P is for Palestine
Muhammad El KhairyLanguage is political in this subtle short film that shows an unnamed man in Amman, Jordan repeating decontextualized political English words all including the letter P - a letter that doesn't exist in the Arabic language, meaning that one’s pronunciation of it is coded socially and economically.
Vibrations from Gaza
Rehab NazzalIn Vibrations from Gaza, Deaf children who call Gaza home share their experiences of Israel’s frequent military attacks.
At the verge of worldlessness
Alaa Abu AsadRelying on sound editing and its effects, this stop motion video delves deeper into understanding the photograph: exceeding its specific time and place and exposing what lies beyond what is seen in each image. The work looks into and through each photograph in search of any gap—an opening or crack, visible or invisible—imagining what might be “hiding” in them. What can these photographs teach us about their time and place? Their past and present-day lives? And possible foreseeing of the future?
Feast of Inhabitants
Larissa SansourA group of friends meet in Bethlehem, Palestine for a lavish feast.
Balconies
Kamal AljafariAn experimental meditation focusing on the deteriorating and unfinished balconies of Kamal Aljafari’s hometown, Ramleh, inspired by Federico García Lorca’s “Romance sonámbulo.” But now I am not I, nor is my house now my house…
Deep Sleep
Basma al-SharifTemporarily restricted from travel to the Gaza Strip, I undertook the study and practice of autohypnosis with the purpose of bi-locating into multiple places at once. Paired with field recordings rendered into a binaural beat soundtrack, Deep Sleep is made up of a year-long work of bi-location sessions recorded onto Super 8mm film. The result is a movement through the ruins of ancient civilizations as embedded in modern civilization-in-ruins. Deep Sleep draws from the historical avant-garde cinema to produce an invitation to move through a body as a body, to transcend geographical borders in a collective act that discards memory in exchange for a visceral present. -Basma al-Sharif
Parables for the Future Sun
Images Festival is humbled to present Parables for the Future Sun, an online program that features Palestinian artists and filmmakers who have worked with the festival over the past ten years. With contributions by Alaa Abu Asad, Basma al-Sharif, Kamal Aljafari, Larissa Sansour, Muhammad Nour ElKhairy and Rehab Nazzal, the program oscillates between reality and possibility, soaring across generations, throughout the diaspora and back home again.Parables for the Future Sun is an offering through video of wishes, tales, and testimony to the sun for safekeeping.
We continue to urge the cessation of destruction of innocent life and essential infrastructure amounting to war crimes under international law. We plead with our local and national leaders to work on ending the genocide as well as the occupation and apartheid in Palestine in alignment with the global community of human rights advocates including B'Tselem, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations.
Images has had the privilege of presenting work by many Palestinian artists and curators over the course of our 37-year history. As a film festival operating on stolen land, we acknowledge the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report and will work to platform the voices of artists at a time when voices are being suppressed, censored, and erased. Please continue to share and support the work of Palestinian artists and filmmakers. Parables for the Future Sun is available globally for two weeks beginning February 15 and extending until February 29, 2024. It is free to the public.
Content Warning: Strong strobing effect throughout Deep Sleep by Basma al-Sharif
February 29, 2024
