On Feb. 14, the Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) hosted an event for Valentine’s Day featuring short films, stories, and music about love. The TPFF Winter Gathering: Love Under Apartheid showcased three films that shined light on the intimate and often hidden stories of Palestinian romance and marriage while living under siege.
Palestine 87 by Bilal Alkhatib was a short film featuring a high-stakes chase: a Palestinian man is forced to hide in an old woman’s bathhouse where her granddaughter is cowering, fearful of the voices outside. The two share a moment of solidarity as soldiers look for the man. By the Sea by Wisam Al Jafari is a story about a cake — one which a mother bakes for her husband who is not able to be with her and their son because of government-enforced COVID restrictions. Finally, Bonbone by Rakan Mayasi sheds light on the thousands of conceptions that occur through Israeli prison walls in creative and desperate ways.
After the first film, Sarah Abu-Sharar, a world-renowned keeper of traditional Palestinian stories, took the stage and shared two stories just as an elderly family member might tell children stories around a fire. One of the stories she shared was about a woman who put freshly baked bread out by her window everyday for the poor, only to witness it robbed daily by a man in fine clothing who, it turns out, was actually feeding people in need with the bread — including the woman’s own son. The story was told to highlight the importance of never giving up activism even when faced with constant backlash — because all effort is worth it in the end.
The event wrapped up with a short performance by Toronto-based Egyptian musician Yehia, who was accompanied by guitarist Koushan Ami-Khosravi. Yehia sang his entire setlist in Arabic, both covering songs by popular artists such as Amr Diab and others, as well as presenting the songs he wrote himself. Consisting of simple chords on the electric guitar overlapped by intricate, classical finger-picking, Yehia’s songs created an intimate, warm space for storytelling and honesty.
“There are these pockets of cultural exchange in Toronto that allow for artists such as myself to play Arabic music to people who crave and understand it and also engage those who are new to it,” Yehia relates. “It means a lot to be able to communicate in my mother tongue, but at the same time, the nature of being in the diaspora comes with a lot of questions around identity — to exist in places outside of our homelands naturally changes who we are. Being able to bring your culture and transform it into art that respects the origins but captures the absurd experience of being an immigrant or a refugee is not only beautiful but quite entertaining.”
As someone born close to Palestine and having grown up with Palestinians who found refuge in Egypt, Yehia has a close connection with the Palestinian diaspora and a deep admiration for their resilience. He concludes, “Their capacity to carry on the struggle throughout these difficult times is truly inspiring.” It was an honour, Yehia said, to perform at such an incredible event that blends traditional and contemporary art forms to highlight the importance of love and resistance.
Learn more about upcoming Toronto Palestine Film Festival events here.
