Curated by Virginia Marcolini, Francesca Marchesini and in collaboration with Stefania Cherchi (Women in Black) | reviews by Francesca Marchesini and Virginia Marcolini
Concorto Film Festival proposes a free and independent space to all Palestinian directors. In a context of endemic violence and systemic oppression, we feel it is urgent to provide guarantee a space for expression and self-representation for these communities. Free from every claim of exhaustiveness, the focus aims to point the limelight on the nooks and crannies of everyday life, glimpsing without squeezing singularities into a uniquely perceived experience, and at the same time not reducing itself to the binary and simplistic victim-offender narrative. Palestine is a land that fights and resists. In addition to giving a voice to existences burdened by decades of war, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, we thus feel it is our duty to also portray evoke those personal and intimate moments of multifaceted human experience. Therefore, the selected shorts move on several levels, crossing multiform languages and providing snapshots of a reality whose complexity is as fleeting as it is tangible
The focus was realized in collaboration with Donne in Nero ( Women in Black), an international network of women founded in Israel in 1988 to protest against the occupation of Palestinian territories. Committed to peace and non-violent practices, they actively oppose injustice, war, militarism, and other forms of violence.
The film selection
curated by Virginia Marcolini, Francesca Marchesini and in collaboration with Stefania Cherchi (Women in Black)
A’LAM (FLAG) by Saadi Saleh
BETHLEHEM 2001 by Ibrahim Handal
IN THE WAITING ROOM by Moatasem Taha
LOVESICK IN THE WEST BANK by Zagha Said
PALESTINE 87 by Bilal Alkhatib
reviews by Francesca Marchesini and Virginia Marcolini
A’LAM (FLAG) by Saadi Saleh
Two old friends meet for one last night together before May joins her relatives in the United States. A’lam is first of all a story of heartfelt friendship, mutual support and strong empathy. At the same time, Saadi Saleh’s short film manages to bring out the anger caused by living in an apartheid environment: the oppression of the Palestinian people is not the center of the narrative, but the sub-plot that permeates the two main characters’ lives and comes out during conflicts. An ongoing concern that the characters try to put aside by living their everyday life.
BETHLEHEM 2001 by Ibrahim Handal
In the loneliness of his dark room, a young Palestinian boy sinks in his memories of the military invasion and the siege of his hometown Bethlehem. The young man retraces the dramatic moments experienced during the second intifada and retrieves memories of his parents and childhood. In the suspended immateriality of memory, one does not speak, but listens and observes. Sounds become the violent main character of this film: gunshots, heavy footsteps, the murmur of a trickle of water, and silence. Archival images alternate sobbingly with the personal reconstruction of the protagonist, whose narrative voice guides us to reflect upon the present and reframe the past.
IN THE WAITING ROOM by Moatasem Taha
A young boy named Hussein accompanies his mother to a medical examination at the hospital for the first time since her husband’s death. She is resolute, she knows where she has to go, and her son finds it difficult to anticipate and hold back her movements. However, her independence fails when she has to face the language barrier that separates her from the people she meets: her Hebrew is rusty, and getting small conversations out becomes an act of humanity. The waiting room is the fertile ground for intercepting glances, hinting at greetings, and flashing confused smiles that tenderly disguise misunderstanding. Overflowing gently toward the other, the woman exorcizes the loneliness derived from the absence of her husband, and welcomes his departure.
LOVESICK IN THE WEST BANK by Zagha Said
Zagha Said’s comedy turns the canonical narrative of dramas of colonizers and military controls upside down with a shrewd sarcasm. In Lovesick in the West Bank different languages and ideologies meet in an almost surreal way, allowing the director to make fun of the violence the Zionists use to make claims on Palestinian homes. An old couple’s life in the West Bank turns into a spy story, when one morning the American tourist Avi shows at the door…How far can a young man go to win his beloved’s heart back?
PALESTINE 87 by Bilal Alkhatib
A meek man lives in a country village with his parents. Some gunshots and the hasty escape of two boys from Israeli soldiers disrupt the peacefulness of what was a seemingly ordinary day. Atef also finds himself running, without knowing why, and becomes the prey to a targeted chase. The confusing movements of the camera, which pursues the protagonist, make the moments of panic even more agitated. Where martial law reigns, the solidarity among citizens wins: thanks to a subterfuge improvised by a lady and her grand-daughter, the protagonist manages to escape the fury of the military and save himself. In just a few minutes, the short film successfully provides a glimpse of the habitual harassment and intimidation that Palestinian civilians are forced to live with, without sweetening them but rather granting us a hoped-for happy ending.
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