The celebrated Palestinian director Michel Khleifi is 65 this year and Shubbak has invited him to mark this occasion by curating the festival’s main film programme: a themed, personal selection from his own films in dialogue with works of Arab and European cinema. Spread across three venues, the season explores representations of Palestine and the Arab in European cinema, as well as the struggle for the emancipation of women.

Canticle of the Stones | Michel Khleifi | Palestine/Belgium | 1990 | 110 mins
Khleifi’s second feature film tells the story of star-crossed lovers, Bushra and Makram. Parted in the 1960s when Bushra emigrates to the US, heartbroken after Makram’s imprisonment for resisting the Israeli occupation, the pair meet again years later when she returns to Jerusalem at the height of the first Intifada.

Michel Khleifi is a Palestinian / Belgian director and writer, born in Nazareth in 1950. He has won several prestigious international awards for his films including the International Critics’ Award, Cannes ’87 and the Golden Concha, San Sebastian ’87 for Wedding in Galilee. 

FREE. Places Limited. rsvp@mosaicrooms.org

Have you checked out the rest of our FREE Michel Khleifi film season screenings? You might also like Forbidden Marriages in the Holy Land, Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel Part 1 and Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel Part 2 & 3.

Part of Shubbak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture. 11 – 26 July 2015.

Shubbak is the UK’s premier festival of contemporary Arab culture, presenting outstanding international Arab artists to London audiences and communities. www.shubbak.co.uk