What Can Cinema Do?

Sobhi al-Zobaidi is a Palestinian filmmaker, writer and researcher in Palestinian and Arab cinemas. He studied Economics at Birzeit University in Palestine, and film production and cinema studies at NYU. Between 1994 and 2006 he produced and directed over 20 documentaries, short fiction and media installations. He published journalistic reviews and scholarly studies on Palestinian cinema, art and culture in English and Arabic. He taught film and visual media at Birzeit University, Al-Quds University, Capilano University and Simon Fraser University where he designed and taught a seminar on Arab cinema while studying there. He is also a lyricist who co-wrote the lyrics for Death of the Prophet by Sabreen, one of the best known musical albums to come out of Palestine. While living in Vancouver, Sobhi and his wife Tamam founded the restaurant Tamam: Fine Palestinian Cuisine, where they proudly put Palestinian cuisine on the culinary map of the city and the province.

Rame Ibrahim is a Palestinian Canadian film director born in Syria. His film work explores his very rich background, having lived in many places around the world. He engages in topics like refuge, politics, freedom of speech, the Palestinian diaspora, etc. He studied his BA in Istanbul at Bahçeşehir University, where he produced, wrote and directed his first narrative short film, “Eid,” about his grandmother. His latest work, "Ahmed," which talks about the expectations refugees have from governing bodies, was selected by the New York Shorts Film Festival. He is currently working on his third short film, “Prisoner,” about intergenerational trauma as part of his thesis for his MFA degree in Film Production and Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. He has received the full CGS-M SSHRC grant for his research and towards the production of “Prisoner.”

Organized by Green College Leading Scholars, this series invites perspectives on how to locate, understand, experience, enact and care for embodiment. How is the body activated as source and repository of knowledge? Where do we find generative inquiry into the affective and social dimensions of producing and exchanging knowledge? This series of lectures and roundtables explores the performance of care; relational accountability; and the emotional labour involved in archival work, storytelling, translation, healthcare, creative practices and teaching.

Series Conveners: Abdul-Fatawu Abdulai, Nursing; Irem Ayan, French, Hispanic and Italian Studies; Stephen Dabugblor, Journalism, Writing and Media; Julia Henderson, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy; Sara Ann Knutson, History; Jillian Lerner, Art History, Visual Art and Theory; Jasmin Ma, Kinesiology; Elif Sari, Anthropology; Rosanne Sia, Gender, Race Sexuality and Social Justice; Logan Smilge, English Language and Literatures; Helena Zeweri, Anthropology; and Mila Zuo, Theatre and Film