Love and war in Gaza are the broad themes bookending this year’s festival.
Habibi (2011), a story of forbidden love, is the first fiction feature set in Gaza in 15 years. Two Palestinian students in the West Bank are forced to return home to Gaza, where their love defies tradition. To reach his lover Layla, Qays grafittis poetry across town. Habibi is a modern re-telling of the famous ancient Sufi parable Majnun Layla.
The War Around Us (2012), a true story of journalistic heroism under unimaginable conditions, documents the experiences of al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros, the only two international journalists on the ground in Gaza as Israel bombarded and invaded the Strip in 2008-9.
We’re thrilled that Susan Youssef, director of Habibi, and Abdallah Omeish, director of The War Around Us, will attend the Opening and Closing Film screenings and engage in dialogue with the audience.
Other thematic threads this year include the lives of Palestinian prisoners, occupation and the environment, and occupied lives.
Highlights:
Oct 5, 7:00 pm - Opening Film, Museum of Fine Arts
Oct 5, 9:30 pm - Opening Film After Party, The Charlesmark Hotel & Lounge
Oct 6, 12:00 pm- Thematic Program: Political Prisoners, Museum of Fine Arts
Festival Website: http://www.bostonpalestinefilmfest.org/
Full Schedule: http://www.bostonpalestinefilmfest.org/festival-2012/schedule/
