wave~form~projects + re:assemblage collective presented
Gaza Diaries (short film program)
to over 160 persons on Thursday 29 February 2024 at CAMH Auditorium in Tkaronto (Toronto)
Second in a series of film screenings affirming Palestinian people’s sumud ( صمود ṣumūd) meaning “steadfastness” – a Palestinian cultural value, ideological theme and political strategy) and resilience, with an opportunity for discussions on the impacts of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and continuous repression across historic Palestine. Our two collectives are coming together to co-present screenings of current and historical films under the banner ‘from the river to the sea’, in line with other interconnected global initiatives centering Palestinian voices in cinema. The series foregrounds political education through film, concurrent with a call to support BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) for individuals and institutions across Turtle Island. This event is a part of Israeli Apartheid Week in Toronto (February 29 – March 10).
*Accessibility info and film descriptions to follow in comments *
Screening : Thursday 29 February 2024
7 PM (doors at 630 PM) ~ Free entry ~ Snacks & Drinks
Co-presented with Rendezvous With Madness (@workmanartsto)
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Ma mère, David et moi
Taysir Batniji (2012, 15 minutes, Palestine)
Home Movies Gaza
Basma Alsharif (2013, 24 minutes, Palestine/France)
Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza
Mustafa Abu Ali (1973, 14 minutes, Palestine)
Electrical Gaza
Rosalind Nashashibi (2015, 18 minutes, Palestine/UK)
Gaza Diary
Taysir Batniji (2010, 5 minutes, Palestine)
Followed by testimonies from co-founder of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations Canada, Dr. Anas al-Kassem and a discussion on the situation on the ground in Gaza.
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Venue
Arrell Family Foundation Auditorium, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
1025 Queen Street West, 2nd floor (TTC: Ossington)
Enter on Queen Street main doors, east of Ossington,main lobby elevators to 2nd floor or stairs at the rear of the lobby.
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Accessibility information
Masks encouraged (provided)
Building and venue are wheelchair accessible.
Films presented with English subtitles and/or captions; introductions and discussion will use microphones.
Active listener available during and after program
Fully accessible and gender neutral washroom just outside Auditorium, additional washrooms nearby.
Fixed chair seating plus moveable chairs (various sizes), mats and cushions available.
Special thanks
-Rendezvous With Madness
-Khadijah Habashneh, Taysir Batniji, Basma Alsharif, Rosalind Nashashibi
-CAMH
Questions / more information / contact
Instagram @waveformprojects
Instagram @reassemblagecollective
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GAZA DIARIES – short film program
Ma mère, David et moi
Taysir Batniji (2012, 15 minutes, Palestine)
The narrative thread in Taysir Batniji’s video is a telephone conversation between the artist located in France and his mother located in Gaza. Starting from this intimate, fragmented, difficult and sometimes indistinct exchange, the artist questions the resonance of words like displacement, in-between and exile. Through a triple point of view, Ma mère, David et moi explores how to look at one’s home from elsewhere and how to establish connections by combining narration, souvenirs, impressions, the personal stories and news coverage.
Home Movies Gaza
Basma Alsharif (2013, 24 minutes, Palestine/France)
Home Movies Gaza introduces us to the Gaza Strip as a microcosm for the failure of civilization. In an attempt to describe the everyday of a place that struggles for the most basic of human rights, this video claims a perspective from within the domestic spaces of a territory that is complicated, derelict, and altogether impossible to separate from its political identity.
Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza
Mustafa Abu Ali (1973, 14 minutes, Palestine)
A rare film by Mustafa Abu Ali, one of the founders of the Palestine Film Unit, the first filmic arm of the Palestinian revolution. Shot by a French news team, the footage was edited by Mustafa in Lebanon to produce one of the earliest films on the occupied territory in Gaza. Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza employs experimental editing techniques to produce a cinematically and politically subversive film. The film won the prize as best film at the Damascus Film Festival in 1973 and was the only film produced by the Palestine Cinema Group, which in 1974 became the Palestine Cinema Institute.
Electrical Gaza
Rosalind Nashashibi (2015, 17 mins, Palestine/UK)
In Electrical Gaza Rosalind Nashashibi combines her footage of Gaza, and the fixer, drivers and translator who were her constant company, with animated scenes. She presents Gaza as under a spell; isolated, suspended in time, difficult to access and highly charged. She shows us Gaza as she experienced it in the quiet pause before the onslaught of Israeli bombardment in the summer of 2014. Nashashibi travelled to Gaza with producer Kate Parker and cinematographer Emma Dalesman.
Commissioned by the Trustees of Imperial War Museum.
Gaza Diary
Taysir Batniji (2010, 5 minutes, Palestine)
“Every time I return to Gaza, feelings of frustration, sadness and anxiety come over me, especially in the first days. So much had changed for the worse in my absence ! As my city gradually deteriorated, I was torn between my desire to stay (to hold on to it) and to leave…Being born in Gaza, as well as other reasons I cannot explain, certainly nurtures my fascination with the place. I want to record my daily life the way others keep a journal.”