PALESTINIAN VOICES: A WORLD NOT OURS
by Mahdi Fleifel
2012, 93 min, digital. In English and Arabic with English subtitles.
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This screening is part of: PALESTINIAN VOICES

Film Notes

(ALAM LAYSA LANA)

Before his family settled in Denmark, filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel grew up in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh, in Lebanon. Hastily built in 1948 and, at the time of filming, housing 70,000 refugees in one square kilometer, Ain el-Helweh is an unlikely source of nostalgia and yearning, but for Fleifel it represents the closest thing to a home, a precious concept given his family’s history and eventual settlement in Europe. Through the years Fleifel returned regularly to visit friends and family, always with camera in tow, and in A WORLD NOT OURS he shapes his extensive video diaries into an affectionate, witty, yet ultimately shattering portrait of this community. Gradually focusing on the experiences of Fleifel’s friend Abu Eyad, whose natural intelligence makes him an especially articulate and sensitive witness to the tragically circumscribed lives of Ain el-Helweh’s residents, A WORLD NOT OURS conveys the Palestinian experience with an insight that very few films have equaled.

Followed by:
Mahdi Fleifel XENOS 2014, 13 min, digital. In Arabic with English subtitles.
“On a modern odyssey Palestinians are stranded in Athens. Their wandering has led them from a refugee camp in Lebanon, through Syria and Turkey to the Greece of the Euro crisis – a haven that turns out not to be substantially calmer than the sea.” –VIDEONALE

Mahdi Fleifel 20 HANDSHAKES 4 PEACE 2014, 5 min, digital
“September 13, 1993: Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Bill Clinton’s handshake on the lawn of the White House after signing the Oslo Accords. A historic moment, repeated 20 times. Tainted by countless shattered hopes and with a voice-over by intellectual Edward Said, expressing his outrage at the agreement.” –ROTTERDAM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Total running time: ca. 115 min.

“Palestinian Voices” is co-presented by ArteEast. ArteEast is a New York based non-profit organization advocating for and supporting artists from the South West Asia North Africa (SWANA) region and its diaspora, engaging with U.S. and international audiences and arts communities. For more information, visit ArteEast's website.

Special thanks to Mahdi Fleifel and to Ginou Choueiri (ArteEast).