June 24 & 25: Two Palestinian Films

Two Palestine films: This Way Up and Open Heart
At 2008 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

Tue Jun 24 at 9:00 pm
Wed Jun 25 at 1:00 pm & 6:15 pm

Walter Reade Theater on W. 65th St.

Admission: $11 public; $8 seniors (62+);
$7 Film Society members & students (with ID) and children (6-12, accompanied by an adult).
(Please note: there is a $1.25 service charge per ticket ordered online and cash only transactions at the box office)


This Way Up
NY Premiere
Georgi Lazarevski, France, 2007; 60m video. In Arabic

Just east of Jerusalem lies the formerly bucolic Our Lady of Pains, a senior citizens’ home for Palestinians. The grimly spectacular and unavoidable wall of separation a few meters from the front door isolates the seniors from their children and the outside world, including the staff that attends to them. With beautiful imagery, contemplative pacing, moments of laughter and brilliant use of a quietly humorous guide, filmmaker Lazarevski fashions a film whose political message grows like an approaching thundercloud.

screening with
Open Heart
NY Premiere
Claire Fowler, UK/Palestine, 2006; 22m video. In Arabic and English

The life of a Palestinian couple's son is threatened by congenital heart disease. A charity offers a life-saving surgery in Jerusalem, but to get there the family must make an uncertain trip through Israeli checkpoints. An emotional journey highlighting the plight of the struggling Palestinian healthcare system under occupation.

Both films in this program are presented in association with Arte East, www.arteeast.org.