Struggling to Be Seen: The Travails of Palestinian Cinema

IF 1.2 3区 社会学 Q1 AREA STUDIES Journal of Palestine Studies Pub Date : 2022-04-13 DOI:10.1080/0377919X.2022.2040881
Samirah Alkassim
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Abstract

In this slim and affordable book, Anandi Ramamurthy and Paul Kelemen write with authority from their respective engagements as professors, curators, and activists. Struggling to Be Seen: The Travails of Palestinian Cinema educates newcomers to the Palestinian struggle, but it can also be appreciated by the Palestine-solidarity base for its concise overview of the challenges, past and present, characterizing Palestinian cinema. As such, it delivers the objectives of its publisher, Daraja Press, in creating cultures of solidarity and supporting emancipatory struggles of oppressed people across the world. Relying on primary documents and field-based methodology, this book offers an accessible primer for undergraduate and graduate classes, as well as the general public. It consists of an introduction, six short chapters, a conclusion, and twenty pages of back matter, including a filmography and four appendices that provide colorful visual documentations corresponding to the chapters. Across these components, the authors identify essential issues and challenges from production to exhibition and reception, key figures and texts, and recommended films. In so doing, they situate the creation and sustenance of Palestinian cinema as crucial to countering the erasure of Palestine, particularly when screened within Western cultural centers. They frame their book as the outcome of collaborative research conducted with Palestinian film organizations and British cultural organizations to examine the programming of Palestinian cinema in the UK, which they offer as potentially instructive to such programming in other countries. This comparison is clarified in the chapters described below. The book skims the history of Palestinian filmmaking (chapter 1, pp. 7–12), presenting examples of contemporary resistance through collective endeavors focused on building film culture in Palestine. It follows organizations like Filmlab in Ramallah (chapter 2, pp. 13–19), Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem, and the Palestine Film Institute in Jerusalem (chapter 1) to demonstrate the continuity of Palestinian cinema despite the challenges created by the political impasse of the Israeli occupation. The authors’ main concern with the preservation of Palestinian cinema is evidenced (chapter 3, pp. 20–28) in the experience they recount of restoring five revolutionary films held in private collections, to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Nakba. They provide short analyses of several films, both fiction and documentary (chapter 4, pp. 29–35), that exemplify the difficulties of checkpoints, borders, exile, and displacement that have asserted their thematic significance in Palestinian cinema. They note (chapter 5, pp. 36–42) the increasing number of Palestinian filmmakers since the early 2000s and discuss the necessity of creating spaces and opportunities to see their films while trying to reach wider audiences beyond the base. Lastly, they address (chapter 6, pp. 43–51) a new genre of short films made by Palestinian filmmakers that exemplifies innovative storytelling modes and techniques, as well as the difficulty of obtaining funding for feature filmmaking. It is this last chapter that reveals the most compelling contribution of the book, which is its usefulness outside academic settings and as a model for film programmers. The authors
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挣扎着被看到:巴勒斯坦电影的艰辛
在这本薄薄的、价格合理的书中,Anandi Ramamurthy和Paul Kelemen以教授、策展人和活动家的身份,以权威的身份写作。《被看到的斗争:巴勒斯坦电影的陷阱》教育了巴勒斯坦斗争的新来者,但它也因其对巴勒斯坦电影过去和现在的挑战的简要概述而受到巴勒斯坦团结基地的赞赏。因此,它实现了其出版商达拉贾出版社的目标,即创造团结文化,支持世界各地被压迫人民的解放斗争。这本书依靠主要的文献和基于领域的方法,为本科生和研究生班以及公众提供了一本入门读物。它由一个引言、六个简短的章节、一个结论和二十页的背景材料组成,包括一本电影集和四个附录,这些附录提供了与章节相对应的丰富多彩的视觉文档。在这些组成部分中,作者确定了从制作到展览和接待、关键人物和文本以及推荐电影的基本问题和挑战。在这样做的过程中,他们将巴勒斯坦电影的创作和维持视为对抗巴勒斯坦被抹去的关键,尤其是在西方文化中心放映时。他们将自己的书定义为与巴勒斯坦电影组织和英国文化组织合作研究的结果,以研究巴勒斯坦电影在英国的节目编排,他们认为这可能对其他国家的此类节目编排有指导意义。这种比较在下文所述的章节中得到了澄清。这本书简要介绍了巴勒斯坦电影制作的历史(第1章,第7-12页),展示了当代通过集体努力在巴勒斯坦建立电影文化进行抵抗的例子。它跟随拉马拉的Filmlab(第2章,第13-19页)、伯利恒的Dar al-Kalima大学艺术与文化学院和耶路撒冷的巴勒斯坦电影学院(第1章)等组织,展示了巴勒斯坦电影的连续性,尽管以色列占领的政治僵局带来了挑战。作者对保护巴勒斯坦电影的主要关注(第3章,第20-28页)体现在他们讲述的修复五部私人收藏的革命电影的经历中,以纪念Nakba成立70周年。他们对几部电影进行了简短的分析,包括小说和纪录片(第4章,第29-35页),这些电影举例说明了检查站、边境、流亡和流离失所的困难,这些困难在巴勒斯坦电影中具有主题意义。他们注意到(第5章,第36-42页)自21世纪初以来,巴勒斯坦电影制作人的数量不断增加,并讨论了创造观看他们电影的空间和机会的必要性,同时努力接触到基地以外更广泛的观众。最后,他们谈到了(第6章,第43-51页)巴勒斯坦电影制作人制作的一种新的短片类型,它体现了创新的讲故事模式和技术,以及获得故事片制作资金的困难。正是这最后一章揭示了这本书最引人注目的贡献,那就是它在学术环境之外的有用性,以及作为电影程序员的典范。作者
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.10
自引率
0.00%
发文量
56
期刊介绍: The Journal of Palestine Studies, the only North American journal devoted exclusively to Palestinian affairs and the Arab-Israeli conflict, brings you timely and comprehensive information on the region"s political, religious, and cultural concerns. Inside you"ll find: •Feature articles •Interviews •Book reviews •Quarterly updates on conflict and diplomacy •A settlement monitor •Detailed chronologies •Documents and source material •Bibliography of periodical literature
期刊最新文献
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