The screening series 'Palestine Everywhere- Looking at Palestinian Migration through Concordia’s Film Collection' is born from a desire to activate the vast collection of film about Palestine present in the film collections house within Concordia University. These films are often used as teaching material in a variety of courses offered by the university, but they are seldom used in other contexts. This screening series aims at filling this gap by providing a larger audience for some of these films, in order to continue fostering discussions about Palestine at Concordia University. The themes of the screening series will revolve around various aspects of Palestinian migration: displacement, border-crossing, exile, diaspora. These are fundamental aspects of every Palestinian lived experience, and they have become particularly urgent after Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the West Bank after October 7. The screenings in this series are aimed at fostering discussion about the global Palestinian experience and the right for Palestinians to return and live freely in their homeland. Each screening will be introduced by an expert on core themes of the film, and they will also moderate the following discussion with help from the organizers.
On the Bride’s Side
(Gabriele Del Grande, Antonio Augugliaro, Khaled Soliman Al Nassiry, State of Palestine/Italy, 2014), 89 min
A Palestinian poet and an Italian journalist meet five Palestinians and Syrians in Milan who entered Europe via the Italian island of Lampedusa after fleeing the war in Syria. They decide to help them complete their journey to Sweden, and hopefully avoid getting themselves arrested as traffickers, by faking a wedding. With a Palestinian friend dressed up as the bride and a dozen or so Italian and Syrian friends as wedding guests, they cross halfway over Europe on a four-day journey of three thousand kilometres.
Facilitator: Farah Atoui
Curator: Marco Meneghin