For the second year in a row, the Benaa Cultural Salon, in cooperation with Aflamuna Foundation, participated in commemorating the Palestine Cinema Days on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, one hundred and seven years after this anniversary, which falls on November 2nd, in solidarity and belief in the inevitability of conveying the Palestinian cause and voices.
On Saturday, November 2, the first documentary, “The Wanted 18,” directed by Amer Shomali and Paul Cowen, produced in 2014, was screened. It tells the story of the efforts of Palestinians in Beit Sahour to start a local dairy industry during the First Intifada, where they hid a herd of 18 cows from the sight of Israeli security forces when the dairy group was deemed a threat. The film includes documentary interviews with those involved in the events, archival footage, drawings, and black-and-white animation.
In addition to the second documentary, “11 Days in May” by Palestinian directors Mohammed Al-Sawaf and British director Michael Winterbottom, produced in 2021, the film tells the stories of 64 children who were martyred in Gaza in 2022, through the archive of their memories and the testimony of their families about the details of their dreams and lives, which were recorded expressively through a soundtrack without any political comments, to focus on the fact that there will be children who lose their future whenever war breaks out.