Boston Palestine Film Festival – Call for Entries

CALL FOR ENTRIES 2011

TO SUBMIT YOUR FILM TO BPFF 2011 PLEASE READ BELOW AND THEN:
click here

The Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) is now accepting entries for its fifth annual festival to be held in October of 2011.

BPFF seeks to present the extraordinary narrative of a dispossessed people living in exile, under military occupation and siege, and within Israel. Palestinian cinema represents a powerful means of interpreting the collective identity, historic struggle, and surreal life circumstances and challenges that Palestinians presently face.

ELIGIBILITY

BPFF will showcase the diverse and creative work of all filmmakers (any nationality) exploring both historic and contemporary themes related to Palestinian culture, experience, and narrative.

The BPFF Selection Committee accepts films, videos and digital media in the following categories:

  • Feature Films
  • Documentaries
  • Shorts (including animated and video art)
  • Youth Work (created by filmmakers under the age of 18)

Entries can be of any length. All foreign language entries must be subtitled in English. Entries should have been produced between 2006 and 2011. Any works currently in production may be submitted as rough cuts. Selected works must be provided in final form with English subtitles no later than September 15th, 2011.

Formats accepted for Submission (for the selection process only):
DVD(PAL or NTSC) or QuickTime movies on CD (for shorts or youth work only)

Formats accepted for Exhibition (for presentation at the festival):
Film:     35mm and 16mm
Video:   DigiBeta (PAL or NTSC)
DVDs:  The above formats are preferable to DVDs unless they are for a short film of under 15 minutes. Even if DVDs are submitted for consideration, final tested exhibition copies (at least 2) must still be re-sent to us if the films are accepted.

DEADLINES
April 1, 2011: Submission of all entry materials are due
(incomplete entries will not be considered)
July 31, 2011: All applicants notified of film acceptance/rejection
September 15, 2011: All works selected for the Festival must be provided to BPFF in final form with English subtitles no later than this date (no exceptions)

TO SUBMIT YOUR FILM TO BPFF 2011: CLICK HERE

MAILING ADDRESS FOR FILMS

Boston Palestine Film Festival
955 Massachusetts Ave. #333
Cambridge, MA 02140
USA

For all submissions inquiries please email: submissions@bostonpalestinefilmfest.org

Please forward to interested parties.

Thank you!
The BPFF organizing committee

http://www.bostonpalestinefilmfest.org

Kahlil Gibran: The Collected Works

Kahlil Gibran The Collected Works Everyman’s Library

For the first time, all the major works of this beloved writer are gathered together in one hardcover volume.
Poet, artist, and mystic, Kahlil Gibran was born in 1883 to a poor Christian family in Lebanon and immigrated to the United States as an adolescent. His masterpiece, The Prophet, a book of poetic essays that he began while still a youth in Lebanon, is one of the most cherished books of our time and has sold millions of copies in more than twenty languages since its publication in 1923. But all of Gibran’s works—essays, stories, parables, and prose poems—are imbued with equally powerful simplicity and wisdom, whether they are addressing marriage or children, friendship or grief, work or pleasure. Perhaps no other twentieth-century writer has touched the hearts and minds of so remarkably varied and widespread a readership.

Included in this volume are The Prophet, The Wanderer, Jesus the Son of Man, A Tear and a Smile, Spirits Rebellious, Nymphs of the Valley, Prose Poems, The Garden of the Prophet, The Earth Gods, Sand and Foam, The Forerunner, and The Madman.

Buy now.

Arab-American Almanac

Arab-American Almanac

The Fifth Edition (2003) and Sixth Edition (2010) of “The most comprehensive reference source on Arab-Americans” by long-time publisher of “The News Circle Magazine” are dedicated to “the Arab-American youth–that they may be good productive American citizens who take pride in their rich Arab heritage.”    Buy here.

How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?

How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?

“These are great stories about people who might be your neighbors, and Bayoumi delivers them with urgency, compassion, wryness and hints of poetry. You may walk away from the book with a much greater understanding of Arab-American life, but you’ll feel that’s simply because you’ve hung out with Bayoumi and friends, snarfing down Dunkin’ Donuts or puffing on hookahs, talking about vital issues.”
—Salon.com

Buy now.

Season of Migration to the North

Season of Migration to the North
One of the classic themes followed in this complex novel, translated from the Arabic, is cultural dissonance between East and West, particularly the experience of a returned native. The narrator returns from his studies in England to his remote little village in Sudan, to begin his career as an educator. There he encounters Mustafa, a fascinating man of mystery, who also has studied at Oxford. As their relationship builds on this commonality, Mustafa reveals his past. A series of compulsive liaisons with English women who were similarly infatuated with the “Black Englishman,” as he was nicknamed, have ended in disaster. Charged with the passion killing of his last paramour, Mustafa was acquitted by the English courts. As he unravels his complicated, gory and erotic story, Mustafa charges the listener with the custody of his present life. When Mustafa disappears, apparently drowned in the Nile and perhaps a suicide, another door in his secretive life opens to include his wife and children. Emerging from a constantly evolving narrative, in a trance-like telling, is the clash between an assumed worldly sophistication and enduring, dark, elemental forces. An arresting work by a major Arab novelist who mines the rich lode of African experience with the Western world.

