1. Larissa Sansour's SCI-FI TRILOGY in The Netherlands and in the USA
2. ERASED,___ASCENT OF THE INVISIBLE distribution in Japan, screening in France and DVD
3. BIRDS OF SEPTEMBER in France
4. THE SHOOTER in the USA
5. WAJIB German cinema screenings
6. New on DVD!
7. publication online
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1. Larissa Sansour's SCI-FI TRILOGY in The Netherlands and in the USA

Larissa Sansour's SCI-FI TRILOGY shows in February at the Palestinian Film Festival in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). More over Nation Estate and In the Future They Ate from the Finest Porcelain are presented at the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival (USA).

Content
Under the common themes of loss, belonging, heritage and national identity, the three films A Space Exodus (2008), Nation Estate (2012) and In the Future They Ate from the Finest Porcelain (2015) each explore different aspects of the political turmoil the Middle East.
While A Space Exodus envisions the final uprootedness of the Palestinian experience and takes the current political predicament to its extra-terrestrial extreme by landing the first Palestinian on the moon, Nation Estate reveals a sinister account of an entire population restricted to a single skyscraper, with each Palestinian city confined to a single floor. In the trilogy’s final instalment, In the Future They Ate from the Finest Porcelain, a narrative resistance leader engages in archaeological warfare in a desperate attempt to secure the future of her people. Using the language of sci-fi and glossy production, Sansour’s trilogy presents a dystopian vision of a Middle East on the brink of the apocalypse.
All three films are distributed by mec film, you can book them individually or as package.
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2. ERASED,___ASCENT OF THE INVISIBLE distribution in Japan, screening in France and DVD

mec film is happy to announce that the Japanese institutional rights of Ghassan Halwani's essay documentary are acquired by the Yamagata Film Festival. In February the film is presented at the Travelling Festival in Rennes (France). The DVD can be purchased via mecfilm-shop.com now.

Content
Thirty-five years ago, I witnessed the kidnapping of a man I know.
He has disappeared since.
Ten years ago, I caught a glimpse of his face while walking in the street, but I wasn’t sure it was him.
Parts of his face were torn off, but his features had remained unchanged since the incident. Yet something was different, as if he wasn’t the same man.
essay-documentary, Lebanon 2018, color and black & white, 76 min, Arabic and English with English subtitles
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3. BIRDS OF SEPTEMBER in France

Sarah Francis' Beirut city symphony shows in February at the Tavelling Festival in Rennes (France). You can view the film online with realeyz or buy the DVD.

Content
A glassed van roams the streets of Beirut, home to a camera that explores the city behind the glass. Along the way, several people are invited to share a personal moment in this moving confessional. Each one comes as a face, a body, a posture, a voice, an attitude, an emotion, a point of view, a memory. Their confessions are true, blunt, and intimate. However, soon enough, the van empties again, and roams Beirut; restlessly looking for something, for someone.
documentary, Sarah Francis, Lebanon/Qatar 2013, 99 min, digital, Arabic with English or French subtitles
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4. THE SHOOTER in the USA

Ihab Jadallah's critical short was selected for the program of the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival (USA)  at the end of February. You can buy the DVD here and stream the film via realeyz.

In this short film Ihab Jaddallah evokes – not without a certain humor – the struggle and the resistance of the Palestinians in these times of trouble and chaos through a whimsical self-reference. He thus also denounces the satiric attitude of a journalist, the comportment of the media, spectators and greed for violence. Critical of the instrumentalisation of the war and at the same time manifesting a new generation of Palestinian artists, THE SHOOTER is a meta-film: intelligent, sharp-sighted and skilful. (Paris Cinema)

Content
Palestine is occupied by the international media. It is being staged by the international media for sensational newscasts and Palestinians have become "performers" of dramatic international evening newscasts.
The Shooter questions the Palestinian resistance struggle and its decadence, reaching the point of the actual chaos and lack of control.
short film, Ihab Jadallah, Palestine 2007, 8 min, Beta, colour, Arabic with Engl. ST, additional languages available
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5. WAJIB German cinema screenings

Annmarie Jacir's multi-award winning film continues is showing at German cinemas in February

05.02.2020 Munich (Bellevue Di Monaco)
16.02.2020 Kempten (Colosseum Center)

All updated screening dates here

Content
Abu Shadi is a divorced father and a school teacher in his mid-60s living in Nazareth. After his daughter’s wedding in one month he will be living alone. Shadi, his architect son, arrives from Rome after years abroad to help his father in hand delivering the wedding invitations as per local Palestinian custom. As the estranged pair spend the day together, the tense details of their relationship come to a head challenging their fragile and very different lives.
fiction, Annemarie Jacir, Palestine/France/Germany/Colombia/Norway/Qatar/UAE 2017, 96 min, DCP, Arabic with German ST
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6. New on DVD!

Eccomi ... Ecotti (Here I am ... Here you are)

Eccomi ... Eccoti unfolds as a virtual road trip navigating between Italy and Lebanon. Conditioned to live in a long-distance relationship with his partner
because of strict European visa regulations, the director patches together the
shared moments in an attempt to create a possible day-to-day reality
for their couple.
With a lyrical, ambient soundscape set atop a dreamy, atmospheric visual style that oscillates between still photography and moving images, the film explores what it means to be gay in contemporary Beirut and existential discomfort that blocks one from reaching a sense of complete-ness. Does such in-completeness have to do, in particular, with being gay? Or is it related to a grander malaise endemic to the human condition?

Raed Rafei, documentary, Lebanon 2017, 68 min, color, Arabic/French/Italian/English
subtitles: English
PAL, no regional code
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Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible (Tirss, Rihlat al Sou’oud ila al Mar’i)

Halwani's exemplary structural intelligence and moral sophistication allows him to avoid the pratfalls of cinematic archivality: every minute counts. (Cinema Scope)

Erased is a powerful, thoughtful film on death, trauma, and nationhood. (Scene Creek)

Content
Thirty-five years ago, I witnessed the kidnapping of a man I know.
He has disappeared since.
Ten years ago, I caught a glimpse of his face while walking in the street, but I wasn’t sure it was him.
Parts of his face were torn off, but his features had remained unchanged since the incident. Yet something was different, as if he wasn’t the same man.

Ghassan Halwani, essay-documentary, Lebanon 2018, color and black & white, 76 min, Arabic and English
subtitles: English
PAL, no regional code
more
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7. publication online

The text Palestine in the rearranged world. A second look at the Oslo Accords by Irit Neidhardt (mec film) was published in inamo 99...100 | Winter 2019. It is now available online at linksnet (in German).