Palestine Student Film Festival


Rev. J. Mark Davidson | November 18, 2020

This morning, Duke's Center for Documentary Studies presented 8 dazzling short films from Palestinian filmmakers. If you ever get a chance to see the films of talented young Palestinian filmmakers, don't miss it. I promise you won't be disappointed. What came through powerfully for me was the pathos of Palestinian life; in the midst of immense tragedy and loss, the irrepressible human spirit, stories of passion and resilience, hopes and dreams. So many of the portraits were of young people: 

  • a young nurse caring for desperate people in the hospital, inundated by trauma and suffering, whose quest is to "change the meaning of red"…

  • a family expelled from their home in the Nakba in 1948, make a new home for themselves in the West Bank, only to see Israelis build the Wall right through their property and encircle them with an Israeli settlement, yet they decide, "this is our home, and we will not leave"…

  • a young man joins the Great March of Return, is shot by Israeli snipers not once, but three times below the waist, leaving him permanently disabled, and yet his friends roll him in his wheelchair back to the protest every day, where they buttress each other's brave belief that the "dream of return" to their ancestral homes in Israel will become a reality…

  • a young woman from a devastated bombed-out neighborhood in Gaza loves flowers, yearns for peace, but says she is "scared to look at the stars because they might turn suddenly into the lights that kill"…

  • a young bride eagerly awaits her wedding day, revels in the beauty of her mother's white lace dress which she will wear, yet her "beautiful time" is postponed by the pandemic…

  • a young woman tragically has her leg amputated, yet resolves to live a dignified life, develops her singing voice and her sparkling personality, and becomes "the cherry of her class" at university…

  • a young woman has a dream to be an equestrian, daily grooms, feeds, and rides her horse named "Amigo", all this occurring in Gaza, the world's largest "open prison", on the brink of unlivability…

The ongoing devastation visited daily upon the Palestinian people by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the siege and periodic massacres in Gaza, the grinding reality of seeming hopelessness. And yet, there is sumud, the steadfast hope the Palestinian people are known for. These short films bring us poignant slices of Palestinian life, artistically rendered, and call upon us to support their dreams for life, dignity, and freedom. How can we support their dreams but by fighting for their rights?

Rev. J. Mark Davidson


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