Why invite Palestinian film makers and artists to Kerry? Is it simply for the opportunity for close encounters of the Arab kind? The answer is, yes! Why? Because generalized opinions portrayed by the media are to my mind playing sinister shadows to the public, succeeding to further polarize our cultures, and in division there is loss.

Questions of identity are being subtly alluded to, who are we? And who are they? Each defined against the other, fostering a state of suspicion and fear. This is then easily manipulated and maintained. So let’s meet ‘them’ and see, and perhaps get the chance through personal encounter to cross these supposed borders of definition; share some time together and exchange experience and ideas.

What is it to be Irish? What is it to be Palestinian? What is it to be an individual? Any one who knows their history will be aware of a time in Europe when three extraordinary cultures, Islamic/ Judaic/Christian, flourished via the close proximity of an intelligent and coherent co-existence. Experience can be an invaluable teacher; idle talk however liberal, and lofty ideas in a vacuum, are not to my understanding a sufficient alternative. Here we have an opportunity to meet, and make friends.
Would you like to join us?

Patrick O’Neill, International Co-ordinator

Annemarie Jacir : like twenty impossibles, An Explanation: ( & then burn the ashes)

Jacir worked in the film industry in Los Angeles before returning to school to obtain a Masters degree in Film in New York. She has written, directed and produced a number of films. Her most recent film, like twenty impossibles, premiered at Cannes,was a finalist for the Student Academy Awards and has won numerous awards at International festivals, including Best Film at the Palm Springs Short Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Institute Du Monde Arabe Biennale,Mannheim- Heidelberg Film Festival, and IFP/New York. Jacir was listed in Filmmaker magazine as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema. She is in development on her first feature length film, ‘Salt of this Sea’ , which follows the story of a working-class, Palestinian-American refugee returning home. ‘Salt of this Sea’was recently selected
for the prestigious Hubert Bals Development Fund as well as the Sundance Screenwriters Lab.

Larissa Sansour : Bethleham Bandolero, Tank

Larissa Sansour is a Palestinian artist working mainly with video and installation. Her work is political, often involving disturbing footage from the occupied territories and slick and recontextualizing soundtracks. Born in Jerusalem in 1973, she had to leave Palestine in the late eighties shortly after the onset of the first intifada to continue her studies abroad. She studied Fine Arts in London, New York and Copenhagen. She has shown her work in various solo and group exhibitions in America, England, Russia,Denmark, Italy, France, Brazil and Palestine. She recently received an honorary award at the Ramallah International Film Festival. She currently lives and works in Copenhagen.

Enas Muthaffar : East to West

Enas Muthaffar was born in Jerusalem in 1977 and is now based in London. In 2000, she graduated from the Higher Institute of Cinema in Cairo, Egypt, with a BA in film directing. Besides writing and directing several short films during her studies and one film after graduation, she had also worked with several Palestinian and Egyptian film directors as assistant director and script supervisor. She is currently doing her MA in feature film at Goldsmiths College - University of London, and writing her first feature film screenplay.

Sameh Zoabi : Be Quiet

As a Tel Aviv University film student and MFA graduate of Columbia University, Sameh gained experience and knowledge in the subjects of filmmaking and screenwriting. He has directed three narrative short films: Bucket (12min) 2001, Contradictions (12.30min) 2002, and Be Quiet (19min) 2005. Be Quiet (which he also co-wrote) was recently honored with a Cinefondation Selection Award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

Abdel Salam Shehadeh : Rainbow

Abdel Salam Shehadeh is from Rafah in Gaza, Palestine. He has worked in television production and media and as a camera and sound technician, and has worked in various capacities for international news crews.Director of more than 15 Documentary films such as The Shadow, The Cane and Debris which had a good impact in many international festivals. www.ramattan.com

Zeina Durra : The Seventh Dog

Durra just received her MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Film Programme and graduated with the thesis film, The Seventh Dog, that she wrote, directed and edited.Her previous work includes the short films, Madame Gigi's Perspective (8mins, 16mm,B&W), Boedecia's Handbag (3mins, 16mm, B&W), Revenge on a Board (10mins, 16mm Colour), No Exit a screen adaptation of Stare's play (video, 10mins), and her documentary Muslin (video, 25mins).With a taste for comedy and extravagance Durra combines these themes with strong political undertones to communicate to her audience.Durra was awarded the Warner Bros Pictures Film Production Award for The Seventh Dog.

Nahed Awwad : 25km, Going for a Ride?

One of Nahed’s films ‘Going for a Ride?’won the second prize (Palente) at the Ramallah International Film Festival in July 2004. In September 2003, she left Palestine to attend the European Film College (EFC) in Denmark, until May 2004. As a final project in college he made ‘25 km’ - a personal journey through Israeli checkpoints; this film won the new Horizon Award at Al Jazeera Film Festival April, 2005. She is currently working on a new film,working title: ‘you are landing at Al-Quds airport…’, it’s about memories of a place that was once an important lively airport in the fifties till 67 when the war broke and was occupied by Israeli’s to turn it into a regional airport and nowadays into a checkpoint, one of the biggest Israeli checkpoints in West Bank.

Elia Suleiman : Divine Intervention
Elia Suleiman was born in Nazareth in 1960.He has lived in New York, the Netherlands and France, as well as in Palestine. In addition to Divine Intervention (2002), his film credits include: Cyber-Palestine (1999),War and Peace in Vesoul (1997), Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996) and several others. Suleiman won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002.

Tawfik Abu Wael : Diary of a Male Whore

Tawfik Abu Wael was born in Umm el-Fahim in 1976.He graduated from Tel Aviv University where he studied film directing. Abu Wael taught drama in Jaffa for two years before beginning to devote himself to cinema in 1997,working as a production manager, assistant director and director.

Hany Abu Assad : Ford Transit

Hany Abu Assad. After having studied and worked as an aeronautical engineer in the Netherlands for several years Hany Abu Hassad entered the world of cinema and television as a producer.He formed Ayloul Film Productions in 1990 and worked on producing Television programs about immigrants, for example ‘Dar O Dar’ for Channel 4 and ‘Long Days in Gaza’ for BBC. In 1992 he wrote and directed his first short film ‘Paper House’ and went on to work on ‘Curfew’ which won the Gold Pyramid at the Cairo film festival and the Unesco award at the Cannes Film Festival.Other recent works have included ‘The Fourteenth Chick’,‘Nazareth 2000’, ‘Paradise Now’ and ‘Rana’s Wedding’.