Voices of Palestine Film Series

Submitted by Ramah on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 3:57pm
in
Date: 
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 - 6:30pm
Location : 
DC

Laila’s Birthday (Eid Milad Laila)
Director: Rashid Masharawi / 71 minutes / 2008

"At eight o'clock, it's Laila's birthday, okay?" Palestinian judge turned cab driver Abu Laila's wife reminds her husband. But on his young daughter's birthday, like any day, Abu Laila faces a nerve-wracking shift in a Ramallah yellow cab armed only with an ex-jurist's misplaced pride, a father's loyalty and a sticker reminding passengers that smoking and carrying AK-47's are prohibited. Rather than address politics or document holy war heroics and villainy, Laila's Birthday focuses on the toll that the unending Israeli-Palestinian conflict extracts from civilians clinging to both employment and a semblance of normal life amidst chaos and corruption, missile attacks and bursts of gunfire.

This film is the last in the "Voices of Palestine" Summer 2010 Film Series. The annual film series is hosted jointly by The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. Films begin promptly at 6:30 p.m.  All films are in English or have English subtitles. Attendance is free and open to the public.  No RSVP required.  Films are screened at The Jerusalem Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037. For more information, call The Jerusalem Fund at 202-338-1958 or email info@thejerusalemfund.org.