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Palestinian Authority
“You can't understand how far [our] situation enters into the brain. It becomes difficult to think of anything else.”
-Elia Suleiman, Palestinian film director
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Adam Zuabi wanted to bring Monsoon Wedding to Palestine.
In the end, it was The Motorcycle Diaries, but who cares? Not the
2,000 people sitting in the Palace of Culture for the opening event
of the first ever Ramallah Film Festival, not even when the
projector broke down halfway through. “Everybody was smiling
about it,” says Zuabi, 30, the festival's director. “People were really
understanding.” That's the way it is, in the West Bank. “Before you
begin, you set your expectations at a very low level, so when
problems happen, you won't be disappointed. It's like playing jazz–
you've got to improvise a lot.” Some problems came from
unexpected quarters. A scriptwriting competition for young
Palestinians produced seven finalists, but not one screenplay was
about the Israeli occupation. “The Palestinian Authority wasn't
happy with the image we were giving of Palestine. They don't want
to give the image that everything is fine.” It isn't: the festival was
dedicated to all the children killed in the second intifada (uprising).
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