A two-day series of screenings and a book signing on January 4th and 5th at Barzakh.
The Native and the Refugee is a long-term multimedia research project by Malek Rasamny and Matt Peterson that aims to document, juxtapose and connect the spaces of Palestinian refugee camps and Native reservations as “spaces of exception” that bear testimony to the violence of settler-colonialism and the nation-state but also help us critique and imagine new possibilities beyond them.
DAY 1: Thursday January 4 @ 7pm
Thursday’s event will begin with a screening of different short form works from the Native of the Refugee project spanning their first collaborative short films shot in reservations in the United States and their latest piece shot amongst Bedouin communities in Palestine. The event will conclude with a short presentation of the book The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival followed by a Q&A with the audience. Copies of the book will be available for purchase before and after the event.
List of Short Films:
We Love Being Lakota (2015) 12 min. In English
Beddawi (2017) 6 min. In Arabic (English subtitles)
Jenin (2017) 8 min. In Arabic (English subtitles)
The Way of the Longhouse (2015) 12 min. In English
Bedouins of Jericho (2021) 8 min. In Arabic (English subtitles)
About the book:
Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival is an anthology of interviews, artworks and previously unpublished texts about about the revival of Mohawk tradition and political resistance that began in the later 1960s lasting until the present day. The book features key interviews with surviving members of the Mohawk Warrior Society (the group that led this revival), reprintings of key texts and artworks by one of the groups key thinkers Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall, and a glossary of Mohawk political philosophy.
DAY 2: Friday January 5 @ 7pm
On Friday we will feature a screening of the film “Spaces of Exception” followed by a discussion with director Malek Rasamny.
Shot between 2014 to 2017, Spaces of Exception observes and juxtaposes the communities and struggles of the American Indian reservation and the Palestinian refugee camp. It visits reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, New York, and South Dakota, as well camps in Lebanon and the West Bank in alternating segments that seeks to understand the distinct realities of each place while also exploring their historical commonalities and revolutionary capabilities. Mostly eschewing archival footage, Spaces of Exception showcases the present, in which each day lived is itself an act of resistance, asking us to rethink the present moment from the vantage point of these spaces and the communities that reside within them.
Spaces of Exception (2019)
dir. Malek Rasamny and Matt Peterson
90 min. In English, Arabic, Dine and Kaien’kéha with English subtitles
All events are free and open to the public
Our space is equipped for and welcomes wheelchair users
