A R C H I V E2 0 0 1  
19th
  Elia Suleiman
Cyber Palestine
 
  Palestine 2000 - Videotape, DigiBeta, 16:00, colour, mono
intertitles in Arabic and English, subtitled in French
 
'in/tangible cartographies – new arab video' was commisioned by World Wide Video Festival 2001, and especially curated by Jayce Salloum.
Displaying sardonic wit and attention to detail Suleiman creates a terse but forceful transposition of the biblical story of Mary and Joseph as a framework to illustrate the repressive controls of movement and abuses of daily Palestinian life suffered under Israeli military occupation. With a self-conscious intelligence to their recontextualization making us aware of what they can actually represent, images and icons of contemporary Palestine loom large as indicators of what has been stolen and displaced. Part historical reconstructive drama, part silent action-film, comic banality gives way to unpredictability as the search to the end of exile continues, but to where and how we do not yet know.

– Jayce Salloum


Actors Serene Al Hamayel, Khader Abu Sway, photography Avi Koren, sound Avi Zonshine, editor Michael Ryder, produced by Jack Persekian, production Bethlehem 2000 Project

Elia Suleiman ° 1960, Nazareth, Palestine
Lives and works in Paris, France



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