Attending cultural festivals or celebrations: 2 points

 

In October, I helped with and attended the Palestinian Film Festival. I helped make the flyers and attended the screenings/discussions on the 11th and 25th. The purpose of the festival was to highlight Palestinian life and resistance through cinema amidst the current, long-term genocide. At the beginning of the screening, Dr. Kumar gave a brief slideshow presentation on the history of Palestinian cinema and the genocide. Then we’d watch the films and have a discussion about them. This festival connected directly to my class, Cinema Literacies, in which we had a Palestinian cinema unit that included most of the films shown at the festival. This allowed me to expand my knowledge on world events and of a specific brand of resistance cinema exhibited through Palestinian film. The event definitely would’ve benefitted from more publicity as turnout was low, but those of us that attended left the festival days way more knowledgeable than we had come in as.

By Samantha Hines