Pan­el Dis­cus­sion: Res­ist­ance and Palestini­an Existence

Pula/ Kino Valli / 21 / 9 / 2024 / 17:00 / Talk

Mod­er­ated by film­maker and anthro­po­lo­gist Sabah Haid­er, this pan­el will explore how skate­board­ing and art serve as forms of res­ist­ance for Palestini­ans under occu­pa­tion. Fea­tur­ing voices like Aram Sab­bah, one of Palestine’s pion­eer­ing skaters; Mohammed Zakaria, an artist and skate­board­ing advoc­ate from Jordan; and Lobna Sana, a Bedouin archi­tect and act­iv­ist, the dis­cus­sion will delve into how their per­son­al exper­i­ences shape their cre­at­ive prac­tices. This ses­sion aims to amp­li­fy nar­rat­ives often over­looked in main­stream dis­course, high­light­ing the resi­li­ence and cre­ativ­ity with­in Palestini­an communities. 

Aram Sab­bah, often recog­nized as one of the first skate­boarders in Palestine, will dis­cuss his role in fos­ter­ing a skate­board­ing cul­ture in Ramal­lah through his work with the NGO Skate­Pal. As a film­maker and act­or with a film recently show­cased at Cannes, Sabbah’s insights will provide a unique per­spect­ive on how skate­board­ing and storytelling inter­sect in the fight for Palestini­an liberation.

Also fea­tured is Mohammed Zakaria, an artist and skate­boarder based in Amman, Jordan. Zakaria is the founder of Phil­adelphia Skate­boards, the first Arab­ic skate­board com­pany, and co-founder of Sev­en Hills, an NGO ded­ic­ated to build­ing inclus­ive skate­parks. His work, rooted in pho­to­graphy and con­cep­tu­al art, exam­ines over­looked soci­et­al con­cepts, mak­ing him a cru­cial voice in dis­cus­sions about art as a form of social resistance.

Dr. Sabah Haid­er (Mod­er­at­or) is a film­maker and anthro­po­lo­gist based between Par­is and Beirut. She has worked extens­ively with Palestini­an refugee com­munit­ies in Leban­on. Raised in Canada, in a past life she worked in the heart of skate­board­ing as an edit­or at Trans­world Skate­board­ing Busi­ness, where much of her work focused on empower­ing inter­na­tion­al skate­board­ing industries.

Mayys Naber is a DJ, cur­at­or, pro­du­cer and writer from Jordan. She is also the founder of Dream­ing Live, a pod­cast ded­ic­ated to uncom­prom­ised cre­at­ive expres­sion. Art as the voice of our Inner­most as opposed to art as enter­tain­ment. Guests hos­ted include Dav­id Lynch, Lydia Lunch, Mike Banks of the Under­ground Res­ist­ance, Mar­shall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra, and Mar­tin Rev of Suicide.

Maen Hammad is a doc­u­ment­ary pho­to­graph­er and writer. He con­siders him­self a ded­ic­ated cre­at­ive. Maen has been doc­u­ment­ing the Palestini­an skate­board scene for the last sev­en years and engages in recip­roc­al nour­ish­ment with this com­munity. He was born in Palestine, raised in the Amer­ic­an sub­urbs of Michigan, and is cur­rently based in Ramallah.