PALESTINE - Most of us know it as that vague land, sometimes mentioned in world news reports. Very often, the words “occupation”, “conflict”, “land” and “refugees” accompany it.

This week, the Palestinian Film Festival is giving audiences a rare glimpse into the lives, losses and hopes of Palestinians displaced by conflict, all awaiting the day they can return to the homeland.

The film festival will be held every night from the Nov 14 - 18, 8pm at HELP University College’s main building in Kuala Lumpur. It is organised by the Malaysian Social Research Institute (MSRI) and Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia as an early celebration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on November 29.

The festival will be focusing on films about Palestinians seeking refuge in Lebanon. Spotlight is on Mai Masri, a world-renown Palestinian film maker whose eight films have won critical acclaim at international film festivals.

Voices of the little people

On Wednesday, Nov 14, two of Masri’s documentaries were shown: Children of Shatila (1989) and Frontiers of Dreams and Fears (2001).

Children of Shatila focuses on the narratives of two Palestinian children growing up the Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon after the 1982 Sabra-Shatila massacre. Farah, 11 and Issa, 12, are each given a video camera to capture the world as they see it. The tales are simple yet heartbreakingly powerful as they recount memories of the violence inflicted on them and their families. These children speak very matter-a-factly about watching their relatives lay dying in a ditch, get bulldozed, machetes and running from soldiers. No child should have to say the words “I cursed the day I was born.”

The children are forced to grow up, balancing the stark realities of living in a refugee camp with more than 15, 000 other Palestinian refugees and poor Lebanese, while keeping hope of returning to the homeland their grandparents speak so fondly of. The children’s excitement and optimism keeps the film from sinking into despair as they record interviews with their grandparents, who have lived in exile from Palestine for more than 50 years. These stories of terror, destruction and displacement are a far cry from the Utopian fairytales people tell children. But these histories, albeit atrocious, must never be forgotten.

In similar masterful storytelling, Masri’s award-winning documentary Frontiers of Dreams and Fears follows the friendship between two Palestinian girls: Mona who lives in the ghetto Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon and Manar, a resident of the Israeli-controlled al-Dheisha camp in Bethlehem, Palestine. The two girls are clearly overjoyed to write and receive letters from each other.

Despite being in different places on different sides of the border, Mona and Manar feel a strong bond given their similar circumstances. As Israeli troops back out of South Lebanon, the girls are finally able to meet at the border. It is as much of a reunion as it is a first encounter, with tearful excitement, hugs and little gifts exchanged over barb-wire fences. It’s as close as they can get, for now.

Best of Palestinian cinema on offer

The film festival will also feature several films on the same theme. On Thursday Nov 15, Ziad Doueiri’s film West Beirut was shown. It centres on Tarek, a jovial boy who is expelled from school, just in time to witness the killing of 30 bus passengers at the start of the 1975 Lebanese civil war. With hope and humour as his only shield, Tarek tries to stay afloat as his world is embroiled in bitter conflict and chaos.

Hany Abu-Assad’s Oscar-nominated film Paradise Now will be featured on Nov 16. The highly-acclaimed film is about two young Palestinian men, Khaled and Said, preparing for a suicide attack in Israel. Sworn to absolute secrecy, the men struggle to negotiate the strict conditions of their mission and bidding a final farewell to their families before being taken to the border. However, the suicide attack does not go as planned. The two childhood friends find themselves separated and face the toughest decision of their lives.

A special charity dinner and screening, attended by filmmaker Mai Masri, will be held at the same place on Sat Nov 17. The RM150 per seat donation will benefit the people living in the recently-destroyed Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon. Women Beyond Borders, a film produced by Mai Masri (right)and directed by her husband Jean Chamoun, will be shown. This documentary brings audiences into lives of former female inmates of the notorious Israeli-controlled Khiam prison in southern Lebanon. The film tells of the harsh realities of women in prison while trying to survive against brutal oppression.

And on the final day, Nov 18, Suhaimi Baba’s first film Selubong will be shown.

Visit the MSRI website for more information on the Palestinian Film Fest.