"New Realities, New Ideas"

Dreams & Silence (1991)

Courtesy: Sindibad Films

Omar al-Qattan is a Palestinian film director and producer based in London. He has made several documentaries, including Dreams and Silence (1991), a portrait of a female Palestinian refugee in Jordan, and Going Home (1995), which follows the return to Palestine of a British ex-army major who witnessed the last days of the Mandate. His production credits include Forbidden Marriages in the Holy Land (1995) and the critically acclaimed Tale of the Three Jewels (1995), both of which were directed by Michel Khleifi.

In 1998 he joined his family in launching the A.M. Qattan Foundation, an independent educational and cultural institution based in Ramallah, Gaza City and London, where he is director of the Palestinian Audio-Visual Project. Previous ventures by the project include a filmmaking course led by the aforementioned Michel Khleifi, and the Classics of European Cinema program, which made classic works of cinema available in Arabic for the first time.

Palestine Monitor spoke to him about the state of Palestinian cinema and also the latest project by the Palestinian Audio-Visual Project, the “Production Support Project”, which will provide funding and production assistance to young Palestinian filmmakers making short or medium-length films.

How did the idea for the Production Support Project arise?

The driving idea was to combine direct cash support for filmmakers starting to make their way in the profession, with an investment in the country’s technical infrastructure, by building up a strong base of equipment that is either not available locally or, if it is, is very expensive to hire in Israel. The choice of shorter fiction films was driven by three factors: they are affordable and technically more possible for the local industry than long-format features; they pose challenges that documentary films, which dominate the local scene, do not and will therefore lead to a build-up of experience and, finally, because we were approached by the Representative of the Government of Holland who had identified a weakness in local funding sources for fiction films and expressed a readiness to co-fund a project of this sort.

What kinds of films do you expect to see benefitting from the funding and support offered?

I hope that there will be a small number of quality projects which we can help strengthen and support, which offer all involved the opportunity to gain rare and valuable professional experience.

Michel Khleifi’s Wedding in Galilee (1987)

Courtesy: Sindibad Films

What can artistic or cultural projects like this achieve that political endeavours can’t?

I do not think that these are competing sectors! Politics penetrates culture just as culture seems to be central to political operation – who can deny that Hamas’ project, for example, aims to enforce cultural change or that the young guard of Fatah and the new petit bourgeoisie which support it or some sectors among the Palestinian citizens of Israel are culturally fascinated by all things Israeli, whether in language or style or outlook? And of course the conflict over Palestine has always involved struggles over the country’s material culture, whether its architecture, archaeology or food, and the oppression of the Palestinians has always included concerted efforts by the occupation forces to undermine their means of production, their living and literary language, their traditions and their very lively cultural output.

An interesting example: following the success of Michel Khleifi’s first three films in the Cannes Film Festival in 1981, 1987 and 1990 with Fertile Memories, Wedding in Galilee and Canticle of the Stones and the subsequent rise of a number of new voices such as Rashid Masharawi, May Masri, Elia Suleiman and others, the Israelis, who previously had a weak industry, have invested in film as if it were part of the defense sector! And they have cleverly employed the cultural weapon – humanizing the brutal Israeli invasion of Lebanon (e.g. Lebanon and Waltz with Bashir), promoting Zionist Israeli directors such as Amos Gitai as if they were voices of humane refinement and so on. The success of Palestinian music, theatre, literature and dance, particularly during the second uprising, in attracting international support, especially among the young in Europe, also led to major increases in the Israeli government’s efforts to promote an Israeli counter-culture.

What can culture achieve that politics cannot? I am not sure. I prefer to think of our politics as a by-product of our culture, so when we as a society decide to oppress each other, to engage in violence, to cynically exploit children and the weak and poor, to disdain our own history and achievements, to fear above all the freedom of our citizens, we tend to conduct ourselves politically in similar, oppressive ways. Perhaps culture can and must help us to break down these chains and militate with more lucidity and wisdom against the forces of oppression, inequality and injustice, while also preserving and creating new realities, new ideas, new things, which is one of the most exciting aspects of cultural work.

How important is it for Palestinians to control their own distribution channels for self-expression? Can this be achieved?

I have thought a lot about this. I think we need equitable distribution opportunities, which are more democratic. This does not mean that they need to be Palestinian! Or indeed national. But they should be democratic. A national television station or national distribution fund must be built on democratic principles. This is not difficult to imagine but it is difficult to achieve while our national institutions remain sectarian and ideological, while Arab networks are still dominated by individuals closely linked to oppressive regimes and while our bourgeoisie remains determinedly illiberal, tribal and utterly lacking in civic principles. A private foundation like ours can only hope to set precedents so I am delighted that across the region, including in the Palestinian Ministry of Culture but also among state and private institutions in the Gulf and elsewhere, more open models are being promoted. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that the Qattan Foundation has served as a model to many of these initiatives, even if an unacknowledged one.

On the set of Shirbo al-Bahar by Razi Najjar, summer 2007,part of the Palestinian Audio-Visual Project.

Courtesy: A.M. Qattan Foundation

How do you see the role played by Palestinian filmmakers such as yourself, Hany Abu-Assad, Elia Suleiman, and others, and their recognition outside of the Palestinian Territories?

An artist must remain true to her or his project. If that project is coherent, engaging and genuinely innovative and profound it will impose itself internationally given the right circumstances, which I think are beginning to exist for us all. What role do films play? Posing difficult questions in original ways, making innovations in the artistic form and language, telling us beautiful stories. However, recognition is a tricky question. As Godard says, every film has its audience. So some people go to see a film because it’s Palestinian, others because they love movies, a third group to write reports to their respective embassies or intelligence services, a fourth because the stars are cute – so it is difficult to make objective judgments about why some films got recognition and some not! What matters above all is that our cinema represents a dynamic, diverse and wonderfully rich culture that no Zionist millions will ever succeed in silencing.

Is there such a thing as Palestinian cinema? Do you identify yourself as a “Palestinian filmmaker” or merely a filmmaker who happens to be from Palestine?

In an essay I wrote in 2003 (part of Dreams of a Nation, published by Verso, edited by Hamid Dabashi, find it here: http://www.shop.housmans.com/BookIt... ) I talked of an "ethical imperative" that makes me engage with Palestine and insist on calling myself Palestinian, despite being of mixed culture and background. I think that any film that is politically and ethically engaged with Palestine should be called Palestinian.

Is there a risk that such a cinema, if it does exist, might be pigeonholed as one-dimensional because of specific political, anti-occupation aims? This is something that Elia Suleiman has spoken about in particular.

People see what they want in a film – they can pigeonhole it, or read it profoundly and in its proper artistic or historical context. In the end it is the film – and history – that will determine whether it resonates with meanings other than its national identity.

Tale of the Three Jewels (1995)

Courtesy: Sindibad Films

How easy or difficult is it for such films to gain international recognition?

It all depends on the time and place and the film above all. But it is fortunately getting easier in some ways – because there are so many precedents and so much good will towards the Palestinians – and unfortunately getting harder because there have also been some rather awful Palestinian films which might eventually make people rather weary of watching our productions!

How does the project, which is based out of your Ramallah office, tie in with the work of the Foundation in London?

Not directly but my presence in the UK and my dual culture have given me the privilege of negotiating a film and television co-production treaty between Palestine and the UK, which is due to be signed at the end of this month. This will open some opportunities for filmmakers from both countries to gain access to public support. It will also set a precedent, I hope, for similar treaties with other countries.