Palestinian Film Festival - Sydney 2008

Edward Said's book Orientalism has been profoundly influential in a diverse range of disciplines since its publication in 1978. In this engaging and lavishly illustrated interview he talks about the context within which the book was conceived, its main themes, and how its original thesis relates to the contemporary understanding of "the Orient" as represented in the mass media. "Edward Said is one of the most influential scholars in the world." Columbia News

Judge Abu Laila (Mohamed Bakri) is forced to become a taxi driver when the government runs out of money to pay for his wages. On the day of his daughter Laila’s seventh birthday, his wife insists that he needs to be home early with a present and a cake. Abu Laila has nothing else on his mind than completing this mission. But the daily life in Palestine is a bit chaotic and takes him in many other directions before he gets home.

This groundbreaking documentary dissects a problematic aspect of cinematic history that has run virtually unchallenged from the earliest days of silent film to today's biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Featuring acclaimed author Dr. Jack Shaheen, the film explores a long line of degrading images of Arabs - from Bedouin bandits and submissive maidens to sinister sheikhs and gun-wielding "terrorists" - offering devastating insights into the origin of these stereotypical images, their development at key points in US history, and why they matter so much today.

Soraya, 28, born and raised in Brooklyn, decides to return to live in Palestine, a country that her family was exiled from in 1948. On arriving in Ramallah, Soraya tries to recover the money left in an account by her grandparents but meets with refusal from the bank. Her path then crosses that of Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, unlike hers, is to leave the country for good. To escape the constraints linked to the situation in Palestine but also to earn their freedom, Soraya and Emad take things into their own hands, even if this means breaking the law. In this quest for life, we follow their trail through the History of a lost Palestine.

Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them.

The documentary is about eight writers from the International Parliament of Writers who visit renowned Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in Palestine as an “example of fine linguistic collaboration.”