3000 Nights

Mai Masri

 

Inspired by the true story of a young Palestinian mother who gave birth to her child in an Israeli prison, 3000 Nights is a story about resilience and the imagination in a genre — the prison genre– that has rarely dealt with women’s experiences, let alone Palestinian women’s. Set in Nablus in 1980, Masri draws on realities she has both experienced first hand and explored in her earlier documentary work. Shot in a real prison in a cinema verite style with handheld cameras, the film has a raw documentary edge that resonates with the reality it portrays. What is it like to raise a child behind bars? How do women survive, educate each other, suspect and support each other in prison? What happens in this unique situation in which Palestinian political prisoners mix with Israeli women incarcerated on criminal charges? 3000 Nights has been described as “a poetic, compelling and raw allegory for freedom under occupation.” Prison is a widespread collective experience for Palestinians, but not only Palestinians. The film just received the Young Jury Prize at the International Film Festival on Human Rights in Geneva.

The film will be followed by a discussion with Mai Masri.

Mai Masri is a Palestinian filmmaker who studied film at UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University (USA) where she graduated with a BA degree. She founded Nour Productions in 1995 with her husband, filmmaker Jean Chamoun and directed several documentaries that received over 60 international awards. Her films were screened on more than 100 television stations worldwide. Filmography includes among others 33 DAYS (2007), Beirut Diaries (2006), Frontiers of Dreams and Fears (2001), Children of Shatila (1998), A Woman of Her Time (1995), Children of Fire (1991), Suspended Dreams (1992), War Generation – Beirut (1989), Wildflowers (1987), Under the Rubble (1983).

This event is part of Processions of the Sun, a program curated by Eye on Palestine.