Online Collective Masterclass

In the midst of struggles, protests, and revolutions, the voices of the oppressed, sidelined, silenced, and forgotten become more salient. In The Articulation of Protest (2002) Hito Steyerl reflects on the functions and forms of ‘articulation’ as being both about the organization of protest movement and the expression of its organization. She meditates on the ways an act of editing can erase the multiplicity of voices and contradictions, inherent to struggles. How can one turn the act of restoring images of past struggles into a critical and sensitive testimony of this erasure? How, through the use of new recording tools, can we echo the current struggles and share across contexts the connection of our outcry and hope?

This online collective masterclass with filmmakers Bassem Saad, Shuruq Harb, and Basma Alsharif follows the screening of their films. The conversation will also be joined by feminist researcher Islam al-Khatib is led by Sursock Museum curator Marie-Nour Héchaimé and Festival Ciné-Palestine member Anaïs Farine.

This event is a collaboration with Festival Ciné Palestine in Paris and is organized in the framework of the first edition of the Queer Cinema for Palestine Festival. 

Register for the Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_6eWK8BFpTQSJ77hk43NHQg

Basma Alsharif iis an artist of Palestinian origin, raised between France, the US and the Gaza Strip. She has a BFA and an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Basma developed her practice nomadically and works between cinema and installation. Major exhibitions include: Solo shows at CCA and MOCA Toronto, Modern Mondays at MOMA, the Whitney Biennial, les Rencontres d'Arles, les Module at the Palais de Tokyo, Here and Elsewhere at the New Museum, Al Riwaq Biennial Palestine, The Berlin Documentary Forum, the Sharjah Biennial, and Manifesta 8. Basma is represented by Galerie Imane Farés in Paris, distributed by Video Data Bank and Arsenal, and is based in Berlin.

Shuruq Harb is an artist, filmmaker, teacher, writer, editor and publisher based in Ramallah. Her artistic practice focuses on online visual culture and traces subversive routes for the circulation of images and goods. Her film The White Elephant received the award for best short film at Cinema du Reel Festival in Paris, 2018, and was shortlisted for the Hamburg International Short Film Festival, 2019. Her first short story “and this is the object that I found” was published at Mezosfera (2020). Her solo exhibition Ghost at the Feast opened at Beirut Art Center in June 2021. The Jump, her most recent film is currently showing at Jameel Arts Center in Dubai. 

Islam al-Khatib is a Palestinian feminist pursuing an MA in Gender, Media and Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London. She is Wiki Gender's Community Manager. She is currently working on a project that examines feminist memes as narrators of intimate histories amid the lockdown. She is also a Coding Resistance fellow with Futuress. 

Bassem Saad is an artist and writer based between Berlin and Beirut. His work explores historical rupture, social movements, and infrastructure, through film, performance, sculpture, and writing. Bassem’s solo and collaborative work has been presented at Transmediale (Berlin), Mousonturm (Frankfurt), Architectural Association (London). His writing appears in Jadaliyya, Unbag, and The Funambulist, and he is an editorial team member at FailedArchitecture. He was a resident fellow at Eyebeam and Leslie Lohman Museum in New York and at Ashkal Alwan’s Home Workspace Program in Beirut.

Queer Cinema for Palestine (QCP) is a collectively-curated 10-day global film festival celebrating queer realities and standing in solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom, justice, and dignity.

The Sursock Museum 2021-2022 Public Program is supported by the Lebanon Solidarity Fund launched by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture – AFAC and Culture Resource (Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy).