19 November 2018 @ 20:00 @ Lycée de Garçons (Place Auguste Laurent, Luxembourg-ville): Return to Palestine, by and with The Freedom Theatre (Jenin)
Return to Palestine is directed by Micaela Miranda and devised together with an ensemble of graduated students of The Freedom Theatre School. It was created after extensive story-gathering through playback theatre with the communities engaged in The Freedom Theatre’s annual Freedom Ride. The play includes stories from Jenin refugee camp and city, Fasayel, Dheisheh refugee camp, Mufaqara and Gaza.
The CPJPO (Committe for a Just Peace in the Middle East) knows The Freedom Theatre for long: it was created during the first Intifada in Jenin refugee camp by Anna Mer Khamis, a Jewish Israeli who had chosen de live among Palestinians; her son, the renowned Israeli actor Juliano Mer Khamis reopened the theatre in 2006, before being murdered in 2011 by an enemy of culture and arts. Juliano was a few times in Luxembourg, for his movie Arna’s children. It’s also in Jenin refugee camp that the CPJPO is cofinancing since 2011 a psychosocial support project for children living in armed conflict, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Free admission.
Bassam and Rami, a Palestinian and Israeli, were once dedicated fighters willing to kill and be killed by one another for the sake of their nations. Yet each one of them came face to face with the price of war when their daughters were killed in the conflict. Left with the excruciating pain of bereavement, they chose to do the unexpected. They set out on a joint journey to humanize the very enemy, which took the dearest thing from them and prevent the vicious cycle of retaliation in themselves and their societies.
"If this film can reach a wide audience, it is sure that it will be a useful tool to spread empathy and humanize the other. Hermon accomplishes this goal beautifully in her film, tugging at pure human emotions that can override prejudices. The film was screened at the Parliament in Oslo and included an online discussion afterwards in addition to the five screenings in Israel." (Gili Ostfield)
Best Contemporary Issue Documentary, DocMiami International Film Festival 2012; Nominee Best Debut Film Award, Israel Documentary Awards 2012.
The screening will be followed by an exchange with Bassam and Rami and a drink.
See www.paixjuste.lu for further details.