9 juli Amsterdam: Documentaire en voorprogramma “What Walaa wants”

Onderdeel van IDFA by night door Pakhuis de Zwijger en IDFA

Dinsdag 8 juli

Voorprogramma 20u00

Film (openluchtbioscoop) 22u00

Pakhuis de Zwijger, Piet Heinkade 179

When Palestinian Latifa Abu Draa, after 8 years in Israeli prison, was freed in 2011, her daughter Walaa was 15 years old. Walaa grew up in Balata refugee camp; an environment in which occupation, oppression, insecurity, anger, grief and flying bullets are a daily reality. How do young people deal with growing up in Palestine, specifically the West Bank? Which choices do they have, what decisions do they take and why? In ‘What Walaa Wants’ we see how Walaa develops from a wild child into a rebellious adolescent, thereby answering the questions above in her own way.

Before we watch the film in the open air, we’ve invited a number of speakers to talk about different ways of dealing with longterm conflict in people’s transition to adulthood in Palestine

Speakers:

Aylin Özalp is project leader Ramallah at Young Urban Achievers, a sister foundation of student-led projects Kriterion, Skek and Studio K, which enables youngsters globally to set-up independent cultural projects. YUA is currently assisting a group of young Palestinians to initiate such a project in Ramallah and Aylin will share some of her insights as project coordinator.

Sobhi Khatib is a Palestinian living in Amsterdam, human rights defender and political activist. Before moving to the Netherlands, Sobhi lived in several Israeli cities. He will speak about the way he gives meaning to his Palestinian identity and the way his background has inspired his current activities.

Jesse van Duijl is currently a master student at the VU (Vrije Universiteit) in Amsterdam. After a bachelor in Anthropology and minors in both Middle Eastern Studies and Conflict Studies, he decided to study Arabic at the Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. Jesse will talk about some of the different ways that young Palestinians at the University and in Ramallah cope with the Israeli occupation.