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The Children
of Ibdaa - To Create Something Out of Nothing
S. Smith Patrick
This film looks at the lives of several adolescents
in a Palestinian children’s dance troupe
from Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank.
They use their performance to express the
history, struggle, and aspirations of the
Palestinian people, specifically the fight
to return to their homeland. Through interviews
and documentation of the children, the video
offers insight into their families’
displacement from their villages in historical
Palestine, the physically and emotionally
stressful aspects of life in a refugee camp,
and the unique experience of participating
in the politically motivated dance troupe.
The story culminates in a visit by the children
for the first time to demolished villages
from which their grandparents were expelled
in 1948.
Most of the footage was shot in digital video.
Super 8 film, slides and photo stills in
both black and white and color texturally
enhance the digital video imagery. Archival
prints donated by the United Nations Photo
Archive in Gaza are also used. This intertextural
aesthetic is important in defining varying
spaces and time.
The film
offers a distinct perspective for those
who are well versed on the greater political
subject and is an educational piece for
those who know little on the topic of the
Palestinian refugees. No other film exists
about these unique adolescents and their
creative, conscientious, and peaceful contribution
to the international dialogue that shapes
their lives.
The name
of the dance troupe, ‘Ibdaa,’
translates from Arabic as ‘to create
something out of nothing.’ It is a
sentiment the troupe founder feels captures
the vibrancy and strength of the dance troupe
against the oppressive backdrop of its members’
origins and life in Dheisheh refugee camp.
Through their
performance, the members of Ibdaa bring
the perspective of Palestinians to the attention
of the Western communities that they visit.
Ibdaa’s use of traditional debke dance
perpetrates the Palestinian culture while
they creatively and non-violently address
a brutal political reality.
Related Links
Ibdaa Cultural Center
Filmmaker's
website
The
Children of Ibdaa: To Create Something Out
of Nothing
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