Award-winning documentary about a young Palestinian who, due to international politics, is unable to return to his homeland. In the presence of the filmmaker.
In 2014, the young Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly was on an exchange in Norway when the borders of his home Gaza were closed for an unspecified period. This posed several problems, one being that the Norwegian government would not accept his Palestinian passport, meaning that Jabaly was now stateless. Then his application for a work permit was rejected, because being a self-taught filmmaker meant he didn’t have the necessary qualifications. It meant he was trapped with his host family in the arctic city of Tromsø, and couldn’t travel. One of the upshots of this situation was that he was unable to attend the screening of his 2016 debut film Ambulance at IDFA.
While awaiting a decision from the court, and following the dismal paths of political and bureaucratic logic, Jabaly films himself and his Norwegian friends and colleagues in the snow-covered serenity of the spectacular Norwegian landscape. These scenes contrast starkly with the agonizing images and messages he receives from family and friends in Gaza. The close-knit artistic and film community in Tromsø, meanwhile, is making every effort to support Jabaly.
Q&A with Mohamed Jabaly
Life Is Beautiful had its world premiere at IDFA in 2023 and was awarded the Best Director prize. This year, Mohamed Jabaly will present his latest film at IDFA and will come to Concordia for the screening of Life Is Beautiful and a Q&A afterwards. The film will be screened once again as part of the video exhibition Landscape, Disrupted, featuring works by artists who refuse to existing patriarchal and colonial structures.
In the current global political climate, the questioning of existing systems and a reclaiming of the narrative is a pressing theme. In the exhibition "Landscape, Disrupted" which is co-curated by Sirin Bahar Demirel, we address this issue with video works, acting as a form of micro-resistance. Mohamed's work seamlessly aligns with this way of working and questions teh current situation in a unique and poignant way.
After the film Concordia's visual arts curator Petra Boonstra will engage in a conversation with Mohamed Jabaly.
Subtitles
English