Wedding in Galilee

Who is Michel Khleifi? A filmmaker born in Nazareth (him too), thirty-seven years ago, and settled in Belgium since 1970. His second film, Noces en Galilée, has just premiered at the Directors' Fortnight. The first one (La Mémoire fertile, 1970) was already very good. This one is beautiful. It’s the film of the day. It is also the first Palestinian film "from within" in the history of cinema. Not militant, aesthetic, or Manichean—just a film, plain and simple. Yet, it doesn’t compromise on the essentials: that Palestine, an occupied land, is not just some abstract place. That the lives of its inhabitants cannot be severed from their contradictions and sensuality. Among the tired ranks of Arab filmmakers worn out by trying to balance art and political commitment, Michel Khleifi stands out as the fresh-faced romantic, perhaps even utopian, who believes that filmmaking is a necessity. He had only to stick to one principle: “A filmmaker’s role is not to create propaganda, but to cast an honest gaze on a situation and on real characters.” Easy? Not exactly, when you are Belgian-Palestinian. Challenging when you’re a filmmaker (it’s the concept of the “gaze” that seems to be slipping away from cinema). That’s why, after Lumière de Cissé, Libération is pleased to remind everyone of something no one can deny: that cinema is at its best when it fosters dialogue between peoples. But no…