With TIFF over, another film festival is set to fill the void left in the cinema community.
The Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) offers a chance for filmmakers to highlight the Palestinian experience, with a focus on debunking prevalent Hollywood stereotypes of the Middle East.2009 marks the second year for the festival, building on the success of last year's inaugural event."It was a great success - even better than we expected," said TPFF spokesperson Dania Majid. "This year, we have a great lineup with 34 films that vary in genre. We've got everything from features to shorts and animation with three North American premieres and 11 Canadian premieres."The festival includes filmmakers from Palestine as well as those from Canada, the United States and Europe. The works are tied together by the festival's overarching theme - breaking down western culture's preconceived notions of Palestinians.To that end, the festival has organized several events including an art exhibit and a series of panel discussions to delve into Palestinian filmmaking and help shatter the myths surrounding Palestine and those who hail from the oft-misrepresented region."We're looking at identities - identities as Palestinians and how those compare to our identities in western culture," Majid said. The festival will feature screenings and other events at a variety of venues, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Bloor Cinema, the Revue Cinema and Mississauga's Square One. As part of the week-long event, organizers have arranged for a multimedia art exhibit, Jewels in the Machine, to coincide with the film screenings.Jewels in the Machine will feature works by five artists from across the Palestinian and Arab Diaspora."The five projects really vary - a few pieces involve video, there's an audio piece and a series of cells from an upcoming graphic novel," said exhibit curator Reena Katz. "The whole film festival is about expanding the notions of Arabs in cinema and taking apart the western images of Arabs, and the art exhibit is looking at the body as part of the Palestinian experience."Jewels in the Machine will be on display at Beaver Hall, 29 McCaul St., from Sunday, Sept. 28 to Saturday, Oct. 3, while the TPFF will feature screenings and other events from Saturday, Sept. 27 to Friday, Oct. 2. For tickets or information, visit www.tpff.ca