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Middle East Movie Night – Palestine

This is the second serving this year of the Middle East Movie Nights; a collaborative venture between the NUS Middle East Institute and The Arts house which is on its third year now.  The June screenings features a double bill of movies in honour of Palestine: Divine Intervention and Private; two different cinematic portrayal of life in the occupied territories.

Director & Writer : Elia Suleiman | Cast: Elia Suleiman, Manal Khader and George Ibrahim |2002|Palestine | 90 min | Type of film: Drama/ Romance/ Comedy | Arabic and Hebrewwith English Subtitles | Rating M18

Divine Intervention Theatrical Trailer

 Divine Intervention, or Yadon Ilaheyya, may be described as a surreal comedy. The film consists largely of a series of brief interconnected vignettes, but, for the most part, records a day in the life of a Palestinian living in Nazareth, whose girlfriend lives several checkpoints away in the West Bank city of Ramallah. One lyrical section features a beautiful sunglasses-clad Palestinian woman (played by Manal Khader) whose passing by not only distracts all eyes, but whose gaze causes Israeli military checkpoint towers to crumble. The director features prominently as the film’s silent, expressionless protagonist in aniconic and powerfully moving performance has been compared to the work of Buster Keaton, Jim Jarmusch and Jacques Tati. The film is noted for its minimal use of dialogue, its slow pace and repetition in behavior by its characters.

The film, screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival on May 12,  was awarded the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize for “its sensitive, amusing and innovative vision of a complex and topical situation and the tragic consequences that result from it”.

“One of the top ten films of the year!” Time Magazine “(The) film achieves a level of artistry and firm control over a clear, concise vision.” Hollywood Reporter

Registration Desk opened from 7pm onwards. Participants were reminded to arrive early for registrations in order to avoid delay of the screening.