02 November, 19:00 - 19:30

In het kader van Palestine Cinema Days organiseert de Brakke Grond, tijdens Museumnacht, een vertoning van de korte documentairefilm Ma’loul Celebrates Its Destruction. Ook dit jaar zal het Palestine Cinema Days festival helaas niet fysiek plaatsvinden in thuisstad Ramallah. In plaats daarvan zal het worden gehouden als een gedecentraliseerd wereldwijd filmfestival, dat op meerdere locaties tegelijk plaatsvindt op de symbolische verjaardag van de ondertekening van de Balfour-verklaring op 2 november.

In Amsterdam en Nederland vinden op 2 november meerdere vertoningen plaats. In Amsterdam doen onder andere ook Kriterion (Ventilator Cinema), OCCII, Atheneum Boekhandel Zuidoost en OT301 mee. Vorig jaar namen 86 steden deel, met in totaal 171 vertoningen.

Ma'loul Celebrates Its Destruction is een korte, poëtische documentaire over de inwoners van Ma’loul die tijdens een jaarlijkse picknick herinneringen ophalen aan hun door Israël bezet en verwoest dorp. Sinds het uitroepen van de staat Israël in 1948 zijn talloze Palestijnse dorpen van de kaart geveegd. Ma’alul, even ten westen van Nazareth, is zo’n verwoest dorp. Er woonden voornamelijk Palestijnse christenen, die in 1948 tijdens de Arabisch-Israëlische Oorlog in 1948 werden gedwongen te vertrekken. Een schilderij bewaart hun herinnering aan het dorp, dat sinds de Oudheid achtereenvolgens onder Joods, Romeins, Ottomaans en Palestijns bewind viel.

Elk jaar op Onafhankelijkheidsdag nemen de ouderen hun kleinkinderen mee naar hun geboortegrond. Naast de ruïnes van hun huizen staan alleen een moskee en twee kerken nog overeind, verstopt tussen de naaldbomen waarmee het Joods Nationaal Fonds het terrein beplante. Op diezelfde dag legt een Palestijnse onderwijzer zijn leerlingen de geschiedenis van het Zionisme uit, en waarom het Joodse volk na de Holocaust zo'n dringende behoefte had aan een eigen land, een plek waar ze zich veilig konden voelen. Een oudere man vindt het onrechtvaardig dat de Palestijnen indirect slachtoffer zijn geworden van de naziterreur, waar zij immers part noch deel aan hadden. In zijn ogen zijn “wij de echte kinderen van Israël”.

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