Sitting Crow Productions
The narrative of displacement and experiences in exile of the modern Palestinians remains relatively unfamiliar to most Westerners and es...Video Episodes:
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17:58:01 01/26/09
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The Presence Of Absence In The Ruins Of Kafr Bir'im [Film Trailer]
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[LESS INFO] 6 VIEWS | ADDED 17:58:01 01/26/09
The Presence of Absence in the Ruins of Kafr Bir’im A film by John Halaka Shot on location in the ruins and cemetery of Kafr Bir’im, a Palestinian village located in the Northern Galilee, the film introduces the viewer to Mr. Ibrahim Essa, an elderly poet who survived the ethnic cleansing of his homeland in 1948. Mr. Essa’s family has lived in Kafr Bir’im for the past 700 years. Through his narrative and poetry, Ibrahim Essa recounts his experiences as a youth in the village, the hardships of a life in exile and the intense emotional, physical and historical connections to the land that he shares with the 5,000,000 Palestinians who currently live in the Palestinian diaspora. Mr. Essa employs an ancient oral tradition of poetry that, in style, is similar to what is now referred to as “Spoken Word Poetry.” This improvisational oral tradition has been around for centuries in Northern Palestine and continues to be used by farmers and villagers to express the community’s intimate relationship to the land; a yearning for past times; and their cultural, psychological and physical attachment to the ancient and modern ruins that exist throughout that region. In his introduction to the events that resulted in the complete destruction of the village, John Halaka explains that ”The village of Kafr Bir’im was ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian inhabitants by the military forces of the newly established state of Israel in early November 1948. All of the 1050 inhabitants of Kafr Bir’im were driven from their land, and were never allowed to return to the homes and fields that they and their ancestors had inhabited and cultivated for centuries.” The film commemorates the 60th anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The ethnic cleansing campaign was systematically carried out by Jewish military forces between December 1947and December 1948, resulting in the destruction of Palestinian civil and political societies, the eradication of 531 villages, and the expulsion of over 800,000 Palestinian civilians from their homes and homeland. The Palestinians refer to this great catastrophe as the “Nakba,” the Israelis celebrate it as “The War of Independence.” The Presence of Absence in the Ruins of Kafr Bir’im presents a seldom-heard Palestinian perspective on the roots of the ongoing Palestinian/Israeli conflict. 2007 release by SittingCrow Productions. Produced, filmed, written, narrated and directed by John Halaka. Edited by Marissa Bowman. Music composed and performed by the Ramallah based musician Mohsen Subhi and the Jerusalem based musician Nizar Rohana. Running time: 60 minutes. For further information regarding the film, please contact John Halaka at sittingcrowproductions@gmail.com, or call 619.260.4107.
2 Views
17:56:27 01/26/09
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Wounds Of The Heart An Artist And Her Nation [Film Trailer]
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[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 17:56:27 01/26/09
Wounds Of the Heart: An Artist and Her Nation A Film By John Halaka Born and raised in the village of Tarsheha in the Galilee, Rana Bishara is a Palestinian Visual Artist whose creative practice includes sculpture, installation work and performance art. Her artwork functions simultaneously as an elegy to the Palestinian Nakba (the Arabic term for The Great Disaster that began in 1948), an unmasking of the brutality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and a critique of the biased Western media’s depiction of the Palestinians’ struggle against their occupiers. The objects employed in her artwork perform as surrogates for the body and spirit of Palestine and its people. Her work, in both its physical and conceptual manifestations is an expression of the inseparable blending of the personal and political experiences that define the identity of every Palestinian. As a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Rana deeply understands how feelings of belonging and claims of ownership, irrevocably separate, yet permanently connect Arabs and Jews in their struggle for a land that is called Palestine by one group and Israel by the other. Each of the two cultures wants to hold on to every inch of land claimed by the other. The Palestinians strongly feel that they belong to the land, while the Israelis insist that the land belongs to them. Bishara’s artwork is deeply embedded in and informed by the Palestinian experiences of displacement, exile and occupation and the desire of Palestinian refugees to return to the lands they were displaced from. Through her work, Rana wants to convey the wounds of the heart inflicted upon her father’s generation and subsequent generations of Palestinians. She wants to bear witness to a once multicultural Palestinian society that was destroyed in 1948 and a once thriving agricultural society that has been irrevocably changed. 2009 release by SittingCrow Productions www.sittingcrowproductions.com Produced, filmed, written, narrated and directed by John Halaka. Edited by Marissa Bowman. Music composed and performed by the Ramallah based musician Samer Totah and the Jerusalem based musician Nizar Rohana. Running time: 53 minutes For further information regarding the film, please contact John Halaka at sittingcrowproductions@gmail.com, or call 619.260.4107.
01/26/09