Ramallah – (A. M. Qattan Foundation – 23 April 2018)
On 3 May 2018, the Palestinian-Flemish Cultural Festival, titled Under Construction, will be launched in the Ramallah city. The event is organised by the A. M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF) (Palestine) and Connexion VZW (Belgium).
Grounded in the concept of collaboration, the festival features a variety of performances, film screenings, and experimental arts. All shows are based on art partnership and collaboration between artists from Belgium, Palestine, and other regions from around the world. To run until 11 May 2018, the festival events will be organised in a number of Palestinian cities, including Ramallah, Nablus, Haifa, Beit Sahour, and Tulkarem. In addition to many Palestinian artists, 32 artists and guests from outside Palestine will participate in the festival.
Events include a musical dance performance, titled Kicking Against the Cage. This is a an “encounter” between two totally different artists: Barges Samahneh (Palestine) and Kojack Kossakamvwe (Congo). The festival also features a musical performance by Faraj Suleiman (Haifa) in participation with Belgian musicians. In addition, a performance of Radio No Frequency project is jointly presented by Zina Zarour, Lama Rabah, Faris Shomali, and Henna al-Hajj Hasan (Palestine), and Thomas Devos, Kaat Arnaert, and Mattijs Vanderleen (Belgium).
The festival presents Décris-Ravage (Destroy-Describe), an experimental theatrical performance by Adeline Rosenstein. This work attempts to present a historical narrative of Palestine and the relationship between Europe and the region. It is a series of theatrical lectures supported by illustrations, mostly dominated by a humoristic style, presenting testimonies and dialogues, and combining both narration and acting. Two Ladybugs is another theatrical performance presented by playwright and director Rimah Jabr (Nablus/Canada). This was the first theatrical performance Jabr produced after she studies theatre in Belgium.
The festival events also involve film screenings, including What Happened in the Tent, a documentary jointly produced by Majd Khalifeh and Roel Nollet. The film reviews the experience of two circus groups, one Palestinian and the other Belgian. They both have their own challenges in their communities, but they try to transform the negativity, the violence and the discrimination they are confronted with into a constructive project.
Problemski Hotel presents the stories collected by Flemish writher Dimitri Verhulst from a centre for political asylum-seekers. Before he transformed them into a documentary, Verhulst had written these stories for the press.
Ours is a Country of Words takes place at an undetermined moment in the future in Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, when the dream of the Palestinian refugees to go back to Palestine becomes reality. This reality is far removed from their daily life in the camp.
Zaher, an exhibition curated by Pierre Muylle, presents Palestinian objects and instruments that we would consider as art, but they are produced by artists, not in an academy or in a workshop. In his exhibition, Muylle searches for these “objects” that make us wonder. Where do they come from? Who produced them? What do we do with them?
This is the second edition of the Palestinian-Flemish Cultural Festival. Featuring an extensive artistic programme, the first edition of the festival was launched in Ghent city of the County of Flanders, Belgium, between 16 and 25 February 2018. The festival saw a large turnout by the Belgian audiences. It provided a significant opportunity to introduce vibrant Palestinian culture and deep Belgian-Palestinian collaboration, in which the AMQF has played a pivotal role since 2007. The AMQF has built partnerships with leading Belgian art institutions, including the Royal Flemish Theatre KVC and les ballets C de la B company.
In Palestine, the Under Construction Festival is organised in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and in collaboration with the Ramallah Municipality, Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, ASHTAR Theatre, and Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre (Ramallah); Palestinian National Theatre – El-Hakawati (Jerusalem); Al-Midan Theatre (Haifa); Palestinian Circus School (Bir Zeit); El Beir, Arts and Seeds (Beit Sahur); Arts Hub and Public Library of the Nablus Municipality (Nablus); and Dar Qandeel for Arts and Culture (Tulkarem). The idea of the Palestinian-Flemish Cultural Festival was initiated by the Mission of Palestine in Europe, Belgium, and Luxemburg and the Government of Flanders in Belgium.