Local premiere for Refugee Week
Screening as part of Refugee Week, Leichhardt is the venue for the Australian premiere of the award-winning ‘Welcome to Hebron’, by filmmaker Terje Carlsson.
The film follows 17-year-old Leila Sarsour, who attends Al-Qurtuba-school, a Palestinian girls’ school surrounded by Israeli military installations and settlements. Along with her classmates, Leila – a strong, intelligent and outspoken young woman – is regularly shown as being attacked and harassed by Israeli soldiers and settlers.
The film will screen in conjunction with a number of events taking place as part of Refugee Week, which officially opens at 7pm on Friday, June 25. Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker and head of the Palestinian delegation, Dr Izzat Abdul Hadi, will be in attendance, alongside Palestinian-Australian speakers Um Yusuf, herself a refugee from Palestine, and celebrated writer of young adult fiction, Randa Abdel-Fattah.
Photography exhibition ‘Hebron, A City Under Siege’ will be open at Leichhardt Town Hall following the official launch, and also from 10am on Saturday, along with a café and exotic market. Meanwhile, just prior to the screening of ‘Welcome to Hebron’, a forum on the censorship of the Palestinian story will take place from 3pm on the Saturday at Leichhardt Town Hall. Speakers will include journalist and academic Peter Manning, as well as Peter Slezak, co-founder of the Independent Australian Jewish Voices website.
The organisers hope this is second time lucky for the exhibition, with the original attempt to hold the exhibition in 2008 thwarted when a visit from NSW counter-terrorism police spooked the local library staff.
‘Welcome to Hebron’ will be shown at 5.30pm on Saturday, June 26, followed by African music from the Okapi Guitars and others. Entry is free, although “donations are appreciated”, with all proceeds going to support a preschool at Um Al Kheir in the South Hebron Hills. Contact Leichhardt Friends of Hebron: 9569 2584, or hebronleichhardt@gmail.com
