During the Gulf War, Serge Daney wrote that conversation, “a typically Franco-Arab art”, was no longer possible between him and his Arab friends. Here, he is offered a setting – both real and cinematic – in which he can attempt to renew this dialogue, which has been interrupted for a time. His choice of interlocutor was an obvious one: Elias Sanbar, Palestinian, historian, director of the magazine “Études Palestiniennes” and image collector. Sanbar is an exile who archives the memory of his people: press photographs, family albums, postcards and so on. For him, images are proof of his identity. Daney, for his part, has spent most of his life watching films, but has always refused to keep still images. On both sides, there was a strong desire to confront these two attitudes to the image, and turn it into a kind of parable of North-South relations.

DVD Source: DVD5 from VHS
Duration: 46min
DVD Format: PAL
DVD Audio: French Stereo
Program: DVDShrink
Menus: No
Video: Untouched
Audio: Untouched
DVD extras: Untouched

https://nitro.download/view/07DDD1C56EB9801/Serge_Daney_conversation_Nord-Sud.rar

Language(s):French
Subtitles:None

The post Simone Bitton & Catherine Poitevin – Serge Daney : conversation Nord-Sud (1993) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

During the Gulf War, Serge Daney wrote that conversation, “a typically Franco-Arab art”, was no longer possible between him and his Arab friends. Here, he is offered a setting – both real and cinematic – in which he can attempt to renew this dialogue, which has been interrupted for a time. His choice of interlocutor was an obvious one: Elias Sanbar, Palestinian, historian, director of the magazine “Études Palestiniennes” and image collector. Sanbar is an exile who archives the memory of his people: press photographs, family albums, postcards and so on. For him, images are proof of his identity. Daney, for his part, has spent most of his life watching films, but has always refused to keep still images. On both sides, there was a strong desire to confront these two attitudes to the image, and turn it into a kind of parable of North-South relations.

Conversation Nord-Sud [Serge Daney and Elias Sanbar] (Simone Bitton 1992).mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	46 min 10 s
Size: 	680 MiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	704x574 ~> 765x574
Aspect ratio:  	4:3
Frame rate: 	25.000 fps
Bit rate: 	1 803 kb/s
BPP: 	0.178
Audio
#1:  	2.0ch AC-3 @ 256 kb/s (Stereo)

https://nitro.download/view/6D1C3643C2115AC/Conversation_Nord-Sud__Serge_Daney_and_Elias_Sanbar__(Simone_Bitton_1992).mkv
https://nitro.download/view/E45F6529256D3C7/Daney_Sanbar_Conversation_Nord-Sud.env4.srt

Language(s):French
Subtitles:English

The post Simone Bitton & Catherine Poitevin – Conversation Nord-Sud: Serge Daney & Elias Sanbar (1993) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
In the powerful documentary “Mahmoud Darwich,” Simone Bitton interviews the famed Palestinian poet about his art, life, and relationship with his homeland. Bitton explores the connection between the poet and the land of which he writes but has not been allowed to visit. His life and the development of his art is retraced, from his experience as a young man living in Jerusalem, to exile in Beirut and Tunis, where he became an active supporter of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and finally to Paris, where he currently resides and cloisters himself in his work.

It is sometimes difficult for Westerners to imagine the huge popularity poets enjoy in the Arab world. From the Middle East to North Africa, poetry is considered a living art that should be performed on stage by the authors themselves. When the great Arab poet Mahmoud Darwich recites his poems in Cairo, Beirut or Algiers (or even in Paris and London), packed crowds come to mouth the verse with him. This film traces Darwich’s path of exile from Palestine, sets out to understand this popular fervor and share the emotion distilled by Darwich’s words and inimitable rhythm. It not only allows the viewer to appreciate his work in its totality, but also places it in a political, historical and cultural context. Readings of Darwich’s work by the poet himself are set against scenes of the Palestinian countryside and serve to highlight the way in which the land is conjured up and recreated in the verse of this highly creative and troubled artist.

Quote:
[…] Je n’avais pas besoin que l’on me contât mon histoire.
La réalisatrice Simone Bitton reviendra cinquante ans plus tard dans mon village natal [Birwa, en Israël] pour filmer mon premier puits et la première eau de ma langue.
Elle se heurtera au refus des nouveaux occupants des lieux et enregistrera ce dialogue avec le responsable de la colonie israélienne.

” Ici est né le poète.
– Moi aussi, j’y suis né. Lorsque mon père est arrivé ici, il n’a trouvé que des décombres. Nous avons commencé par habiter les tentes, puis des masures. J’ai mis vingt ans avant de pouvoir bâtir une maison et tu veux que je la lui donne ?
– Je veux seulement filmer ces décombres, ce qui reste de sa maison. Il a l’âge de ton père. N’as-tu pas honte de réagir ainsi ?
– Ne sois pas naïve. Ils réclament le droit au retour.
– Aurais-tu peur qu’ils l’obtiennent ?
– Oui.
– Et qu’ils te chassent comme tu les as chassés ?
– Je n’ai chassé personne, moi. On nous a débarqué des camions et on nous a dit : c’est ici, débrouillez-vous. Mais qui est ce Darwich ?
– Un homme qui a écrit sur ce lieu, sur ces figuiers de Barbarie, sur ces arbres et sur ce puits.
– Quel puits ? Il y a huit puits dans ce village. Quel âge avait-il ?
– Six ans.
– Et l’église ? Est-ce qu’il a écrit sur l’église ? Il y avait une église, mais elle a été détruite. Ils ont par contre gardé l’école pour loger les vaches laitières et les veaux.
– Vous avez transformé l’école en étable ?
– Et pourquoi pas ?
– C’est vrai ; après tout pourquoi pas ? Ils avaient un cheval aussi. Les arbres fruitiers sont-ils encore là ?
– Naturellement. Lorsque nous étions enfants nous nous nourrissions de leurs fruits. Des figues et des mûres et tout ce que Dieu a créé. Ces arbres sont toute mon enfance.
– La sienne aussi.”

File Size : 645 MB (660,967 KB / 676,830,524 bytes)
Runtime : 59:53.84

Video Codec : XVID
Frame Size : 656 x 496
FPS : 25.00
Video Bitrate : 1369 kb/s
Bits per Pixel : 0.179

Audio Codec : 0x0055 MPEG-1 Layer 3
Sample Rate : 48000 Hz
128 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/43199B12010F1E7/Mahmoud_Darwich.avi
https://nitro.download/view/A54027D6D49ACB2/Mahmoud_Darwich.srt

Language(s):French, Arabic
Subtitles:French (hard),English

The post Simone Bitton & Elias Sanbar – Mahmoud Darwich : Et la terre, comme la langue… (1998) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

In the summer of 2002, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon ordered the construction of a massive security wall, which would clearly define the border between Israel and Palestine and prevent Palestinian forces from easily entering Israeli territory. While the wall follows the nation’s official borderlines, it cuts through neighborhoods, gardens, farmlands and others areas, serving as an ugly and divisive reminder of the ongoing conflict and ultimately trapping people on both sides within the barrier. Documentary filmmaker Simone Bitton, a Jew born in Morocco who identifies with both Israeli and Arab cultures, examines the long and costly process of building this fence in Wall (aka Mur), which offers a visual record of the barrier’s emergence and features interview with the people who build it, as well as those forced to live in its shadow. Wall was screened as part of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

0.99GB | 1h 35mn | 640×336 | avi

https://nitro.download/view/29131217D08B8AD/Mur_AKA_Wall.avi
https://nitro.download/view/AE3535EF8F0A145/Mur_AKA_Wall.Dutch.srt
https://nitro.download/view/E11CCAE4F327F2A/Mur_AKA_Wall.English.srt
https://nitro.download/view/AF2ACBA6D1B4F7C/Mur_AKA_Wall.French.srt
https://nitro.download/view/9A0E8F7BED3181E/Mur_AKA_Wall.idx
https://nitro.download/view/F2074E33244BD41/Mur_AKA_Wall.Spanish.srt
https://nitro.download/view/729C395DB79C415/Mur_AKA_Wall.sub

Language(s):Arabic,Hebrew
Subtitles:English,Spanish,French,Dutch

The post Simone Bitton – Mur AKA Wall (2004) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

To show solidarity with Palestinians, Amercian peace activist Rachel Corrie engaged in civil disobedience in a combat zone in the Gaza Strip; the circumstances that led to her death by bulldozer (or its debris) are still debated.

1.48GB | 1 h 39 min | 1016×572 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/0BDB006DE910D9C/Rachel_(Simone_Bitton_2008).mkv
https://nitro.download/view/429265194A5FF3C/Simone_Bitton_&_Avi_Moghrabi_(2010).mkv

Language:French, English, Arabic, Hebrew
Subtitles:English, French

The post Simone Bitton – Rachel [+Extra] (2009) first appeared on Cinema of the World.