PFFA: The Fashion Programme + Talk
Guests: Curator Dr. Roberto Filippello, Investigative journalist Charisa Chotoe, Singer-songwriter and honorary guest Bashar Murad
Films:
In alignment with the festival focus on Dissident Voices and Queer Palestinian Cinema, The Fashion Programme, curated by Dr. Roberto Filippello, features a collection of short films, commercials, and music videos all conceiving the fashioned body as bearer of violence and occupation. Whether at a catwalk or in an airport, the filmmakers understand the socio-political boundaries of fashion and seek to redefine them.
MASKHARA (2020) and ANTENNE (2021), directed by singer and video-artist Bashar Murad, vibrantly satirise gender performativity in the context of occupation through impossible pop-art-ized landscapes including Murad provocatively dancing on a tank. The models walking down the “occupied catwalk” in Sharif Waked’s CHIC POINT (2003), violate high fashion designs with daring cuts meditating on the humiliation experienced by Palestinians at checkpoints. In BODY TONES (2022), directed by Dina Amin, Hazar Jawabra’s colourful knitting acts as the second layer of human skin offering an escape from societal predations and expectations. In ERRORVISION (2021), directed by Trashy, the omnipresent world of art-washing dissolves in a collection of sleek silhouettes with dramatic shaping in sleeves and flares, flowing gracefully with the model’s showcased movement. In HOMECOMING QUEENZ (2021), directed by Elias Wakeem, a phone vlog follows two drag queens as they are confronted with the surveillant atmosphere at Ben Gurion International Airport.
- Title film: Chic Point
Director: Sharif Waked
Length: 7 min
Spoken language: English
Subtitles: English
- Title film: Homecoming Queenz
Director: Elias Wakeem
Length: 11 min
Spoken language: Arabic, Hebrew
Subtitles: English
- Title film: Errorvision
Director: Trashy Clothing (Omar Braika Shukri Lawrence)
Length: 7 min
Spoken language: English
Subtitles: English
- Title film: Antenne
Director: Bashar Murad
Length: 4 min
Spoken language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
- Title film: Maskhara
Director: Bashar Murad
Length: 3 min
Spoken language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
- Title film: Body Tones
Director: Dina Amin
Length: 2 min
Spoken language: Arabic
Subtitles: English
Talk:
Charisa Chotoe will chime in about her research on Israeli pinkwashing, to which she contributed a television episode of Electric Avenue that featured participating guest Bashar Murad. Roberto Filippello will debate “pinkwatching” during this day and age, and Bashar Murad will discuss the significance of being a queer Palestinian artist whose music addresses societal norms, the Israeli occupation, and gender equality in the Middle East.
This film is part of Palestinian Film Festival Amsterdam.