From our friends at the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival...
The sixth annual DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival (DCPFAF) kicks off Wednesday, October 5 at the District Architecture Center with a Portal to Gaza, Palestine and an opening reception.
Running from October 5-9 and featuring 27 events, 33 films, and an architecture exhibit that includes a virtual pop-up Portal, the 2016 DCPFAF will showcase the work of Palestinian artists and filmmakers and explore themes of migration, attachment to place and homemaking for diasporic communities. The festival will take place in Chinatown, DC, with its hub and box office at the District Architecture Center.
The DCPFAF will begin at noon on Wednesday, October 5 with an hour-long Performance at the Portal, an event that will recur October 5-8 and features collaborative performances between artists in Gaza, Palestine and Washington, DC connecting via audio-visual technology.
The October 5 Performance at the Portal will feature Fatima al-Ghoul, an artist in Gaza recently covered by Reuters for her unorthodox use of henna as a medium; Fuad Nazmi, a cartoonist in Gaza; Amin “Drew” Law, a Palestinian-American champion slam poet local to DC; and Sol Band, a musical band from Gaza. Other Performances at the Portal range from traditional Palestinian dabke and flamenco dance performances, to stand-up comedy, to traditional Arabic music. See the full program, including artist and performer bios, at www.dcpfaf.org/program.
The October 5 Performance at the Portal will feature Fatima al-Ghoul, an artist in Gaza recently covered by Reuters for her unorthodox use of henna as a medium; Fuad Nazmi, a cartoonist in Gaza; Amin “Drew” Law, a Palestinian-American champion slam poet local to DC; and Sol Band, a musical band from Gaza. Other Performances at the Portal range from traditional Palestinian dabke and flamenco dance performances, to stand-up comedy, to traditional Arabic music. See the full program, including artist and performer bios, at www.dcpfaf.org/program.
Later in the evening, at 6:30 PM on October 5, the sixth annual DCPFAF’s opening reception will take place at the District Architecture Center. Palestinian architect Iman Fayyad, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Amar Bakshi, creator of Shared_Studios, will deliver remarks relating to the festival’s theme: Palestine Across the Diaspora: Stories on Home + Migration.
Over the four day festival, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in a century of Palestinian architecture at the District Architecture Center, attend a number of DC and US film premieres, hear talks on the global refugee crisis and migration, and more. Critically acclaimed feature film, 3000 Nights, will close the festival at 7:00 pm on Sunday, October 9, with filmmaker and director Mai Masri in attendance for a question and answer session with the audience.
To learn more about the DCPFAF and the 2016 program, visit www.dcpfaf.org.
About the DCPFAF:
Founded in 2011, the annual DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival (DCPFAF) is a 501c3 non-profit, volunteer-run enterprise that showcases the work of Palestinian filmmakers and artists around the world to audiences in the DC metro area.
The stories shared in this festival are not necessarily about Palestine in relation to Israeli occupation and apartheid, nor are they stories necessarily about Palestinians. The aim of the DCPFAF is to reflect the dynamic formation of a transnational identity common to Palestinians and diasporic communities in general. The festival also aims to bring DC's various communities together through art, and using Palestinian filmmakers and artists as an entry point to catalyze invigorating and productive discussions about film and culture.
