Dreams Of A Nation, a weekend-long festival of Palestinian films, began Friday, January 24th, at New York’s Columbia University. Palestinian cinema didn’t enjoy the most positive of starts to 2003. Despite two awards at
last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Divine Intervention, Elia Suleiman’s film about a love affair stifled by checkpoints, roadblocks and curfews, was barred from Oscar nomination because, in the words of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Palestine was not a recognized country.
Amidst such (sadly typical) negation, Dreams Of A Nation, a weekend-long festival of Palestinian films, beginning Friday, January 24th, at New York’s Columbia University,
could hardly be more appropriately named.
Amidst such (sadly typical) negation, Dreams Of A Nation, a weekend-long festival of Palestinian films, beginning Friday, January 24th, at New York’s Columbia University,
could hardly be more appropriately named.
Showcasing the breadth and depth of Palestinian filmmaking, each of the 34 short films, documentaries and video diaries articulate the many dimensions of the Palestinian experience. The themes range from the hardships of occupation, the isolation of exile and recollections of Palestinian childhood — and their cultural connectivity highlights the subtle difference between nationhood and statehood, a difference the Oscar committee would be well advised to acknowledge.