Weekly student assembly to stand in solidarity with Palestine.
Every tuesday at 17:00 @ theory stairs.
Dear students, staff and passerby’s of Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut! JOIN US FOR A DAY OF ACTION IN THE ACTION STAIRS!
WELCOME EVERYBODY to the Introduction day next tuesday in the Action Stairs (Formerly known as the Theory Stairs). We want to meet new students, old students, teachers, staff and whoever might be interested. We will introduce some of the work that has been done and towards where we are heading -with hopes of creating concersations about what our art academy -actually- is. The genocide in Gaza soon pass one year, and the lethal intensity of Israels occupation in the West Bank intensifies. We need to gather and take action!
You are invited to the fundraiser launch of the publication with submissions collected at the gra.si.students4palestine table during the last BYOB fair.
JOIN US for collective banner making from 10am on May 15! We protest at 2pm and join the “discussion table” together at 3pm
Thought-provoking documentary on war propaganda: how governments manipulate the facts and how most media let them get away with it. WWI, Vietnam War, post-2001 Afghanistan, post-2003 Iraq, Palestine: a historical account of PR, embedded journalism, lies and cover-ups, but also of courageous journalists who disclose the truth. (imdb)
Filmmaker, author and journalist Nagieb Khaja is giving a lecture about covering wars and conflicts the 22nd of April at Gerrit Rietveld Academie, theory stairs 11:00 AM.
This highly kinetic tableaux of uprooted sights and sounds works most earnestly to expose the racial biases concealed in familiar images. Relying on valuable snippets from feature films such as “Exodus”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Black Sunday”, “Little Drummer Girl”, and network news shows, the filmmakers have constructed an oddly wry narrative, mimicking the history of Mid East politics. (imdb)
On Friday 12th of April from 12pm onwards the gra.si.students4palestine assembly is organising a Fundraiser for Palestine. All profits generated will go directly to Sara Kanoa and her family to cross Rafah (gofundme).
When his fourth son, Gibreel, is born, Emad, a Palestinian villager, gets his first camera. In his village, Bil’in, a separation barrier is being built and the villagers start to resist this decision. For more than five years, Emad films the struggle, which is led by two of his best friends, alongside filming how Gibreel grows. Very soon it affects his family and his own life. Daily arrests and night raids scare his family; his friends, brothers and himself are either shot or arrested. One camera after another is shot at or smashed. Each of the 5 cameras tells part of his story. (imdb)
Israel is central to the political and cultural life of the American Jewish community. But it has also become a deeply divisive subject, as painful cracks have emerged within the Jewish community over the Israel-Palestine conflict, inspiring argument, protest and even censorship. ISRAELISM explores the past, present and future of the relationship between American Jews and Israel. Dozens of American Jewish thinkers, community leaders and activists share stories of falling in love with Israel, and competing visions for a Jewish future, while Israelis and Palestinians describe how their lives are affected by the decisions of a community half a world away. Israelism asks how and why Israel became the cornerstone of American Judaism, what the consequences have been, and what will happen as divisions continue grow. (Imdb)
This time we will watch three shorts by Palestinian film makers:
MOONSCAPE (2020) by Mona Benyamin
YOUR FATHER WAS BORN 100 YEARS AGO, AND SO WAS THE NAKBA (2017) by Razan Al Salah
THE SILENT PROTEST: JERUSALEM 1929 (2019) by Mahasen Nasser-Eldin
This debut feature film by journalist Abby Martin began while reporting in Palestine, where she was denied entry into Gaza by the Israeli government on the accusation she was a “propagandist.” So Abby connected with a team of journalists in Gaza to produce the film through the blockaded border. This collaboration shows you Gaza’s protest movement like you’ve never seen before. Filmed during the height of the Great March Of Return protests, it features riveting exclusive footage of demonstrations. The documentary tells the story of Gaza past and present, showing rare archival footage that explains the history never acknowledged by mass media. You hear from victims of the ongoing massacre, including journalists, medics and the family of internationally-acclaimed paramedic, Razan al-Najjar. At its core, ‘Gaza Fights For Freedom’ is a thorough indictment of the Israeli military for war crimes, and a stunning cinematic portrayal of Palestinians’ heroic resistance. (Abby Martin)
Join the weekly assembly in solidarity with Palestine on Tuesdays from 17:00 at the theory stairs. We will reflect upon the previous semester and visualise how we want to structure our assemblies this semester. All ideas and input is welcome and much appreciated!
This time we will watch three shorts by Palestinian film makers:
MOONSCAPE (2020) by Mona Benyamin
YOUR FATHER WAS BORN 100 YEARS AGO, AND SO WAS THE NAKBA (2017) by Razan Al Salah
THE SILENT PROTEST: JERUSALEM 1929 (2019) by Mahasen Nasser-Eldin
On 26 October 1929, Palestinian women launched their women’s movement. Approximately 300 women converged on Jerusalem from all over Palestine. They held a silent demonstration through a car convoy to protest at the British High Commissioner’s bias against Arabs in the Buraq uprising. This is their story on that day. Jerusalem-born filmmaker Mahasen Nasser-Eldin specializes in reconstructing and scripting historical narratives using audio and visual archives to restore new life to forgotten figures and celebrate those on the margins of society. Mahasen holds an MA degree in filmmaking from Goldsmiths College, London and an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University, Washington DC. She is a lecturer in visual cultures and film production at Bethlehem’s Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture. (Palestinecinema.com)
Moonscape* is a short film which takes the form of a music video for a ballad/middle of the road song, performed as a duet between a male and female singer, in Arabic. The song traces the story of a man called Dennis M. Hope, who claimed ownership of the Moon in 1980 and thus founded the Lunar Embassy – a company that sells land on a variety of planets and Moons, and makes a connection between his story and that of the director’s – a young Palestinian woman living under the Israeli occupation, longing to end the misery of her people in any way possible. The visuals of the film are a hybrid of surrealist scenes from the Arab music industry, reenacted by the artist’s parents who also play the roles of the singers in the film, and film noir; in addition to found footage from the NASA archives, references from canonic films which influenced the art world and show representations of the Moon, and screenshots of Email correspondences with staff members of the Lunar Embassy. All in order to explore the relationship between hope, nostalgia and despair. *A moonscape is an area or vista of the lunar landscape (generally of the Earth’s moon), or a visual representation of this, such as in a painting. The term “moonscape” is also sometimes used metaphorically for an area devastated or flattened by war, often by shelling. (monabenyamin.com)
This doc-fiction is a (re)construction, a (re)collection of the memory of returning to Haifa. It is an imaginary memory of retuning to Haifa. Razan AlSalah is imagining her grandmother was able to return to Haifa when she was still alive, through Google Streetview, which today is the only way she could see Palestine, the only way Razan can see Palestine.
She looks down at her virtual ghost marked with an X. “If I were walking, I would have found it, even if it’s not here anymore.” Oum Amin, a Palestinian grandmother returns to her hometown Haifa through Google Maps Streetview, today, the only way she can see Palestine. (edu.momento-films.com)
We’ll have a warm after talk again to share emotions, frustrations, inspiration and anger.
If the academy doesn‘t do decolonization, we‘ll teach ourselves and each other
Bring your friends, lovers, comrades and neighbors.
People from outside of RV/SI are very welcome!
We will provide chai, feel free to bring food to share!