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Beyond the Frontlines: Resistance and Resilience in Palestine

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Beyond the Frontlines: Resistance and Resilience in Palestine
Directed byAlexandra Dols
Produced byHybrid Pulse
StarringSamah Jabr
Edited by
Delphine Piau

Véronique Rosa

Music byBaraka
Release date
  • November 8, 2017 (2017-11-08)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageEnglish

Beyond the Frontlines: Resistance and Resilience in Palestine (Original French title: Derrière les fronts : Résistances et résiliences en Palestine) is a 2017 documentary film written, directed and produced by French director Alexandra Dols. Featuring Palestinian women and men, among others psychiatrist and writer Samah Jabr, it looks at the consequences of the Israeli occupation on the mental health of the Palestinian people, issues of colonial trauma and alienation and disalienation. It won the Sunbird Award for Best Documentary Film at the Days of Cinema film festival in Palestine.

Synopsis

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Beyond the Frontlines: Resistance and Resilience in Palestine (a.k.a. Beyond the Frontlines: Tales of Resistance and Resilience from Palestine) is based on a selection of Samah Jabr’s columns. Excerpts are read by the author and give its structure to the film, which presents a collection of interviews, as well as archive and original footage. Following Jabr’s angle that "the Israeli occupation is not only a political issue, but indeed a mental health problem",[1] the film is an exploration of the ways in which Palestinian women and men experience both the outward and inward effects of this occupation. For, according to Dols, “everyday colonization does not only involve occupying land, homes, the sky or water. It does not seek to impose its rule through weapons only; it molds the minds as well, beyond the frontlines.”[2]

The interviewees represent a wide range of identities, religions, sexual orientations, political cultures, social backgrounds and geographical origins. This diversity is presented by director Alexandra Dols as a political stand.[3] According to Jabr, “the film does not turn away from people who are labeled ‘controversial’ and thus to be avoided and ignored… The interviewees differ ideologically among themselves yet are reunited in their striving for liberation”.[4]

Production and release

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Alexandra Dols came across Samah Jabr’s writings after completing her first feature documentary, Moudjahidate, in which she explored Algerian women’s activism for the independence within the National Liberation Front.[5] Jabr’s perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is inspired by anticolonial psychiatrist Frantz Fanon’s analysis that national liberation may not occur without the decolonization of minds as well.

After reading one of her columns in 2012, Dols contacted Jabr, who took some time to reflect on her proposition and finally agreed to participate in her documentary in 2013.  Filmed in Palestine between summer 2013 and December 2015, Beyond the Frontlines was partly financed through a crowdfunding campaign,[6]  and supported by a number of French human rights, including feminist,[7] organizations.[8][9][10]

Beyond the Frontlines was released theatrically in France on November 8th, 2017. It has toured nationally and internationally since, and is regularly selected by festivals. It won the Sunbird Award for Best Documentary Film at the Days of Cinema film festival in Nablus, Palestine, in October 2017.[11] The film was released to DVD one year later on November 26th, 2018, containing outtakes and an interview of director Dols by her main character Jabr.

Shortly after the release of the film, an eponymous book was published. Derrière les fronts. Chroniques d'une psychiatre psychothérapeute palestinienne sous occupation [Beyond the Frontlines. Tales by a Palestinian psychiatrist and psychotherapist under occupation] (PMN Éditions and Hybrid Pulse, 2018) presents a selection of Jabr's columns translated into French.[12]

Critical reception

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Beyond the Frontlines has received positive reviews both from the independent film industry and the global mental health community. British director Ken Loach asked potential audiences to “please see this film”.[13] When handing the film its Sunbird Award, Palestinian actor, director and producer George Khleifi labelled it “an important and timely film” and “excellently documented”. In its review, psychoanalyst and co-founder of the UK-Palestine Mental Health Network Martin Kemp underlined that “one of the film’s strengths is that while it focuses on Palestine, it also speaks to us of universal themes”.[14]

The French media, from national newspapers[15][16] and cultural magazines[17] to socially-aware publications,[18] also gave the film positive reviews.

