This will be a hybrid event, which means you can choose to attend in-person or online.
Please register here
Visual Arts Instantiation and Poetry Display
No registration required Open All Day
A Visual Arts Installation and Poetry display will be up and open all day in the Thomas Paine Study Centre Foyer (TPSC). There will also be an opportunity to record in your own voice Refaat Alareer’s final poem (or any other poem of you choice, befitting the themes of the display). Please also note the deadline of 14th February for all poems to be sent to Dr Syed Haider. You can read more about this here. The Library will also host a display dedicated to Refaat and Palestinian literature and film. Access to these spaces does not require registration, and they are open to all those on campus.
Poetry, Resistance and Survival
Registration required 10am-11.30am
This panel discussion will focus on the role of the arts (and poetry in particular) in offering an alternative voice by which to articulate human values and hear ‘the Other’. What does an aesthetic of resistance look like and how is cultural survival an integral part of preserving one’s identity and community.
Speakers include:
Dr Atef Alshaer (University of Westminster), poet Farah Chamma, Kashif Sharma-Patel (the87press), Dr Naomi Foyle (University of Chichester); Chaired by Mehrunissa Shah (Institute of Education, UCL)
A Homage to Palestinian Cinema
Registration required 12.30pm-1.30pm
Prof. May Ingawanij will speak about her fascinating research and her project on ‘Animistic Apparatus’ which ‘conceptualises the cosmological, agential, and relational characteristics of Southeast Asian artists moving image’, and inspires the art installation in the TPSC Foyer. In this session, Prof. May will help frame the idea of paying homage to Palestinian Cinema through moving image, and an art installation designed to run all day in the absence of a dedicated audience.
Speaker: Prof. May Adadol Ingawanij (University of Westminster); Chaired by Dr Syed Haider (UEA)
Palestinian Cinema: Heritage, Memory and the Present
Registration required
2pm-3.30pm
What is the history of Palestinian filmmaking? Is the theme of conflict unavoidably central to this corner of world cinema? Is there an archive of films that have been produced by Palestinians in the past, and how can it be preserved in the face of ongoing conflict? What is the future of Palestinian cinema? These will be some of the questions and concerns discussed in this roundtable discussion as well as the stories that have emerged from this cinema, and those being forged at present. At its heart, this session will ask, what can the Palestinian screen tell us about Palestinian people ?
Speakers include:
Prof Nadia Yaqub (University of North Carolina, US), Sawsan Darwaza (Karama Film Festival, Jordan), and Alia Yunis (film director, US); Chaired by Dr Syed Haider
Culture, Narrative and Public Discourse
Registration required
5pm-6.30pm
This session will focus on the role of storytelling in contexts of conflict. How do narratives emerge from public discourse and how does public discourse shape the narratives by which we understand ourselves and the lives of others? What role do those active in public discourse play in shaping our cultures? What challenges and constraints exist for them? The privilege of being able to speak and contribute to public discourse is balanced by the responsibility and censure one can face when speaking in and about cultures in conflict. This plenary session will invite us to think about storytelling not only as a mode of cultural production, but a public and political act.
Speakers include:
Gideon Levy (Haaretz), Prof. Iain Chambers (Instituto Orientale di Napoli), and Dr Myriam Francois (journalist and filmmaker); Owen Jones (The Guardian); Chaired by Ashwani Sharma (University of the Arts London)
Film Screening
Registration required
In-person only
7pm-9pm
Ave Maria (dir. Basil Khalil 2015) – Short
The Time That Remains (dir. Elias Sulieman, 2009)
Introduced by Dr Mariagiulia Grassilli / Dr Syed Haider