Unprovoked Narratives is a series of films celebrating the beauty of Gaza, its people, its struggle and its survival. The program by the Palestine Film Institute (PFI) aims to resist the demonization of this beautiful place. PFI has made 8 films about Palestine available through the Chicago Palestine Film Festival website until the end of the year.
This program features the following films, available to watch for free:
OUROBOROS dir. Basma al-Sharif
77 min - Experimental - 2017
An homage to the Gaza Strip based on the eternal return. A journey following one man through five different landscapes marks the end as the beginning, forgetting as the way forward, and the failure of civilization.
SHUJAYYA dir. Moha Mugha
21 min - Documentary - 2015
The short movie “Shujayya” represents the Palestinian situation from a political, cultural and psychological point of view. In a few minutes it conveys the tragic nature of the conflict, particularly in Gaza, as well as the difficult and inconsistent cultural background: the difficult situation of the women, gender stereotypes, social traditions, family relationships, and personal drama. Through this short movie we can fully understand that this war doesn’t mean only losing one’s home, but also losing family and oneself, from a physical and a psychological point of view.
We loved “Shujayya”, and we wish to award it the best short movie prize because we were very moved, from the beginning to the end. We remained breathless. During the whole film, our eyes couldn’t leave the screen. In a few minutes Mohammed Almughanni described a part of life where fear makes us blind (every day), and we’ll never thank him enough.
AMBULANCE dir. Mohamed Jabaly
78 min - Documentary - 2016
A raw, first-person account of the last war in Gaza in the summer of 2014. Mohamed Jabaly, a young man from Gaza City, joins an ambulance crew as war approaches, looking for his place in a country under siege, where at times there seems to be no foreseeable future. While thousands of things are published on the recurring violence in Gaza, the stories behind them remain hidden. Not this one.
CONDOM LEAD dir. Tarzan Nasser & Arab Nasser
15 min - Drama - 2013
A dream of the hope for intimacy and love in a brutal, divisive world.
GAZA CALLING dir. Nahed Awwad
63 min - Documentary - 2012
Samer lives in Ramallah in the West Bank. His family lives in Gaza, one hour away. They have not seen each other for six years.
When Mustafa went for a visit to Gaza in 2006, he was 18 years old. He was never allowed to return – his mother Hekmat has been fighting to see him again for seven years now.
Two families torn apart. They share the same “crime”: being registered with a Gaza address in their Identity Cards. Under Israeli rule, they are considered “infiltrators” in their own country. Their lives have turned into a permanent struggle. Parents can only talk to their sons on the phone; sisters can only see their brothers on the internet – mothers and their children fighting to be together at last…TO MY FATHER dir. Abdel Salam Shehada
53 min - Documentary - 2008
“Those were days when people prettier, when eyes were filled with colour, even in black and white. What has changed - the camera, or the eye?" asks Abdel Salam Shehadah's poetic homage to the studio photographers of the 1950's - 70's. Set partly in a refugee camp in Rafah, the film looks back at fifty years of Palestinian and Arab history, told through the photographs, reportage and the voices of these photographers today.
SAMOUNI ROAD dir. Stefano Savona
125 min - Hybrid Documentary - 2018
In the rural outskirts of Gaza City a small community of farmers, the Samouni extended family, is about to celebrate a wedding. It's going to be the first celebration since the latest war. Amal, Fuad, their brothers and cousins have lost their parents, their houses and their olive trees. The neighborhood where they live is being rebuilt. As they replant trees and plow fields, they face their most difficult task: piecing together their own memory. Through these young survivors' recollections, Samouni Road conveys a deep, multifaceted portrait of a family before, during and after the tragic event that changed its life forever.
ONE MORE JUMP dir. Emanuele Gerosa
82 min - Documentary - 2019
Gaza Parkour Team founder Abdallah has managed to escape Gaza. His friend Jehad still lives there, training young athletes for whom sport remains the only thing imbued with hope amidst the conflict. Is it better to leave to fulfil your dreams or stay and fight for your country? The question is the common thread running through this deeply moving account of sport, friendship, and exile.