From the Archive of Resistance
From the Archive of Resistance will bring together two films from the Palestine Film Unit (now the Palestine Cinema Institute). Films produced by the Palestine Film Unit attempt to reclaim Palestinian self-image and narrative through revolutionary and militant cinema, transforming a people “from refugees to freedom fighters”.
Off Frame: Revolution Until Victory (Mohanad Yaqubi, 2016, 62’) weaves together fragments of films that had been sent around the world, as the archives kept by the Palestine Film Unit were destroyed. Through the trajectory of historical time, the film presents collected images on the screen as resurrecting a forgotten memory, while gesturing towards what is left out, or is off frame.
Resistance, Why? (Christian Ghazi, 1971, 56’) is a recently salvaged documentary film by the radical documentarian Christian Ghazi that captures a crucial cross-section of the Palestinian resistance in Lebanon in 1970, including never before seen footage of Ghassan Kanafani, a prominent political thinker, militant, and journalist, as well the spokesperson of the PFLP who was assassinated by Mossad.
This event is in collaboration with the organization Nadi Lekol Nas.
from the river to the sea project is a global series of screenings/presentations in solidarity with Palestine working to support oppressed narratives, initiate dialogues, nurture systems of care, and draw upon our audiences’ proactive support to uncover ways to organize towards our collective liberation, from Turtle Island to Palestine.
Screenings in Windsor, a city built on the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg people of the Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa) will work to bring together our community to foster discussion, understanding, and give us tools for collective action to stand against genocide.
Entrance will be by donation, fundraising for Medical Aid for Palestine.
Children are welcome! There will be a colouring station and facilitator present.
Artcite’s exhibition space is fully accessible, except for the bathroom, which is down a flight of stairs.
WHAT IS BDS?
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement works to end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians and demands that Israel to comply with international law through economic and cultural pressure.
BDS is a non-violent grassroots tactic that applies pressure on corporations and institutions supporting Israel’s regime of settler colonialism, apartheid, and occupation over the Palestinian people.
Because states, corporations, institutions, and those in power have refused to take action to stop this injustice, in 2005, Palestinian civil society called for global citizens to take up BDS in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.
WHAT IS PACBI?
The state of Israel has systematically destroyed Palestinian art and culture in order to erase Palestinian identity and connection to the land. At the same time, Israel overtly uses culture as a form of propaganda to whitewash or justify its regime of occupation, settler-colonialism, and apartheid over the Palestinian people.
The state developed and funds the “Brand Israel” campaign depicting Israel as a Westernized modern, liberal, and civilized cultural bastion surrounded by barbaric nations.
Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, the deputy director general of the campaign, has explained: “We are seeing culture as a hasbara [propaganda] tool of the first rank, and I do not differentiate between hasbara and culture.”
In order to counter these propaganda efforts, PACBI urges international cultural workers and cultural organizations, including unions and associations, to boycott and/or work towards the cancellation of events, activities, agreements, or projects involving Israel, its lobby groups, or its cultural institutions.
Boycotts are aimed at institutions and not individuals. The only exception is when an individual cultural worker is an official representative of the state or a complicit Israeli cultural institution.
WHAT DOES "FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA" MEAN?
This phrase has long been a call for liberation for the Palestinian lands to be a just, free, and peaceful state for all, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or gender. Before the establishment of the state of Israel, the lands of Palestine had long been a place where people of all backgrounds were welcomed and lived together peacefully.