Advanced Arabic Calligraphy

This course will expand the students’ basic Arabic calligraphy knowledge and skills by introducing them to more advanced calligraphy and art techniques. Students will be continue to practice various scripts of Arabic calligraphy and will be provided with persistent hands-on practice including in-class practice, individual/group instruction, and take-home assignments as well. This course will combine lectures with visual materials, discussion of reading and/or visual evidence, and hands-on practice with bamboo and ink.

Previous exposure to Arabic Calligraphy is recommended.

Time: Thursdays from 7pm-8:30pm, 5/19 – 6/23
Instructor: Wafaa Al-Shimrty
Tuition: $120 plus $10 for materials
Location: Center for Arabic Culture located at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, 6B, Somerville
Register: Please click here

Introduction to Arabic Calligraphy

This course will introduce participants to Arabic calligraphy and its historical context within the Arab-Muslim world. Students will be introduced to various Arabic calligraphy scripts and will be provided with persistent hands-on practice including in-class practice, individual/group instruction, and take-home assignments. This course will combine lectures with visual materials, discussion of reading and/or visual evidence, and hands-on practice with bamboo and ink.

Familiarity with the Arabic Alphabet is recommended but not required.

Time: Thursdays from 5:30pm-7pm, 5/19 – 6/23
Instructor: Wafaa Al-Shimrty
Tuition: $120 plus $10 for materials
Location: Center for Arabic Culture located at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, 6B, Somerville
Register: Please click here

Beginner Oud (Arabic Guitar) Classes

Kareem Azab, vocalist and Oud player. He started his music studies at the age of 12 in his village Ara in Palestine where he studied Piano and played it for 7 years. Then he moved to Jerusalem, where he started to play Oud by hearing and self-teaching. In Jerusalem, he played and sang with several bands. In 2007 he moved to Boston, and since then he plays and sings with The Arabic Music Ensemble at Tufts University.

In this course we will provide basics of playing the Oud, including: history of the Oud, holding the Oud, music theory (notation and rhythm), Arabic tuning, playing open strings and right-hand plucking techniques, left-hand fingers and positions, basic Maqam theory, practice Maqamat: Nahawand, Kurd, Bayati, Saba, Rast, Hijaz, and Sikka. In parallel to the lessons in class, a Facebook group will be opened and will include written materials and videos for practice at home.

Please note students are responsible for providing their own instrument.

If you do not already have an Oud or are having difficulty in finding an Oud, please contact us at: info@cacboston.org

Time: Thursdays, 7:30pm – 9:00pm, 4/21/11 – 5/26/11
Instructor: Kareem Azab
Tuition: $120
Location: Center for Arabic Culture located at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, 6B, Somerville
Register:
http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=gfvorrcab&oeidk=a07e3kf3pxt1a0e7fb2

Advanced Levantine Colloquial Arabic

Colloquial Arabic is used in daily communication between people in the Arab world. Rooted in classical Arabic, it is simplified for daily use and infiltrated by non-Arabic worlds depending on the geographical location, external cultural and linguistic influences. This class will focus on the Levant dialect, which is spoken in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. It is for adult students who have been exposed to Arabic, either formally or informally. The instructor will use music, movies, recorded conversations and other cultural means to move from Modern Standard Arabic to the Levant dialect.

Students should have a strong command of Arabic vocabulary.

Time: Saturdays, 9:00 am – 10:30 am, 4/9/11 – 5/14/11
Instructor: Nezha Almahi – LeBrasseur/
Tuition: $120
Location: Center for Arabic Culture located at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, 6B, Somerville
Register: Please click here

Intermediate Levantine Colloquial Arabic

Colloquial Arabic is used in daily communication between people in the Arab world. Rooted in classical Arabic, it is simplified for daily use and infiltrated by non-Arabic worlds depending on the geographical location, external cultural and linguistic influences. This class will focus on the Levant dialect, which is spoken in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. It is for adult students who have been exposed to Arabic, either formally or informally. The instructor will use songs, movies, recorded conversations and other cultural means to move from Modern Standard Arabic to the Levant dialect.

Students should be familiar with the alphabet and have a grasp of Arabic vocabulary.

Time: Saturdays, 10:30am – 12:00pm, 4/9/11 – 5/14/11
Instructor: Nezha Almahi – LeBrasseur
Tuition: $120
Location: Center for Arabic Culture located at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, 6B, Somerville
Register: Please click here