Occupation: Opening in a Theater Near You

On Friday, 25 March the film Miral will have its release in U.S. theaters. The film is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name from Palestinian journalist, Rula Jebreal. Miral, which is directed by Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and distributed by The Weinstein Company, tells the story of three generations of Palestinian women -- an orphaned girl in particular -- that takes place from the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

The film recently had its U.S. premiere at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. The premiere was attended by such film stars as Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. However, there was effort made by the Israeli delegation to the U.N. and groups such as the American Jewish Committee (ACJ) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to cancel the event. David Harris, executive director of ACJ, wrote in a letter to the U.N. that screening the film would reinforce views that "Israel simply cannot expect fair treatment in the U.N."

Harvey Weinstein, the co-chairman of The Weinstein Company, and Schnabel -- who are both Jewish-Americans -- have been speaking out in defense of the film. In a recent column in The Daily Beast, they stated that even though telling a Palestinian story "remains taboo," there can never be peace without a "Palestinian narrative [that is] understood and acknowledged by Israelis and their American supporters." They also believe that the film's political content was the reason the MPAA initially gave Miral an R-rating, which would have significantly inhibited the number of viewers who could see it. The R-rating was successfully appealed, however.

In an interview with Deadline earlier this month, Schnabel discussed his “personal awakening” to Israel's controversial settlement policy while making Miral. He was asked what he believes is the answer for a peaceful solution to the “settlement areas” now that he’s made the film. He replied by saying:

First of all, they have to stop building these settlements. Take them out. That’s not a military solution, it has to be a humanitarian solution. It is like black people living in the United States in 1960. It is apartheid, that’s what it’s like over there. It is shocking. I didn’t want to say these things when I made the movie. I wanted people to look at the movie as a work of art. But now I see it as a vessel, about opening your heart, understanding, and non-violent solutions. There are things that are controversial in the film, things that are shocking to see. But it is so light in the context of what really goes on.

If Miral, which initially opens in Los Angeles and New York, has a successful debut, it will have a better chance of being rolled out and seen by audiences across the country. The movie is rated PG-13. http://www.miralmovie.com/

Read reviews of Miral:
by Omar El-Khairy at electronicintifada.net
by Max Blumenthal at maxblumenthal.com

Opening dates and theaters:

3/25/11
New York, CT-NJ-NY-PA
-- Lincoln Plaza
-- Angelika Film Center 6

Los Angeles, CA
-- The Landmark
-- ArcLight Hollywood 15

4/1/1
New York, CT-NJ-NY-PA
-- Clairidge Cinemas 6

Los Angeles, CA
-- Town Center 5
-- Playhouse 7 Cinemas
-- University Town Center 6

Philadelphia, DE-NJ-PA
-- Ritz East 2

San Francisco-Oakland- San J
-- Landmark Embarcadero
-- Century Regency Cinema

Boston, MA-NH-VT
-- Kendall Square Cinema 9

Washington, DC, DC-MD-PA
-- Bethesda Row Cinema

Detroit, MI
-- Uptown Birmingham 8

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI
-- Lagoon Cinema

San Diego, CA
-- Hillcrest

4/15/11
Chicago, IL-IN
-- Landmark's Century Center

Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
-- Angelika Film Center (Dallas)
-- Angelika Film Center (Plano)

Houston, TX
-- River Oaks Theater

read more...

Immigration to the Corner

By Sana Saeed*

The American narrative is closely intertwined, irrevocably, with the narrative of The Immigrant. The foundation of this country has been built upon the backs and sustained through the efforts of The Immigrant – be it forced or voluntarily. And yet while the narrative and the contributions of The Immigrant – especially of The Immigrant of the past – have been celebrated, the ugliness that was a part of the experience and persists till this day is oft-ignored or, at best, given a simple superficial nod of acknowledgment. Cultivation of the fine arts, cuisine and of the economy is always at the forefront of the mainstream discourse on The Immigrant. The cultural jolts, the legal messes, the bureaucratic faults and the financial instability and uncertainty, however, are rarely.

On August 4th, as a part of the Jerusalem Fund’s summer film series, we showed Katherine Bruens’ documentary Corner Store, a work still in progress, which touches upon the narrative of The Immigrant in a unique light. The turnout to the film was considerable and reception to the film manifested itself with drawn out conversations between audience members long after the credits had ended rolling.

The documentary focuses on the story of Yousef Elhaj, “a beloved shop owner, Palestinian immigrant, and long-distance father.” Set in San Francisco and Bethlehem, the film surveys Yousef’s struggle in the United States to seek and attain success defined as a better life for a family from whom he has been separated for over ten years. The film follows the Palestinian corner store owner as he finally receives his Green Card and is able to get a visa to go visit his family after a decade of separation.

Upon returning to Palestine, Elhaj is struck with overwhelming emotion: for his family, for his people and for his homeland. The striking uniqueness of Corner Store, as a film about the Hyphenated-American Immigrant experience is that it is not about life in a “new country.” Rather, the film’s focus is about “back home” – about the sort of changes that can overcome both familial and spatial relations. Elhaj’s children were merely young children when he first left, having now grown into young adults. His oldest son, 8 years old when Elhaj left for the United States, is shown in the film as a young man at 18 years, forced to take over the role of father in his household. His ‘self-reliance’ creates a strong resistance to the idea of moving to the United States and starting his life over, with a dependence on a father absent for most of his life.

The Occupation, in particular, serves as a both strong and distant background for the struggles of the Elhaj family. While the Occupation has rendered any hope for financial stability and even general day-to-day well-being almost useless, creating an increasingly worsening situation which forced Yousef Elhaj to leave his family in an effort to fulfill his duties towards them, the greatest struggle remains the separation. The Occupation is real, but the separation that occurs as a result of it between the Elhaj’s – including the extended family, which has also relocated to the United States – is the greater source of pain; the reality of separation from loved ones is a far more real experience, highlighting the pervasiveness of the Occupation in all aspects of Palestinian life. Elhaj, himself, struggles with wanting to stay in Bethlehem, with his people, his language, in the home his father built but is forced to realize that the Occupation creates conditions that hinder the sort of good life he seeks for his family and their well-being.

While the film tests the patience of the audience at times, with drawn out slow scenes peppered throughout, it inspires both an array of emotions and reflection on the sort of stories that may exist right around the corner from where we live in our neighborhoods. The context for every immigrant – and subsequently for the narrative of The Immigrant – is layered. There is the immigrant’s smaller context as an immigrant in a new country, struggling to make ends meet and struggling to adjust to a new life filled with new mores and values. Then there is the greater context which is often overlooked: the greater political and cultural settings which force individuals to make tough decisions, such as Yousef Elhaj’s. A greater context often, if not always, effects our personal contexts and the film does an excellent job of highlighting this inseparable relationship.

The Occupation of the Palestinian Territories serves a particularly unique example of an American immigrant’s greater context given the “sacrosanct” bond proclaimed between the United States and Israel and given the mainstream representation of the Palestinian people. Very rarely is the Palestinian humanized and portrayed in the United States in the way that is offered by Corner Store, which takes your friendly local corner liquor store and deli owner and makes him into a manifestation of the results of the illegal, continued and expanding Occupation of the Palestinian Territories.


*Sana Saeed is a 2010 Summer Intern at the Jerusalem Fund

read more...