The /S:in/ Festival of Video Art and Performance returns this year in its 8th edition, remaining committed to its mission of confronting silence: a platform for video art and performance to convey and amplify people’s voices. Inspired by Mahmoud Darwish’s poem “In Praise of the High Shadow,” written in 1982 during the siege of Beirut and after the Sabra and Shatila massacres, the festival refuses to abandon the land that it was born into. Hence, artistic production continues, despite the ongoing, bloody war on Gaza. The festival reflects the Palestinian people’s steadfastness, and the creative endeavours, a form of resistance against the Israeli war machine.
The festival will begin in Marseille, France, and Ramallah, Palestine. Its premiere will be held in Marseille on20 October 2024, and in Ramallah, 21 October 2024. It will then travel to different locations in Palestine and abroad, making the issues and concerns of 19 Palestinian artists and several international artists known.
The festival supports and encourages video art and performance, video installations, and narratives that challenge borders, enhance global discourse, and presents different forms and spaces to confront erasure and concealment.
The festival’s screenings will include two programs, with the first encompassing the work of foreign artists, and the second including Palestinian artistic productions. The Palestinian films are divided into two parts, each 48 minutes long, to be screened consecutively. Film themes and artistic language focus on the ongoing Nakba, especially in light of the genocidal war on Gaza raging since 7 October 2023. Artists will distinctively present their video artworks and installations that will cover Jerusalem, Ramallah, Haifa, refugee camps, and the Gaza Strip, respectively.
“Let’s move! Let the images flow, let the pictures express themselves... The festival will not abandon the scene.”
The /S:in/ Festival of Video Art and Performance was founded in 2009 through a partnership between the A.M. Qattan Foundation and Les Instants Vidéo, along with several cultural organizations in Palestine.