Find out more about the speakers and directors who joined us in 2011, who they are and what they said…
Andrew Kavanagh is the founder and Chief Executive of internationally acclaimed animation company with 15 years’ experience working in the fields of animation, script writing and film direction. Andrew is the director of ‘Hassan Everywhere’ an animation based on a true story of a friendship which sparked up between an Israeli novelist and Palestinian artist in New York. You can hear Andrew talk about his work here.
Cathi Pawson (Zaytoun CIC) Having trained in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Exeter University, Cathi spent some years travelling and working in Britain and Ireland for NGOs and the civil service. In 2002-4, she spent time working as Regional Liaison Officer for Caroline Lucas MEP and assisted in a campaign to highlight the MEP’s fact-finding mission to Palestine, before going out herself to Palestine for a month in 2003 as a volunteer with a human rights organisation. Working closely with rural farming communities on issues of access to land and movement restrictions, she became aware of the need to find not only a sustainable market for their produce and to find alternative channels of communication for these communities. On her return she co-founded Zaytoun. Since the first delivery of 200 bottles, Zaytoun has pioneered Fair Trade for Palestinian olive farmers, launching the world’s first Fair Trade olive oil in 2009, along with introducing many other Palestinian products to the British marketplace. Listen to Cathi Pawson talk about this at the festival in 2011.
Conor McCormack is a Bristol-based Independent filmmaker with a track record of making powerful and socially engaging documentaries including the British Independent Film Awards nominated ‘Christmas with Dad’. Much of his work focuses on documenting the stories of people who are seen to be on the margins of society, a primary concern being identity, how people become who they are and how they survive it.
David Massey has been engaged in various political and social movements in Israel/Palestine for over 20 years, as well as working as a graphic artist and film-maker. He has directed several documentaries including May 35, Political Travels, Democracy isn’t built on demonstrators’ bodies, and Eid. He co-founded the It’s All Lies project, a Hebrew language website for political commentary and activism, and is the editor of the book It’s All Lies: The Fusion of Resistance and Creativity in Israel–Leaflets, Underground Press and Posters 1967-2000. His interests lie in using art and creativity as a means for social transformation. Download and watch the movie David and co. directed here.
Dr Ghada Karmi is a leading Palestinian activist, writer and academic. She is co-director of the European Centre of Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter, and a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and a member of the Executive Committee of the Council for Arab-British Understanding. Her memoir, ‘In Search of Fatima’, was widely acclaimed, and her most recent book. ‘Married to another man: Israel’s dilemma in Palestine’, is an analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the Palestinian point of view.
Honey Thaljieh is striker and captain of the Palestinian National Football team. After several years of playing football with the boys but without a team to call her own, Honey spearheaded the effort to start the women’s team in 2003, overcoming a range of social, cultural and political challenges to ensure that Palestine has a national woman’s team on the global stage. Her passion for football has allowed her to develop her talents and strengthen her connection with sports clubs throughout the occupied territories. Honey continues to assist in the development of skills and confidence supporting other young female players to take up the beautiful game. Hear Honey talk about her passion for football, for peace and for Palestine at the 2011 festival.
Palestinian journalist and poet, Iqbal Tamimi lives in Bristol. She has worked as a radio broadcaster, editor of various newspapers and a researcher of art and literature’s effect on politics. Iqbal established Palestinian Mothers Network for Palestinian women’s plights and achievements. Authoring two books in Arabic, she is an active member of the Arab Women Media Centre in Jordan since 2002 and the Exiled Journalist Network in the UK, since 2002, she has established partnerships to develop and promote press freedom. Read a review of Iqbal’s reading at the 2011 festival.
Ken Loach was born in 1936 in Nuneaton. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and went on to study law at St. Peter’s Hall, Oxford. After a brief spell in the theatre, Loach was recruited by the BBC in 1963 as a television director. This launched a long career directing films for television and the cinema, from Cathy Come Home and Kes in the sixties to Land And Freedom, Sweet Sixteen and The Wind That Shakes The Barley in recent years. Listen to Ken Loach introducing the festival in 2011.
Leila Sansour is the founder and CEO of Open Bethlehem. She was born in Moscow to a Palestinian father and a Russian mother, and grew up in the occupied West Bank. Leila is best known in the UK for her feature-length documentary, Jeremy Hardy versus the Israeli Army -73 minutes, which was filmed in Bethlehem during the 2002 siege and received four and five-star reviews, before its national release across cinemas in the UK, and its tour in the US as part of Amnesty International’s Roaming Film Festival. She made the decision to return to her home city of Bethlehem in 2004 following Israel’s construction of the wall, to found the organisation Open Bethlehem- an international campaign to save the city and keep it open for the world; which operates with a sense of duty to the wider region, seeing itself as a voice and a showcase for challenges that face Palestine. As a result Leila’s latest film, a feature documentary The Road to Bethlehem is a personal story shot over 5 momentous years in the life of Bethlehem revealing her own journey back home as well as an intimate portrait of her city under occupation. The film received the Enjaaz award and premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival. Hear Leila talk about her project Open Bethlehem.
Samiha Abdeld jebar is a French-Algerian film professional living and working in Wiltshire. She was trained in film production at La Femis, the Parisian film school. Samiha specialises in film analysis workshops – working to enthuse people from all walks of life about this art form, by giving them the tools to better understand how film works; how it triggers emotion, thought and discussion.
Vanessa Rousselot Vanessa Rousselot studied the history of the Arab world at the Sorbonne, and Arabic at INALO, the institute of oriental languages in Paris. Then she filmed interviews with Palestinians in the refugee camps of Lebanon, and trained in documentary filmmaking at Atliers Varan, where she directed Seizième Round about former vice-champion boxer, Freddy Skouma. She directed several TV reportages for WA productions. During 4 years, Vanessa Rousselot travelled the roads of the West Bank looking for that most human of qualities, humour. Her method was simple: she asked every new person she met, “Do you know a Palestinian joke?” Hear Vanessa talk about how she made and directed No Laughing Matter.