Art Auction and Film for Medical Aid for Palestine
There will be an Art Auction taking place via zoom on the 12th May to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestine. At least 20 works of art have been generously donated by talented artists and they will be auctioned by well known poet and performer Matt Harvey on the day from 2pm onwards. For more information contact rose.f.ellis@outlook.com
Film Night
And at 7pm on May 13th Totnes Friends of Palestine film night presents LYD at St. John’s Church, Bridgetown.
A story of a city, Lyd, that once connected Palestine to the world it once was, what it is now, and what it could have become…
Healing Divisions
With their award winning collaborative feature, Lyd, Palestinian writer and activist Rami Younis and American filmmaker Sarah Ema Friedland present a cinematic achievement that breaks down the wide divide between documentary and science fiction.
This feature-length, sci-fi documentary shares multiple pasts, presents, and futures of the city of Lyd in Palestine/Israel. From the perspective of the city herself, voiced by Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi, the viewer is guided through the lifespan of a five-thousand-year-old city and its residents.
The Nakba
Lyd was once a thriving Palestinian city with a rich history. In 636 AD, It was even considered the first capital of Palestine. When the State of Israel was founded in 1948, Lyd became an Israeli city, and in the process, hundreds of Lyd’s Palestinian residents were massacred by Israeli forces, and most of the city’s 50,000 Palestinian residents were exiled. Today, the city has a Jewish Israeli majority and a Palestinian minority and is disinvested and divided by racism and violence. For Palestinians, Lyd’s story is a painful and tragic fall from grace, which is why our film dares to ask the question: what would the city be like had the Israeli occupation of Lyd never happened?
Alternate futures
In the raspy voice of a diva, the city explains that the massacre and expulsion were so devastating that it fractured her reality, and now there are two Lyds –– one occupied and one free. As the film unfolds, documentary portions follow a chorus of characters through their daily lives, creating a tapestry of the Palestinian experience of this city, and vivid animations envision an alternate reality where the same documentary characters live free from the trauma of the past and the violence of the present. As the film cuts between fantastical and documentary realities, it ultimately leaves the viewer questioning which future should prevail.
Official trailer here
Tickets available here