The Center for Palestine Studies, and Deep Dish Presents: Where Should the Birds Fly
/Saturday, April 5th, 7:30pm
The Center for Palestine Studies, and Deep Dish Present: Where Should the Birds Fly
Fida Qishta, 2014, 70 min.
Where Should the Birds Fly tells the story of two young women of Gaza: Fida Quishta, the filmmaker, and Mona Samouni, an amazingly poised 10 year old who lost 29 members of her immediate family to Israeli rockets, including parents, nieces and sisters-in-law . It is the story of the farmers, fishermen, and dispossessed of Gaza -- their everyday struggles to live their lives as they struggle to maintain humanity in the in the face of brutality and hope for the future in the confines of the prison camp of Gaza. It is the first film made by a filmmaker from Gaza that documents the 2008-09 Israeli attack and its aftermath. Produced by Deep Dish TV.
Q&A with director Fida Qishta and Lila Abu-Lughod, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University, Director of Middle East Institute, co-editor of Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory and author of Do Muslim Women Need Saving?, and Brinkley Messick, co-director of the Center for Palestine Studies, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University and author of The Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim Society.
Reception featuring Palestinian cuisine following the discussion.
Fida Qishta is a Palestinian camerawoman/editor and filmmaker, born in Rafah City in the south of Gaza. Since 2006 she has worked as a journalist, producing news stories and documentaries in the Gaza. Her articles have appeared in the U.K. Observer and Guardian newspapers and The International Herald Tribune. She is a qualified teacher and in 2004 founded the Life Makers Center in Rafah, Gaza to teach English and drama to traumatized children. In this film Fida has documented the horrific Israeli invasion and bombardment of Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. She and her crew of young videographers kept their cameras rolling for months, recording the struggle of the people of Gaza to retrieve some sense of normalcy from the absolute abnormality of life in the world’s largest prison camp, sealed off on all sides by Israeli and Egyptian walls, barbed wire and military. Where Should The Birds Fly is her first feature documentary film.
Trailer:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYElWGKHYgY
BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/613599
