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FROM THE BED & BREAKFAST NOTEBOOKS

a film by Alexandra Handal

Experimental Short, B&W, Sound, 2009, 13min. 46sec

Original Language (Audio):

Arabic, English, French
Subtitles: English

Original Language (Text):

English

SYNOPSIS

In West Jerusalem, some expropriated Palestinian homes that are now occupied by Israeli Jews have been converted into bed and breakfasts promising tourists 'an authentic experience of Jerusalem'. It is in one of those accommodations in West Musrara that the Palestinian artist spent 13 nights in August 2007. Stills from the interior of the house, hand held footage, a mix composed of the city soundscape and oral testimonies by Palestinian refugees, all interlace with a travel account that tells the story of an airport body search. The result is a film where multiple stories unfold through layers of sound, image and text, uncovering – like a crime scene investigation – the remnants of a denied past against an oppressive present.

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

What would it be like to wake-up on the other side of Jerusalem? For me the other side meant the areas where the entire Palestinian population was ethnically cleansed in 1948, the ones that in turn became exclusively Jewish. How might travelling there provide me with a renewed perspective of the city that until then, I only knew through my experience of living in the eastern part? For those who are newcomers to Jerusalem, it might not be immediately obvious where the border between east and west lies in this divided city. The No Man's Land that kept them apart for nineteen long years might have been dismantled after the 1967 war, but even after Jerusalem was no longer physically divided, new types of borders emerged for Palestinians. They are psychological, emotional and mental and they dictate how people live, navigate and interact in the city. Beyond the imaginary borderline that is etched in each person's mental map, are places west of the city that represent an entanglement of pain, melancholia and sorrow for Palestinians. In those areas, some expropriated Palestinian homes that are now occupied by Israeli Jews have been converted into bed and breakfasts. It is in one of those accommodations in West Musrara that I spent 13 nights in August 2007. I wanted to capture the feeling of the place as I experienced it.

CREDITS

Director, Script, Photographer & Sound Designer

Alexandra Handal

Editor & Sound mix

Boris Gerrets

Producer

Alexandra Handal

Voice 1 Louis Safieh Voice 2 Anonymous Voice 3 George Baramki Voice 4 Ahmad Muna Voice 5 May Giacaman

Supported by

Chelsea College of Art and Design, The University of the Arts London, UK

QUOTES

‘…very poetic and gentle’
Sasha Craddock, Chair of Bloomberg New Contemporaries, UK
Creative Tourist

‘…quietly powerful political engagement’
Studio International

‘…disturbing, intriguing and also amusing’
A-N Magazine

‘…a few names to watch… Alexandra Handal’
Guardian

INTERNATIONALLY JURIED EXHIBITIONS

New Contemporaries 2009
[SELECTORS: Wolfgang Tillmans, Ellen Gallagher, John Stezaker, Saskia Olde Wolbers] A touring exhibition showcasing emerging artists in the UK: A Foundation, London, UK and Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK

FILM FESTIVALS, GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND ONLINE SCREENINGS

2012
No Man’s Land, Art Chennai, India

2012
MENA Experimental: Recent Experimental Film and New Media, Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco, USA

2011
Video Lounge, India Art Summit, New Delhi, India

2010
Somewhere and Nowhere, Soanyway Magazine, soanyway.org.uk

2010
Rencontres Internationales, Documentary Programme Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany & Future National Centre For Visual Arts, Madrid, Spain

2009
Rencontres Internationales, Documentary Programme, Centre Culturel de Serbie, Paris, France

2009
The Other Shadow of the City, Al-Hoash Gallery, East Jerusalem

2009
Tamam, part of the initiative ‘Mapping’, Video Programme, Art Dubai, Medinat Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE