March, 1997:

Literature

The main cultural event of the month was the holding of the Palestinian Writers' Union first international conference, held at Bir Zeit University from the 22nd to the 25th.

Before the conference began, controversy swirled around the conference, mainly due to the refusal of Israeli authorities to grant visas to a number of Arab participants, and the refusal of a number of Arab writers to come at all, in opposition to the Israeli control of the borders.

The conference, however, was a success, with the majority of the rest of the international participants coming. The theme of the conference was "New Themes for a New Era". topics discussed were: the role of intellectuals, the new millennium, the political claims of literature, the west and Islam, culture and the new world order, etc.

Writers in attendance were: Moroccan author Abdellatif Laabi, Egyptian novelist Lotfi Khouly, the majority of Palestinian poets and writers, chief among them Mahmoud Darwish, French poet Bernard Noel, British poets Sarah McGuire and Benjamin Zephaniah, Norwegians Kirsti Bloom, Knut Odegard, Swedish author Ingrid Ilam, etc.. There were also two poetry evenings held on the margins of the conference.

Cinema

Director Rachid Machharaoui completed a documentary on the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and spent the month in Turkey shooting his new movie.

The Popular Arts Centre in El Bireh continued its successful cinema showings, focusing this month on award winning films from around the world.

The Ministry of Culture's cinema section hosted a series of lectures all over the country by Palestinian film critic Alia Arsaghli on the image of women in Arab cinema.

Theatre

The Jerusalem-based Palestinian National Theatre continued with its successful multi faceted activities, staging short plays for children, and previewing the production of two new plays, Al Mukhad (Contractions) written and directed by Mohammed Zaher, and Al Moukhlissa Lek (Devoted to You) written by Larry Thomas, adapted and directed by Kamal Bacha.

The Ramallah based Asthar theatre school produced a play requiring participation from the audience, called Abou Shaker 97.

Visual Arts

The principal news of the month was the return of painters Ismail Shammout and Tamam el Akhal. For their first visit for 30 years to Palestine, they were honored with a tribute at the Sakakini , and attended a documentary film screening of their lives and works by Palestinian film maker Azza Hassan at the PAC.