OPENING NIGHT OF THE PALESTINE FILM FEST

"Private" by director Saverio Costanzo, followed by a presentation from Joseph Massad, assistant professor of modern Arab intellectual history at Columbia University and a regular contributor to Al-Ahram Weekly.

Gene Siskel Film Center of the Art Institute of Chicago
164 North State Street
Chicago, IL 60601
312-846-2600

Synopsis
Actor/director Mohammed Bakri (Haifa; Jenin, Jenin) gives a superb performance as the star of this psychological thriller and feature debut, inspired by a true story, from Italian documentary filmmaker, Saverio Costanzo.

Mohammed (Bakri) and his wife and five children live in a strategic area between an Israeli settlement and a Palestinian village. When
Israeli soldiers order the requisitioning of his home, Mohammed, an obdurate and principled pacifist, refuses despite the protests of his wife. "Being a refugee means not being," he declares. The two groups are forced to tenuously coexist when the soldiers in turn carve up the home into three territories: the living room, where the family sleeps; the rest of the ground level floor, where the family may come if and when the soldiers feel like it; and the upper level floor, where the family is forbidden.

Under these traumatizing yet surreal circumstances, we watch as the children are transformed, responding in contrasting ways. We also get a glimpse of the humanity and insecurities of the soldiers. But the real brilliance of the film is in Costanzo's ability to portray the suspense and tension of the events, from the quietest moments to the most violent.

Private is a winner of the Golden Leopard award at the 2004 Locarno Film Festival.

Tickets to each screening are $9/general admission and $5/Film Center members and may be purchased at the Film Center Box Office,
which opens at 5 p.m. on weekdays and at 2 p.m. on weekends. General public tickets are also available through Ticketmaster, 312-575-8000, www.ticketmaster.com, and all Ticketmaster outlets.

For more information, call the Film Center at 312-846-2800 (24-hour movie hotline) or 312-846-2600 (general information, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.,
Monday-Friday), or log on to www.siskelfilmcenter.com.

The Interparking SELF-PARK at 20 E. Randolph St., located between Wabash and State, offers Film Center patrons a special rate of $13
with no time limit. Patrons are required to show their ticket stub to receive the discount.
__________________________________________

Chicago Palestine Film Festival 2005
4th annual
April 15-May 3

www.PalestineFilmFest.com

The Chicago Palestine Film Festival begins April 15 at the Gene Siskel Film Center and continues from April 29 to May 3 at St. Xavier University in Chicago.

Our 23 film selections for this year include films from Palestine, Israel, Europe, and North America. This truly reflects the diversity
of perspectives of Palestinians in exile and diaspora as well as non-Palestinian filmmakers who have made excellent films about the
country and its people. In contrast to previous years, we have a large number of feature/narrative films as well as personal and hard-hitting documentaries and even an animation.

This year we are able to bring a staggering number of special guests to the festival to present films and participate in question and
answer sessions after film screenings. Our invited guests include Columbia University professor Joseph Massad, Lebanese author Elias
Khoury, documentary filmmaker Buthaina Canaan Khoury, and emerging filmmaker Shady Srour from Nazareth. We are especially proud to present world-class Latino filmmaker Miguel Littin from Chile, who will present his two recent films about Palestine and his connection to the land of his grandparents. More information about these
special guests can be found at our web site.

We are proud to be the only annual film festival of Palestinian films and Palestine-related films in the world. As we begin our fourth festival, we reaffirm our formative mission statement, which has guided our selection process:

"The Chicago Palestine Film Festival (CPFF) is an independent, not-for-profit, non-sectarian project based in Chicago that exhibits and promotes films by Palestinian directors and films about Palestine. CPFF is dedicated to presenting a film festival that is open, critical, and reflective of the culture, experience and vision of the filmmakers."

We are thank our individual donors, foundations, and corporations including the Illinois Humanities Council, Crossroads Fund, the
Jerusalem Fund, Dish Network, and the Electronic Intifada. Of course, we could not host a film festival without high-quality venues, so we are grateful to the Gene Siskel Film Center of the Art Institute of Chicago for inviting us to be a community partner. The curators there have recognized, appreciated, and helped to promote
the creative potential of Palestinian artists who might not find a venue anywhere else.

Year after year, we continue to grow, but we cannot do this without continued support from our audience, filmmakers, and donors. Please
attend our films. Submit your own films to our festival for next year. Donate so that we can continue to expand upon our success.

To raise funds, we have opened a shop to sell T-Shirts which feature an original design by Benjamin Doherty. You can visit the shop at
www.cafepress.com/cpff

Please visit our web site for detailed information about the schedule, venues, and films.

www.PalestineFilmFest.com

[Film title]
[Directors]
[Duration]
[Year]
[Country of production]
[Venue]

2000 Terrorists
Hanro Smitsman and Peter Speetjens
0:50
2004
The Netherlands
Gene Siskel Film Center

And Life Goes On
Reem Bader
0:08
2004
Palestine
Gene Siskel Film Center

Another Road Home
Danae Elon
1:19
2004
USA
St. Xavier

Arafat, My Brother
Rashid Masharawi
1:20
2005
France
Gene Siskel Film Center

Curfew
Rashid Masharawi
1:15
1993
Palestine
St. Xavier

Door to the Sun
Yusry Nasrallah
4:38
2004
Egypt
Gene Siskel Film Center

Fix
Mohanad Yaqubi
0:08
2004
Palestine
St. Xavier

God on our Side
Michal Pfeffer and Uri Kranot
0:07
2005
The Netherlands
Gene Siskel Film Center

Going for a Ride
Nahed Awad
0:15
2003
Palestine
Gene Siskel Film Center

Haifa
Rashid Masharawi
1:36
1995
Palestine
Gene Siskel Film Center

The Land of '48
Barrack Rima
0:57
2003
Belgium
St. Xavier

My Dear Olive Tree
Osama Qashoo
0:18
2004
Palestine
St. Xavier

A Palestinian Chronicle
Miguel Littin
1:30
2001
Chile
Gene Siskel Film Center

Private
Saverio Costanzo
1:30
2003
Italy
Gene Siskel Film Center

Rainbow
Abdel Salam Shehada
0:40
2004
Palestine
St. Xavier

Chatila Junction
Maher Abi Samra
0:52
2004
France
St. Xavier

Sense of Need
Shady Srour
1:30
2004
USA/Palestine
Gene Siskel Film Center

Soraida, Woman of Palestine
Tahani Rached
2:00
2004
Canada
St. Xavier

The Eternal Dance
Hiam Abbas
0:26
2003
France
St. Xavier

The Last Moon
Miguel Littin
0:30
2004
Chile
Gene Siskel Film Center

until when...
Dahna Aburahme
1:16
2004
Palestine/USA
St. Xavier

Wall
Simone Bitton
1:38
2004
France/Israel
Gene Siskel Film Center

Women in Struggle
Buthaina Canaan Khoury
0:56
2004
Palestine
Gene Siskel Film Center