Festival selections

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Beyond the Frontlines has been selected for and screened at film festivals in France[19][20][21] and Europe,[22][13][23][24] the Arab world,[25][26] Latin America[27] and the United States.[28][29] These festivals focus on various aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, issues of global human rights as well as gender equality, just like the Tunisian Mawjoudin Queer Film Festival and Chouftouhonna Festival.[30]

References

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  1. ^ JABR, Samah (2017). "Samah Jabr: A Palestinian struggle against oppression". Al Jazeera.
  2. ^ "Director's Note". Beyond the Frontlines.
  3. ^ DOLS, Alexandra (September 7, 2018). "From Paris to Tunis, a message from director Alexandra Dols" (PDF). Beyond the Frontlines.
  4. ^ "Homepage". Beyond the Frontlines.
  5. ^ MCMAHON, Janet (January–February 2018). ""Beyond the Front Lines": The Psychology of Occupation". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
  6. ^ "Specs". Beyond the Frontlines.
  7. ^ "Succès de la projection-débat "Derrière les fronts.Résistance et résilience en Palestine"". Femmes en lutte 93 (in French). May 16, 2017.
  8. ^ "La LDH soutient le film documentaire "Derrière les fronts", d'Alexandra Dols". Ligue des droits de l'Homme (in French). September 22, 2017.
  9. ^ "Derrière les fronts, résistance et résilience en Palestine". Association France Palestine Solidarité (in French). December 22, 2015.
  10. ^ STAMBUL, Pierre (May 21, 2017). "Derrière les fronts : résistances et résilience en Palestine". Union juive française pour la paix (in French).
  11. ^ DENDOUNE, Nadir (October 31, 2017). ""Derrière Les Fronts", le documentaire d'Alexandra Dols, récompensé en Palestine". Le Courrier de l'Atlas (in French).
  12. ^ PIRONET, Olivier (October 2018). "Derrière les fronts. Chroniques d'une psychiatre psychothérapeute palestinienne sous occupation, de Samah Jabr". Le Monde diplomatique (in French).
  13. ^ a b "SRFF: Beyond The Frontlines: Tales Of Resistance and Resilience from Palestine + Q&A". Midlands Arts Centre. October 21, 2018.
  14. ^ KEMP, Martin. "Beyond the Frontlines: Tales of Resistance and Resilience from Palestine (film review)". UK-Palestine Mental Health Network.
  15. ^ REGNIER, Isabelle (November 8, 2017). "" Derrière les fronts… " : une plongée dans la psyché des Palestiniens". Le Monde (in French).
  16. ^ WIDEMANN, Dominique (November 8, 2017). "Devenir en Palestine le sujet de son histoire". L'Humanité (in French).
  17. ^ OSTRIA, Vincent (November 3, 2017). "Derrière les fronts : résistances et résiliences en Palestine". Les Inrockuptibles (in French).
  18. ^ Les Lucioles du Doc (November 17, 2017). "Palestine : " Si vous croyez que nous sommes un peuple détruit, vous vous trompez "". Basta ! (in French).
  19. ^ "Programme, 3e Festival ICE" (PDF). Mairie de Saint-Jean-du-Doigt (in French). June–July 2018. p. 2.
  20. ^ "Programme, 40e Festival" (PDF). Festival de cinéma de Douarnenez (in French). August 18–26, 2017. pp. 7, 9, 11.
  21. ^ "Programmation du festival "Palestine en vue" 2017" (PDF). Échanges Rhône Alpes Auvergne Palestine (in French). April 2017. p. 1.
  22. ^ "Official Selection, 16th Festival". Al Ard [doc] Film Festival. July 1, 2019.
  23. ^ "Compétition internationale de documentaires". Festival des libertés (in French). October 18, 2018.
  24. ^ "Dr Samah Jabr et la réalisatrice Alexandra Dols seront présentes au cinéma Spoutnik le 4 mars". Cinéma Spoutnik (in French). March 2018.
  25. ^ "Sunbird Competition, 2nd Days of Cinema film festival". Filmlab Palestine. October 22, 2017.
  26. ^ "Les Mardis de l'IFT : Carte blanche à Youssef Seddik - Rencontre avec Samah Jabr et Alexandra Dols". Institut Français de Tunisie (in French). April 4, 2017.
  27. ^ "Programa XII Festival de Los Derechos Humanos". El Cine Otro / Cine Fórum (in Spanish). September 4, 2018.
  28. ^ "Program, 13th Festival". Houston Palestine Film Festival. April 26, 2019.
  29. ^ "Program, 34th Annual FilmFest" (PDF). Middle East Studies Association. November 18–21, 2017. p. 2.
  30. ^ "Chouftouhonna, 4e édition du Festival international d'art féministe de Tunis, du 6 au 9 septembre 2018". Haya Mag (in French). September 2018.

Further reading

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  • JABR, Samah (2018). Derrière les fronts : Chroniques d'une psychiatre psychothérapeute palestinienne sous occupation [Beyond the Frontlines: Tales by a Palestinian psychiatrist and psychotherapist under occupation]. Translated by LEFEBVRE, Judith. Paris: PMN Éditions and Hybrid Pulse.
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