Wednesday, April 27: Flying Paper and Gaza From Within: A Return to Seifa Village

Screening of "Flying Paper: A Documentary Film about Gaza" & "Gaza From Within: Return to Seifa Village" with Filmmaker Nitin Sawhney and Q&A Panel

Please join us at Rabbithole Studios for a screening and Q&A for Flying Paper and Gaza From Within: A Return to Seifa Village by filmmakers Nitin Sawhney and Roger Hill

$10 sliding scale suggested donation
Doors open at 6:30pm + screening begins at 7pm

Flying Paper

     Flying Paper is the uplifting story of Palestinian children in Gaza engaged in the fascinating culture of kite making and flying.

     The film follows Musa, a charismatic teenaged kite-maker in the village of Seifa, and Abeer an aspiring young journalist in the Jabalya refugee camp. They join a remarkable quest, along with thousands of other children, to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown. It showcases the creative resilience of these children making and flying kites despite the difficult realities they face in their daily lives. The film has been co-produced with young Palestinians in Gaza trained by the filmmakers through a youth media program called Voices Beyond Walls.  Through the perspective of children and young people comes a story of determination and artistic expression as the youth in the film work together to achieve a shared goal.   

     While the record-breaking event is what drives the film's narrative arc, it is the everyday stories of the young kite makers that will touch audiences through their humor and playful spirit. The film seeks to humanize the conflict through a touching cinematic rendering of the fascinating kite culture among children as a form of creative resistance in Gaza.

     The tone of Flying Paper is a counter to the serious and heavy  tone of most documentaries on the subject of Palestine.  We aim to make an enjoyable Narrative Documentary that is inspiring and uplifting, which focuses on the achievements of youth in Gaza who endure hardships, but are resilient in their efforts to represent themselves and their culture with pride and grace. The political situation and suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza isn't ignored in the film, but rather it is part of the context in which an inspiring story with engaging characters takes place.  

Gaza From Within: Return to Seifa Village

     This short film profiles a distressing episode in the lives of Musa and Widad Al Ghoul, two young Palestinian siblings living with their extended family in the village of Seifa on the northern border area of Gaza, just weeks after Israeli artillery devastates their home during the war in the summer of 2014. In the four years since participating in the breaking of the Guinness Record for the most kites ever flown (as showcased in the feature-length documentary film Flying Paper), Musa and Widad, now young adults, confront the aftermath of war along with their grandfather Abu Ziad. The film captures a snapshot of young lives and families in turmoil, adapting to the harsh realities of yet another violent disruption to their hopes and aspirations in Gaza. It includes stunning images taken by award-winning photographer Anne Paq, working closely with young Gazan journalist Abeer Ahmed in the midst of the war.

Speakers:

Nitin Sawhney, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the New School. His research, teaching and creative practice engages the critical role of technology, civic media, and artistic interventions in contested spaces. Nitin previously taught at the MIT Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) and conducted research at the MIT Media Lab. He examines social movements and crisis contexts, though forms of creative urban tactics, participatory research, performance and documentary film. Since 2006, Nitin co-founded a nonprofit initiative Voices Beyond Walls to conduct digital video and storytelling workshops with youth in Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza. During a 5-year period, the program was conducted in over 10 refugee camps with nearly 70 video shorts produced. Nitin recently began a participatory media project, Zona Intervenida, focusing on genocide, memory and body through site-specific performance interventions in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.Nitin also co-founded the Boston Palestine Film Festival and served on its original Organizing Committee 2007-2009. Flying Paper is his first feature-length documentary film.

Jen Marlowe (Playwright/Producer) is an award-winning author/filmmaker/playwright and human rights/social justice activist. Her plays include There Is A Field. Her books include I Am Troy Davis, The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian’s Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker, which won the 2012 Middle East Monitor’s Palestine Book Award, and Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. Her films include One Family in Gaza, Rebuilding Hope: Sudan’s Lost Boys Return Home and Darfur Diaries: Message from Home, and, just completed, Witness Bahrain. For more information about Jen’s work, visit www.donkeysaddle.org

Ben Norton is a journalist and writer based in New York City. His work has been featured in a variety of publications, and he is presently a politics staff writer at Salon. His website can be found at BenNorton.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenjaminNorton.

For more information about the filmmakers and ongoing production efforts in Gaza please visit: http://flyingpaper.org