This day school will explore the specific historical context of militant Palestinian cinema, and discuss how filmmakers are attempting to revive the tradition of militant cinema today. Sessions will put the militant cinema of the Palestine Film Unit into the historical and formal framework of the Third Cinema movement, screen and discuss films from the reconstituted archives, and discuss the development of strategies for making a new kind of militant cinema in the 21st century.

The day will begin at 10:00, with talks and screenings throughout the day including the three topics:

The Origins of Militant Palestinian Cinema

International Solidarity and Art Films

New Approaches to, and Applications of, Militant Cinema

There will be breaks, time for discussion and interaction throughout the day.

The day event in Screen Two will finish at 17.15, and there will be an evening screening of Little Palestine, Diary of a Seige (2021) in Screen One at 18:00.

The day ticket holders will have free access to this screening.

This day event is supported by Leeds Palestinian Film Festival, and funded by Film Hub North which allows us to reduce the standard Film School ticket price to allow for wider access.

The host for the day is Saeed Taji Farouky, a Palestinian - Egyptian - British filmmaker who has been making films around themes of conflict, human rights, and colonialism since 2005.

His latest feature documentary, A Thousand Fires premiered as the opening film in Directors Fortnight of the Locarno Film Festival 2021 where it won the Marco Zucchi award for most innovative documentary. His previous documentary Tell Spring Not to Come This Year premiered at the Berlinale 2015 where it won the Audience Choice Panorama award, the Amnesty Human Rights Award, and sold to Netflix.

Farouky is also a radical film educator, regularly teaching, leading workshops, and lecturing about alternative forms of cinematic storytelling. He is designer and lead tutor of the Radical Film School, a free film course based in London dedicated to political filmmakers from marginalised backgrounds.