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Thursday, September 26, 2013

THE PALESTINIAN FESTIVAL



(Ahmed Deeb)

The Palestinian Festival is the first of its kind and will be held from September 27 to October 20 2013 at the Durban Art Gallery, consisting of a Palestinian Film Festival, a photographic exhibition and cultural content reflecting the cultural heritage traditions.

Titled Phambili Palestine Phambili, meaning Go forward Palestine Strive Ahead, the exhibition is a national initiative that is set to be launched at the Durban Art Gallery and will be staged in Cape Town and Johannesburg with allied events being co-ordinated regionally thereafter by national partners.

The exhibition launch on September 26 will be hosted by the Mayor James Nxumalo, inaugurated by Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim, and Ambassador of Palestine in South Africa HE Abel Hafez Nofal.

The Palestine Festival - South Africa 2013 aims to showcase to South Africans the current realities in Palestine’s modern history. Through the photographic exhibition and film screenings, it will explore various themes that depict Palestinian life since the beginning of the 19th century. Socially resonant stories are told in the images which come alive beyond the confines of the two dimensional in an exhibition and film screenings to inform and inspire discussion.

The festival, which is the first of its kind, will feature content from Israeli, Palestinian and international photographers and journalists - Ahmed Deeb and Mahmoud Emad Al Zanoon from the Gaza Strip, and French photo journalist based in Ramallah Eloise Bollack, who is currently in South Africa. South African content is provided by the Durban University of Technology’s Department of Photography and feature Posters by South African school children dedicated to the children of Palestine, from a Palestinian Solidarity Alliance competition that had been dedicated to the children of Palestine.

A host of daily activities and events over the three week duration are to be held at the Durban Art Gallery workshop venues which include workshops that engage on diverse subject matter with experts from Palestine and partner South African organisations. These include culture, traditional handicrafts and heritage workshops which are to be displayed alongside displays of product designs by the Irada Project for the Disabled that supports young Palestinians disabled by the attacks on Gaza. Also featured will be the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Sulafa traditional Embroidery project that supports women of refugee camps of the Gaza Strip and a host of Palestinian themed events will be staged across Durban. Fairtrade Palestine Products from the organization named Zayotun will also be featured along with their workshops.

Seminars will be held, focusing on technical skills training for photography, photo journalism workshops with the Faculty of Art and Design at Durban University of Technology (DUT), daily walkabouts with the photographers, film screenings and educator workshops for high schools, the book launch of Why Israel? by South African authors Suraya Dadoo and Feroz Osman, and the Palestine Freedom walk on 29 September.

The Palestine Film Festival in Durban aims to create an avenue for showcasing films about Palestine and to promote films by Palestinian directors to bring honest and independent views of Palestine and its diaspora’s society, culture, and political travails through the art of film. A major goal of the Festival is to directly expose our local community to the perspective of artists as a first step toward circumventing the many government and media filters that pollute our understanding of Palestine and the wider region. Films by Palestinian directors and other filmmakers who have made films about Palestine - both documentary and feature films - will be screened alongside the exhibition and venues across Durban including the Kwa Zulu Natal Society for the Arts KZNSA, Alliance Francaise and Ekhaya Centre in Kwa Mashu.

The exhibition launch event to kick off the festival will take place on September 26 at the Durban Art Gallery, hosted by the Mayor James Nxumalo and will be inaugurated by Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim, Ambassador of Palestine in South Africa HE Abel Hafez Nofal and South African icon Ahmed Kathrada.

The festival will conclude on October 20 at the Durban Art Gallery . More information on email: palfestsa2013@gmail.com
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