19 MAR 2025 | 3 - 6 PM
The Sea is Treacherous is a series of four short films curated to take viewers on a journey into the layered landscape of Palestine—at once contested and sacred, fragmented and romanticised, occupied and abandoned, yet still verdant, still alive. A landscape shaped by borders both visible and invisible, by the weight of history and the holiness of its sites.
Yet beyond its shifting contours, it is the voices within these films—the nuns, the travellers, the surveilled, the archived, the exiled—that remind us: this land is more than territory. It is an intimate poetry, inscribed in memory and movement, in silence and survival.
It is not only a place but a longing, a question, a defiance against erasure. Through humour, resistance, and reflection, these films reclaim Palestine as something deeper than its divisions—something personal, something enduring.
1. Ave Maria – Basil Khalil | 14:44 mins | Palestine, France, Germany | 2015
2. Control Anatomy – Mahmoud Al Haj | 17 mins | Palestine | 2023
3. Like Twenty Impossibles – Annemarie Jacir | 17 mins | Palestine | 2003
4. UNDR – Kamal Jafari | 15 mins | Germany | 2023
Ave Maria – Basil Khalil | 14:44 mins | Palestine, France, Germany | 2015
In the occupied hills of the West Bank, the quiet routine of a Palestinian convent is upended by the arrival of an unlikely group—a Jewish settler family stranded with a broken-down car. As night falls, faith, custom, and circumstance collide in darkly comedic absurdity. Ave Maria delicately unspools the tensions and ironies of life under occupation, where the sacred and the secular, the personal and the political, are inextricably entwined. In this fractured land, even silence speaks volumes.
Control Anatomy – Mahmoud Al Haj | 17 mins | Palestine | 2023
A visceral journey through the evolving tools of war, *Control Anatomy* weaves together archival footage, powerful imagery, and Mahmoud Al Haj's evocative narration. With each passing decade, we are shown the ethical transformation of violence—from past to present—as it shapes not only the land but the collective memory of the Palestinian people. This film speaks of the slow, invisible distortion of suffering, a testimony to three generations of loss, resilience, and the shadow of occupation.
Like Twenty Impossibles – Annemarie Jacir | 17 mins | Palestine | 2003
Through the eyes of a Palestinian woman, “Like Twenty Impossibles” unravels the tender and poignant fabric of daily life under occupation. Set against the backdrop of fragmented dreams and intimate desires, Jacir’s film explores the impossibilities of living fully when one’s world is divided by borders, checkpoints, and the weight of history. It is a story of personal longing—of reaching for freedom in a land where even the smallest of hopes seem out of reach.
UNDR – Kamal Jafari | 15 mins | Germany | 2023
In “UNDR”, the camera's eye returns obsessively to the same places, a vertical perspective that imposes control, the possession of archaeological sites, stones lying for thousands years in the desert. The places it observes, however, are not deserted: we see, as if glimpsed from afar, the peasants working the land, themselves transformed into landscape. Something disturbs the stillness of the place: explosions on land and in the sea prepare the ground for new cities with new names, new forests.
Ahmad Alaqra is an artist, curator, and researcher exploring the aesthetics of power in societal and political structures. He is a curator at The Palestinian Museum, curates exhibitions across Europe and the Arab world, and co-founded FANA’ Collective and EL-GORFEH. His writings have appeared in The Funambulist and Jerusalem Quarterly, and he is the author of I Died a Thousand Times.
Yasmin Huleileh is a multidisciplinary researcher, programmer, and artist. As co-founder of Fana’ Collective, she deconstructs everyday knowledge and artistic production, creating pathways beyond conventional spaces. Her work critically engages with the cultural fabric of daily life, challenging oppressive traditions rooted in colonialism and patriarchy. She has co-curated I Will Write Our Will Above the Clouds, a traveling exhibition showcased in cities like Paris, London, and Barcelona, featuring artists from Gaza.
Currently, she is collaborating with the Al Qattan Foundation in Ramallah on their upcoming exhibition, expected to open in April 2025. She was also a participant and resident at the 2024 edition of the MAST Festival, which took place in Sicily, Italy. Yasmin has published on cultural heritage and state-building in publications such as Stuart Magazine, Safar Journal, The Collective for Architects Lebanon, and Discontent Magazine. She also co-edited The Black Journal, working with MENA-based writers on politics, identity, and their inherent contradictions.