#bringing_back_hope_to_jerusalem

48mm Film Festival from Nakba to Return is coming to Jerusalem! We are excited to invite you to the best of films screened at the last festival, provocative debates and a fascinating tour, too. 

Jerusalem Cinematheque | February 7-14, 2019 

Zochrot’s annual 48mm Film Festival from Nakba to Return brings together cinematic works dealing with the Nakba and the return of Palestinian refugees from various perspectives and in different places and times. Shedding new light on historical and contemporary events, the films encourage us both to think about the place we live in and to imagine its future differently.

For more info about the films and tickets

February 7, 2019 | 20:00

Guest speaker: Muhammad Bakri

The Tower

Director: Mats Grorud

Norway, Sweden, France | 2018 |74 min | Arabic, with Heb & Eng subs

Beirut, today. Wardi, an eleven-year-old Palestinian girl, lives with her extended family in a refugee camp. Her beloved great-grandfather Sidi was one of the first people to settle in the camp after being uprooted from his home in 1948. When he gives Wardi the key to his old house in the Galilee, she learns the story of four generations of her family and their complex relationships with hope. The film offers an intriguing mixture of puppet animation with 2D techniques, bitter coffee and sweet tea, family saga and national history.

February 8, 2019 | 14:00

Guest speakers: Daniel Wachsmann, film director; Prof. Hillel Cohen, Hebrew University

Acre Dreams

Director: Daniel Wachsmann

Israel | 2018 | 77 min | Hebrew, Arabic, English w. Heb & Eng subs

Azam Salame, a Palestinian theater director, directs an autobiographical play in the mixed Jewish-Arab city of Acre. The play takes place in 1947, during the final days of the British Mandate, and tells the story of his grandmother, singer Layla, and Dr. Alfasi, the last Jewish resident who remained in the city during the war of 1948. The play comes under threat from both Arabs and Jews and never sees the stage. This film is the only remaining testimony to Azam’s magnum opus.

February 9, 2019 | 15:00

Tour of Jerusalem's Talbiye Neighborhood

Sahera Dirbas, the director of "On the Doorstep" will take us on a tour around the exquisitely beautiful houses of Talbiye, built and owned by Palestinian families until the Nakba in 1948. Talbiye's former inhabitants and their descendants became refugees, some in their own city, others spread around the world. We will hear stories of some of the houses, among them Villa Salameh, Villa Harun Al Rashid, Tawfik Issa Habash's house and a few others.

We will meet at Villa Salameh on the corner of Jabotinsky and Balfour St. The tour will take 1.5 - 2 hours. It's free, donations are welcome.

The tour will be in Hebrew. English or Arabic translation will be provided if necessary.

After the tour, there will be screening of "On the Doorstep" in Cinematheque, please see info below. 

February 9, 2019 | 18:00

Guest speaker: Sahera Dirbas, film director

I Signed the Petition

Director: Mahdi Fleifel

UK, Germany, Switzerland | 2018 | 10 min | English w. Heb subs

Immediately after a Palestinian man signs an online petition, he is thrown into a panic-inducing spiral of self-doubt. Over the course of a conversation with an understanding friend, he analyses, deconstructs and interprets the meaning of his choice to publicly support the cultural boycott of Israel.

On the Doorstep

Director: Sahera Dirbas

Israel/Palestine | 2018 | 46 min | English w. Heb subs

Three generations of the Bisharat family in the US maintain their emotional attachment to their family home in Jerusalem’s Talbyia neighborhood, taken over by Israelis in 1948. Among them is 21-year-old Valerie who visits her grandfather’s house, and meets its current inhabitant, 96-year-old Gisele.

February 14, 2019 | 18:30

Guest speaker: Prof. Raphael Greenberg, Tel Aviv University

The Apollo of Gaza

Director: Nicolas Wadimoff

Switzerland, Canada | 2018 |70 min | Arabic, English with Heb & Eng subs

In 2013, an ancient statue of Apollo was found in the waters off Gaza - before disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Is it the work of forgers, or a gift from the gods to Palestinians desperately in need of hope? The Apollo of Gaza is both an archeological thriller and an engaging reflection on the passage of time and the fragility of civilizations. Like a meteor streaking across the sky, the statue of Apollo has brought a moment of light and beauty to Gaza. Where and why has it gone?