As part of #IsraeliApartheidWeek 2023 and to mark International Women’s Day you are invited to a special one day Palestine film festival in on Sunday 5th March in The Pearse Centre, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 hosted by the Dublin branch of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

The screening times are SHARP, and entry to all films is free.

Robert Navan Memorial Screening

1pm: Roadmap to Apartheid

As a tribute to our late friend Robert Navan of the Progressive Film Club, we are re-screening this classic 2012 documentary.

Sadly as still as relevant today as when it was released a decade ago, this is an ideal film for both those looking to learn more about the Palestinian issue, and for those seeking to deepen their knowledge regarding Israel’s Apartheid regime imposed upon the Palestinian people.

There are many lessons to draw from the South African experience of Apartheid relevant to conflicts all over the world. Roadmap to Apartheid explores in detail the apartheid comparison as it is used in the enduring Israel-Palestine conflict. As much an historical document of the rise and fall of apartheid, the film shows us why many Palestinians feel they are living in an apartheid system today, and why an increasing number of people around the world agree with them.

Runtime: 90mins
Released: 2012
Language: English & Arabic with English Subtitles
Directors: Ana Nogueira & Eron Davidson

 

3pm: Lost Cities of Palestine

What was Palestine like before Israel? This films offers an extraordinary insight into Palestinian life in the city before 1948, revealing the loss of a culture and lifestyle.

Rarely seen archival footage accompanies memories and accounts of forgotten Palestinian cities and the catastrophic effect when colonial settlers drove two-thirds of the indigenous people from their homes into exile in 1948.

This is a rare opportunity to see Palestine as it was in the 30s and 40s and learn about the everyday life and culture of urban Palestine before Israel’s violent creation.

Runtime: 50mins
Released: 2014
Language: English & Arabic with English Subtitles
Director: Ramez Kazmouz

International Women’s Day – Film Premiere

4:30pm: Fadia’s Tree

To end our film festival, we are honoured to host the premiere screening of this award-winning new documentary film, directed by Sarah Beddington.

While millions of birds migrate freely in the skies, a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon, yearns for the ancestral homeland she is denied. She challenges Sarah, the Director, to find an ancient mulberry tree that stands as witness to her family’s existence — with only inherited memories, a blind man and a two-headed dragon as her guides. Along the way, Sarah meets with ornithologists whose observations on the homing instincts of the birds highlight the unresolved problems of the region.

Spanning fifteen years, this story of a friendship that stays connected across a divided land and a fragmented people adopts a birds’ eye perspective to reflect on freedom of movement, exile and the hope of return.

“A poetic meditation on exile and return.” – Selma Dabbagh, Electronic Intifada

“Fadia’s Tree is a very beautiful film: You emerge into the light with your understanding intensified, feeling perhaps a little altered. It both tells a personal story and presents a political narrative by delicate metaphor, never harangues, is elegantly paced, and very timely.” – James Woodall, journalist and writer

“I felt compelled to create a brand new judging criteria for this film because it showed me something so extraordinary about a subject matter I thought I knew quite well.” – Maythem Ridha, award-winning filmmaker and festival juror

Runtime: 80mins
Released: 2022
Language: English, Arabic & Hebrew with English Subtitles
Director: Sarah Beddington