Reel Palestine teamed up again with A4 Space in Dubai for a pop-up screening of Nun wa Zaytun in May 2015. Check it out!
Nun Wa Zaytun trailer from issa freij on Vimeo.
NUN WA ZAYTUN
Dir. Emtiaz Diab / 2014 / 50 min
Saturday 30th May, 6pm at A4 Space in AlSerkal Avenue, Dubai
In Nūn Wa Zaytun, a new unique docudrama, its director Emtiaz Diab takes us on a road trip through the hills, valleys and villages of Palestine, following Murad, the cinema-lover who has made it his mission to bring Palestinian cinema to Palestinians in forgotten and marginal communities in the West Bank.
While listening to the stories of the people Murad meets with his Mobile Cinema, trekking from one venue to another, Nūn wa Zaytun transports us to another Palestine. We encounter a simple rural life, far from the cultural and social stereotypes of modern, urban Ramallah or Tel Aviv, only kilometers away. Scattered communities come together for a moment to watch films shot in Palestine over 20 years and in which some of them even acted. This moment of communal harmony and artistic pleasure contrasts rudely with the bitter realities they face in coping with encroaching settlements, the attrition of ancestral land and the daily brutalities of occupation and poverty.
From Yanoun, where only 5% of the village olive groves are still freely accessible, to Aqabat Jabr camp where refugees wait to return all the while trying to cope, to Bethlehem which gathers in solidarity with Gaza under attack, Murad's films allow people a moment of reverie and hope. In Beit Mersem, we hear tales of Pharaohs, pyramids, lost jewels and fanatic Israeli and American archaeologists. In the 'Hani Amer State', enclosed by Israeli settlements and checkpoints and the wall on all sides, we share a love story of Shakespearean dimensions.
From all these unknown and proud Palestinians we learn that their attachment to their land, their homes and families and to their disappearing way of life remains as strong as the Zaytun roots and branches, against all odds and despite all they have endured for generations.
Nūn, the 'n' of zaytun, is the sound of olives falling to the ground, the sound of ancient zaytun branches bending in the wind and of rustling leaves, of presses squeezing oil, the sound of the land that envelops the zaytun roots, the sound of the love of the land for those who love it.
While listening to the stories of the people Murad meets with his Mobile Cinema, trekking from one venue to another, Nūn wa Zaytun transports us to another Palestine. We encounter a simple rural life, far from the cultural and social stereotypes of modern, urban Ramallah or Tel Aviv, only kilometers away. Scattered communities come together for a moment to watch films shot in Palestine over 20 years and in which some of them even acted. This moment of communal harmony and artistic pleasure contrasts rudely with the bitter realities they face in coping with encroaching settlements, the attrition of ancestral land and the daily brutalities of occupation and poverty.
From Yanoun, where only 5% of the village olive groves are still freely accessible, to Aqabat Jabr camp where refugees wait to return all the while trying to cope, to Bethlehem which gathers in solidarity with Gaza under attack, Murad's films allow people a moment of reverie and hope. In Beit Mersem, we hear tales of Pharaohs, pyramids, lost jewels and fanatic Israeli and American archaeologists. In the 'Hani Amer State', enclosed by Israeli settlements and checkpoints and the wall on all sides, we share a love story of Shakespearean dimensions.
From all these unknown and proud Palestinians we learn that their attachment to their land, their homes and families and to their disappearing way of life remains as strong as the Zaytun roots and branches, against all odds and despite all they have endured for generations.
Nūn, the 'n' of zaytun, is the sound of olives falling to the ground, the sound of ancient zaytun branches bending in the wind and of rustling leaves, of presses squeezing oil, the sound of the land that envelops the zaytun roots, the sound of the love of the land for those who love it.