Program for
June - July 2008

Exhibitions

60 Years
An exhibition in commemoration
of the Nakba

Ahmad Nawash | retroscpective
Naji Al Ali | caricature
Suha Shoman | video art

June 3, 2008 - July 31, 2008

Tuesday at the Darat
Archaeological Site @ 7:30 pm
 

17/06/2008
Summer 2006, Palestine
2006 | 35 min

For Summer 2006, Palestine, established and emerging Palestinian filmmakers have come together in a project that reflects the “mood” of the dreadful summer when Israel carried out devastating military attacks on Gaza as well as Lebanon.  In three minutes or less, filmmakers were asked to tell their stories in a single take. Despite the fact that Palestinians have been dispersed across the globe and that the majority of them are unable to return to their homeland, participation in Summer 2006, Palestine, which was initiated by the Palestinian Filmmakers' Collective, was limited to filmmakers who live there.The result is a mosaic of 13 short films produced across the country that convey the personal, political and poetic spirit of a people struggling for freedom. [Films in Arabic with English subtitles]

Summer 2006, Palestine is part of a touring exhibition of videos curated by Rasha Salti and organized by ArteEast (www.arteeast.org).

Films:

Red, dead and mediterranean: Akram al Ashqar, Security leak: Rowan Al Faqih, Checkmate: Amer Shomali, Jenan: Riyad Deis, Flee: Ahmad Habash, Coffee & cigarettes: Ismael Habbash, Sound of the street: Anne Marie Jacir, Football on a thursday afternoon: Liana Bader, Ferkesh (called off): May Odeh, Traffic: Mohanad Yaqubi, A world apart within 15 minutes: Enas Muthaffar, To the arabs of haifa a special message: Razi Najjar, Not just any sea: Nahed Awwad

Summer of '85 
2005 | 11 min

A film by Rawan Al Faqih

The screenings of East to West and Summer of '85 are courtesy of Shashat, a non-governmental organization in Palestine whose focus is on women’s cinema and the social and cultural implications of women’s representations. (www.shashat.org)  [Films in Arabic with English subtitles]

24/06/2008
Book launch: Palestinian Women Artists: the Land = the Body = the Narrative

Presentation by Reem Fadda, Editor

Published by The Palestinian Art Court – al Hoash in Arabic, English, and Spanish, and edited by the curator and current Academic Director of the International Academy of Art Palestine Reem Fadda, this lavishly illustrated, comprehensive book features the work of 41 Palestinian women artists whose selection transgresses generational and geographical borders to look at creative individuals who are actively contributing to the development of a thriving contemporary practice.

1/07/2008
Edward Said: The Last Interview
2005 | 208 min

A documentary by Mike Dibb

Edward Said was born in Jerusalem in 1935. Internationally acclaimed for his books on literature, on the intersection of politics and culture, and on orientalism, Said was the most prominent spokesman for the Palestinian cause outside of the Middle East in addition to being an accomplished musician.

Diagnosed with incurable leukemia in 1991, towards the end of his life Said simply stopped giving interviews. But in November 2002 he made a final exception, and over the course of three days spoke with unparalleled intimacy about his illness, his work, his own life and education, and his enduring preoccupations.

This film is a complete record of those conversations. Edward Said died on September 24, 2003. [Film in English

8/07/2008
Harold Pinter: Art, Truth & Politics
2006 | 46 min

In 2005, Harold Pinter videotaped a lecture that he gave on the occasion of his receiving one of the most distinguished of honors, the Nobel Prize for Literature. His speech, delivered directly to a camera, is a complex reflection on his own writing and a criticism of the United States' foreign policy that made headlines around the world. [Film in English

15/07/2008
Notre Musique
2005, 76 min

A film by Jean-Luc Godard

Part poetry, part journalism, and part philosophy, Jean–Luc Godard's Notre Musique is a mediation on war as seen through the prisms of cinema, text and imagery. Largely set at a literary conference in Sarajevo, the film draws on the conflagration of the Bosnian war, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the brutal treatment of Native Americans and the Legacy of the Nazis. Structured into the kingdoms of Dante's Divine Comedy- Hell, Purgatory and Heaven –  Notre Musique sees real-life literary figures (including Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwich and Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo) intermingle with actors and documentary mesh with fiction. [Film in French with English subtitles]

22/07/2008
Naji al Ali, A Commemoration

Talks:
“Art and Life: Naji al-Ali as a Model” by researcher Abdallah Hammoudeh

“Naji al Ali: A Personal Testimony” by Dr. Issa Dabbah, Philadelphia University

The internationally acclaimed Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali, known for his character Hanthala, began drawing during the 1950s. His talent was discovered by the novelist and artist Ghassan Kanafani in a refugee camp in Lebanon. Governments and newspapers tried to censor Al-Ali throughout his career until he was assassinated in London in 1987.

The Palestine Youth Orchestra:
A Concert

Permanent Exhibitions

"Dar Khalid"
A museum of images reflecting
Khalid Shoman's life and legacy.



Darat al Funun opening hours:

Saturday-Wednesday: 10am - 7pm
Ramadan: 10am - 3pm

Darat Al Funun,
P.O.Box: 5223, Amman 11183, Jordan
Tel: (962-6) 464 3251 /2
Fax: (962-6) 464 3253
darat@thekhalidshomanfoundation.org
www.daratalfunun.org