Conferences and debates
Index / Activities / Conferences and debates / Loyalty and sacrifice: harsh realities under occupation
Loyalty and sacrifice: harsh realities under occupation
November 13, 20247:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation.
This fifth session in the series Aula Árabe Universitaria will include a screening of the short-subject film Blood Like Water and a meeting and later debate with the director of the short-subject film, Palestinian journalist Dima Hamdan. It will be held in Madrid on Wednesday, November 13.
Blood Like Water, a short film shot in Palestine, is based on the true stories of gay Palestinian men who have been blackmailed by the Israeli intelligence and forced to work as secret agents for the occupation for fear of being outed to their families and communities.
The script was developed over two years after a lengthy research process, not just to ascertain the facts about this open secret, but also to determine what really needs to be said and explored about this situation, and who should be concerned with this story.
The film was released in the summer of 2023, just a few months before the genocide perpetrated against Gaza. To date, it’s been selected by 40 festivals worldwide, winning many awards, including the IRIS Film Prize, the most important prize for short-subject LGBTQ+ films around the world.
After the film screening, we will be holding a debate with the director, Dima Hamdan, revolving around the creation of the story, its impact -if any- on local audiences, and how to position storytelling today when an entire society is facing annihilation Dima Hamdan will be accompanied by Khalil Talhaoui, an artist and PhD student whose research delves into the blackmail and technology traps suffered by Palestinians under occupation.
Organized with the cooperation of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication and with the Master’s degree in International Journalism at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. The session will be introduced by Alejandra Val Cubero, a professor of Audiovisual Communication at the UC3M, with an initial talk and commentary by Amal Abu-Warda, a professor of International Political Communication by Geographic Areas in the URJC Master’s degree program. The debate will be moderated by Karim Hauser, coordinator of Casa Árabe’s Cultural Programs.
You can watch the event live on our YouTube channel.
Dima Hamdan is a Palestinian journalist and filmmaker who worked for more than ten years with the BBC World Service and its Arabic section. The news she covered during that time inspired many ideas for her short-subject films and feature film projects. She reported from Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. She currently directs the Marie Colvin Journalists Network. Since 2007, she has directed five short films in London, Amman and Berlin. Her short-subject film The Bomb won Best Female Director at the Ayodhya Film Festival 2019 and received a Special Mention at the Festival del Cinema dei Diritti Umani di Napoli. As a screenwriter, she won the Shasha Screenwriting Grant from the Abu Dhabi Film Commission, the Göteborg Development Fund and the Royal Film Commission Production Fund for her feature film project The Kidnap. The same project was selected for HOTHOUSE, a development workshop by the London Film School, the Rawi-Sundance Middle Eastern Screenwriters Lab, Babylon International and Med Film Factory. Her latest book, Blood Like Water, has won such awards as the IRIS Film Prize, the most important award for short-subject LGBTQ+ films in the world.
Khalil Talhaoui is a Moroccan-French artist and PhD candidate in Security, Conflict and Human Rights at the University of Exeter. He researches “Blackmail, entrapment and technological practices” within the Palestinian context. Khalil’s research aims to highlight the continued use of blackmail in Israeli colonist settlements as a technique to control Palestinians. His research lies at the crossroads between settlement colonialism studies and critical security studies, and seeks to use research aesthetics (visuality and visualization) as a means for producing knowledge.
The script was developed over two years after a lengthy research process, not just to ascertain the facts about this open secret, but also to determine what really needs to be said and explored about this situation, and who should be concerned with this story.
The film was released in the summer of 2023, just a few months before the genocide perpetrated against Gaza. To date, it’s been selected by 40 festivals worldwide, winning many awards, including the IRIS Film Prize, the most important prize for short-subject LGBTQ+ films around the world.
After the film screening, we will be holding a debate with the director, Dima Hamdan, revolving around the creation of the story, its impact -if any- on local audiences, and how to position storytelling today when an entire society is facing annihilation Dima Hamdan will be accompanied by Khalil Talhaoui, an artist and PhD student whose research delves into the blackmail and technology traps suffered by Palestinians under occupation.
Organized with the cooperation of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Communication and with the Master’s degree in International Journalism at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. The session will be introduced by Alejandra Val Cubero, a professor of Audiovisual Communication at the UC3M, with an initial talk and commentary by Amal Abu-Warda, a professor of International Political Communication by Geographic Areas in the URJC Master’s degree program. The debate will be moderated by Karim Hauser, coordinator of Casa Árabe’s Cultural Programs.
You can watch the event live on our YouTube channel.
Dima Hamdan is a Palestinian journalist and filmmaker who worked for more than ten years with the BBC World Service and its Arabic section. The news she covered during that time inspired many ideas for her short-subject films and feature film projects. She reported from Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. She currently directs the Marie Colvin Journalists Network. Since 2007, she has directed five short films in London, Amman and Berlin. Her short-subject film The Bomb won Best Female Director at the Ayodhya Film Festival 2019 and received a Special Mention at the Festival del Cinema dei Diritti Umani di Napoli. As a screenwriter, she won the Shasha Screenwriting Grant from the Abu Dhabi Film Commission, the Göteborg Development Fund and the Royal Film Commission Production Fund for her feature film project The Kidnap. The same project was selected for HOTHOUSE, a development workshop by the London Film School, the Rawi-Sundance Middle Eastern Screenwriters Lab, Babylon International and Med Film Factory. Her latest book, Blood Like Water, has won such awards as the IRIS Film Prize, the most important award for short-subject LGBTQ+ films in the world.
Khalil Talhaoui is a Moroccan-French artist and PhD candidate in Security, Conflict and Human Rights at the University of Exeter. He researches “Blackmail, entrapment and technological practices” within the Palestinian context. Khalil’s research aims to highlight the continued use of blackmail in Israeli colonist settlements as a technique to control Palestinians. His research lies at the crossroads between settlement colonialism studies and critical security studies, and seeks to use research aesthetics (visuality and visualization) as a means for producing knowledge.
