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Photos from the first weekend of the Houston Palestine Film Festival
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
Some photos from the Kickoff Party, Friday's Screening on Gaza, and Saturday's Checkpoint Experience and concert.
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The Houston Palestine Film Festival gets more amazing every year. HPFF hosted a kickoff party on the roof of Khon's in Midtown featuring music, breakdancing, dabke traditional palestinian dance, food and art.
On Friday the films theme was Gaza; including Gaza Winter, which revisited "Operation Cast Lead" where Israel attacked the people of Gaza killing more that 1400 people. The screening was followed by a talk by the activist and artist M1 of hip hop group Dead Prez, about his participation in the Viva Palestina caravan to Gaza. His talk focused on the very serious challenges the caravanistas faced from the Egyptian police state, the eventual arrival in Gaza, the terrible conditions that Gazans have to live under, as well as political opportunism by some of the leadership of the Viva Palestina Caravan. He told one story of getting to meet up with one of the members of Palestinian Rapperz a Gazan hip hop crew, and traveling to the apartment where the Gazan used to live, and where an Israeli missile had come though the window striking and killing his father during Operation Cast Lead.
Saturday was the "Checkpoint Experience" the kids from Students for a Democratic Society set up a checkpoint on the way into the cinema that folks had to cross to enter. The films were a hillarious short "A Boy, A Wall and A Donkey," A slightly longer short by Houston Indymedia OG Jackson Allers called "Life From the BBC" about a Palestinian Hip Hop crew in a refugee camp south of Beirut [Watch a Trailer], and the feature, Checkpoint Rock looked at Palestinians making music in Israel and the West Bank from Rock to Hip-Hop to Spoken Word, Classical and Eastern Musical traditions. The films were followed by a reception and an amazing show by Palestinian Hip-Hop artist Sabrina Da Witch, Houston Revolutionary Lee-Coc and M1 of the legendary Dead Prez.
There was a matinee screening on Sunday that I missed but heard very good things about. The awesomeness continues next weekend at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, with films about Mahmoud Darwish, and the new film by Elia Suleiman: "The Time That Remains"
Check out the schedule
www.hpff.org/
Tito finishing stencils on wall
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
titoonwall.jpg, image/jpeg, 640x480
www.hpff.org/
M1 speaking about the Viva Palestina caravan to Gaza
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
m1onvivapalestine.jpg, image/jpeg, 480x640
www.hpff.org/
Hadeel of HPFF speaking after Gaza Screening
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
hpfforganizerhadeel.jpg, image/jpeg, 480x640
www.hpff.org/
Friday night reception
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
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www.hpff.org/
Checkpoint Experience
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
checkpoint_experience.jpg, image/jpeg, 640x460
www.hpff.org/
SDS transported Tito and Fadi's wall to Rice Cinema as a checkpoint
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
checkpoint2.jpg, image/jpeg, 640x480
www.hpff.org/
SDS crew after manning the checkpoint
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
sdscrewpostcheckpoint.jpg, image/jpeg, 640x480
www.hpff.org/
Sabrina Da Witch
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
sabrinadawitch.jpg, image/jpeg, 640x480
http://www.myspace.com/sdawitch
www.hpff.org/
Lee-Coc
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
leecoc.jpg, image/jpeg, 499x640
http://leecoc.com
www.hpff.org/
M1 of Dead Prez
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
m1onstage.jpg, image/jpeg, 540x640
http://www.deadprez.com/
www.hpff.org/
Fists up
by RoB
Monday, May. 17, 2010 at 3:41 PM
fistsup.jpg, image/jpeg, 640x398
www.hpff.org/
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