Under the title “Salute to Jenin Camp”, the Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Forum in Damascus screened last week three films depict the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, according to the London-based daily al Hayat.
The first film was Ahlam al Manfa (Exile Dreams) by Palestinian-Lebanese director Mai al Masri. From Shatila camp in Beirut to Dheisha camp in Bethlehem, the film depicts the story of two Palestinian refugee girls and their extraordinary journey to the borders of exile separating then from their childhood and from each other. It tackles the children’s lives and their circumstances through the secret of the two girls - Muna, 13, from Shatila refugee camp in Beirut and Manar, 14, from Dhaishah refugee camp in the Occupied Territories. The film highlights the spirit of joy and belonging among children in the two camps despite their extremely difficult financial and psychological problems.
The forum also screened the film al Manam (The Dream) in which Syrian director Mohammed Malas portrays the sleeping dreams of the Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Shatila (before the massacre).
The third film Genet in Shatila by Richard Dindo is based on the French writer Jean Genet’s text Four Hours in Shatila in which Genet recorded his observations which is full of agony, astonishment and anger, as he witnessed inside the camp three days after the September 19, 1982 massacre – Albawaba.com
