Middle East: What Can Cinema Do?
Although the week-long event still revolves around Israelis-Palestinians, the name of the event changed for the third edition to Middle East: What Can Cinema Do? It took place from November 21 – 27, 2007 and featured works from Palestine and Israel, but also extended its border to include films from Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
Leila Shahid, Dominique Vidal & Michel Warschawski were the festival's special guests at opening night. They addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for close to two hours in front of a full-house crowd. We even had to refuse entry for some as it was so packed. In the following evenings other specialists and journalists addressed the state of Lebanon, Gaza, Israel, Iraq. And we must send out a special thanks to the many filmmakers who were present to talk about their films with the audiences.
The festival ended on the day the conference in Annapolis opened, where the heads of state sought once again to find a solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The success in bringing together a varied, activist, regular or just curious crowd to see the films and to be part of the daily conferences has contributed to the growing importance of this Parisian biennial event. We also realise the need to confront and discuss these issues on a permanent basis. We consider cinema to be an important vehicle of communication.
In the words of Janine Halbreich-Euvrard, founder of the event (and author of the book "Israéliens, Palestiniens : Que peut le cinéma?"), "cinema can certainly help to tumble down walls, be they made of concrete and steel or of prejudice and ignorance."
We invite you to discover the films of this third edition on the pages of this website. In our news section, we will keep you informed all year round on the news and views of related events or projects.
See you in 2009 for the 4th edition.
Item posted : 09-12-2007
Closed but not Finished
The third edition of Middle East: What Can Cinema Do? has reached its close, successfully bringing together a varied audience, from activist to just curious, to see the films and be part of the daily conferences that have contributed to the growing importance of this Parisian biennial event.
more info
Item posted : 09-11-2007
Film + Debate & Participants
The Iron Wall opened Middle East: What Can Cinema Do? Screened in tandem with our opening debate - the Israeli settlement of Palestinian land, we were honoured to receive Leila Shahid (EU Palestinian Delgate), Michel Warschawski (Israeli peace activist, journalist and director of the AIC) and Dominique Vidal (Le Monde Diplomatique) for this kick-off, along with director Mohammed Alatar.
more info
Item posted : 29-09-2007
Knowledge is the Beginning
Closing Film
For many years, conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim has worked towards reconciling Arabs and Israelis.
Item posted : 26-09-2007
Dominique Dubosc Presents
Dominique Dubosc presents Palestine in Fragments for this edition…
Item posted : 25-09-2007
World Premiere
Samir Abdallah will be presenting the world premiere of his latest film Monday night, 26 November.
