Palestinedocs
  • Welcome
  • Themes
    • GAZA >
      • Abu Jamil Street
      • Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza)
      • Children of Gaza
      • Concrete
      • Death in Gaza
      • Dispatches: Gaza - The Killing Zone
      • The Flying Boys of Gaza
      • Flying Paper
      • Gaza Loss of Innocence
      • Gaza Strip
      • Gaza Suffering 1-8
      • Gaza Under Siege
      • Gaza: Unwatchable
      • Gaza Water
      • Gaza-Strophe
      • Missing Gaza
      • One Family in Gaza
      • Piombo Fuso / Cast Lead
      • Rainbow
      • Stay Human - The Reading Movie
      • The Tea Boy of Gaza
      • Tears of Gaza
      • To Shoot an Elephant
      • Uncut Chronicles: Gaza-Israel War. Deadly July 2014
      • War on Gaza: Al-Shifa Hospital
      • When Saturday Came
      • Where Should the Birds Fly
      • Young Freud in Gaza
    • WEST BANK >
      • 9 Star Hotel
      • Arna's Children
      • Asurot
      • Bil'in Habibti
      • Budrus
      • Children of Fire
      • Cinema Jenin
      • Citizen Nawi
      • Epicly Palestine'd
      • Fertile Memory / Mémoire fertile
      • Das Herz von Jenin
      • In the Spider's Web
      • Invasion
      • The Iron Wall
      • Israeli Settlements Explained
      • Jenin Jenin
      • Journey Through an Invisible War
      • Living Under Occupation: Daily Life in Occupied Palestine
      • Memory of the Cactus
      • No Child Is Born a Terrorist
      • Nowhere Left to Go
      • Open Bethlehem
      • Palestine Blues
      • Palestine Palestine
      • Secret Hebron: The School Run
      • Stolen Children, Stolen Lives
      • Stone Cold Justice
      • Thank God It's Friday
      • This is My Land … Hebron
      • Until When ...
      • Waiting ...
      • Welcome to Hebron
    • JERUSALEM >
      • African Palestinian: Ali Jiddah
      • Behind the Walls
      • Blessed Blessed Oblivion
      • Jerusalem … The East Side Story
      • Land of the Story
      • My Neighbourhood
      • A Palestinian Woman
    • NAZARETH >
      • Nazareth 2000
      • The New Generation
      • Al-Sabbar / Cactus
    • CAMPS >
      • Aqabat Jaber: Passing Through
      • Aqabat Jaber: Peace With No Return?
      • Arna's Children
      • Camp Faces
      • Children of Shatila
      • Frontiers of Dreams and Fears
      • Invasion
      • Jenin Jenin
      • Messages From Al Yarmuk
      • No Child Is Born a Terrorist
      • Promises
      • Until When ...
      • Visit Palestine
      • A World Not Ours
    • EXILE >
      • 500 Dunam on the Moon
      • Belonging
      • Chronicles of a Refugee
      • Collecting Stories From Exile: Chicago Palestinians Remember 1948
      • Deportation
      • Homage by Assassination
      • House
      • A House in Jerusalem
      • The Inner Tour
      • Measures of Distance
      • My Father from Haifa
      • My Land
      • Native Sons: Palestinians in Exile
      • The Turtle's Rage
      • A World Not Ours
    • ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES >
      • The Alpha Diaries
      • Checkpoint
      • Concrete
      • The Gatekeepers
      • The Lab
      • Stolen Children, Stolen Lives
      • Stone Cold Justice
    • APARTHEID >
      • 5 Broken Cameras
      • Beyond the Mirage: The Face of the Occupation
      • A Boy, a Wall and a Donkey
      • The Colour of Olives
      • Crossing Kalandia
      • Infiltrators
      • The Iron Wall
      • The Israeli Wall in Palestinian Lands
      • Journey Through an Invisible War
      • Kinder der Steine - Kinder der Mauer
      • Last Supper - Abu Dis
      • Living Under Occupation: Daily Life in Occupied Palestine
      • A Palestinian Woman
      • Roadmap to Apartheid
      • Wall/Mur
    • PROTEST >
      • Behind the Walls
      • Budrus
      • The Case for Cultural & Academic Boycott of Israel
      • Citizen Nawi
      • Enraged
      • Fire on the Marmara
      • My Neighbourhood
      • Occupation Has No Future
      • Perforated Memory
      • Rachel
      • Tell Your Tale, Little Bird
      • To Know Is Not Enough
      • Visit Palestine
      • Waiting for Sallah El-Din
      • Women in Black
      • Women in Struggle
    • DIALOGUE? >
      • Common State: Potential Conversation [1]
      • Dreams Deferred: The Struggle for Peace and Justice in Israel and Palestine
      • Edut - Testimony
      • Encounter Point
      • Forbidden Marriages in the Holy Land
      • Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah
      • Israel vs Israel
      • Jaffa, the Orange's Clockwork
      • My Land
      • Occupation Has No Future
      • Once I Entered a Garden
      • Promises
      • Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel
      • The Village Under the Forest
      • Voices Across the Divide
      • Wadi
      • Wadi, Ten Years After
      • Wadi Grand Canyon 2001
      • Would You Have Sex With an Arab?
    • HUMOUR >
      • Fix Me
      • (No) Laughing Matter
    • CHILDREN >
      • 5 Broken Cameras
      • Arna's Children
      • A Boy, a Wall and a Donkey
      • Children of Fire
      • Children of Gaza
      • The Children of Ibdaa
      • Children of Shatila
      • Death in Gaza
      • Epicly Palestine'd
      • Flying Paper
      • Frontiers of Dreams and Fears
      • Gaza Loss of Innocence
      • Kinder der Steine - Kinder der Mauer
      • My Neighbourhood
      • The New Generation
      • Promises
      • Secret Hebron: The School Run
      • Stolen Children, Stolen Lives
      • Stone Cold Justice
      • The Tea Boy of Gaza
      • Tears of Gaza
      • Until When ...
      • Waiting ...
      • Where Should the Birds Fly
    • WOMEN >
      • Arna's Children
      • Asurot
      • Fertile Memory / Mémoire fertile
      • From Palestine With Love
      • Frontiers of Dreams and Fears
      • Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah
      • In the Spider's Web
      • Measures of Distance
      • A Palestinian Woman
      • Paradise Lost
      • Tell Your Tale, Little Bird
      • This Is Not Living / Hay Mish Eishi
      • Welcome to Hebron
      • Where Should the Birds Fly
      • Women in Struggle
      • Women in the Sun
      • Would You Have Sex With an Arab?
      • Young Freud in Gaza
    • PERSPECTIVES ON HISTORY >
      • 1913: Seeds of Conflict
      • Arafat, My Brother
      • Chronicles of a Refugee
      • Collecting Stories From Exile: Chicago Palestinians Remember 1948
      • For Cultural Purposes Only
      • The Great Book Robbery
      • How We Can Solve the Palestinian Israeli Problem
      • In Search of Palestine: Edward Said's Return Home
      • Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace
      • Jerusalem … The East Side Story
      • Land of the Story
      • The Land Speaks Arabic / La terre parle arabe
      • Al-Nakba
      • Native Sons: Palestinians in Exile
      • Occupation 101
      • Occupied Palestine
      • On the Side of the Road
      • La Palestina en 1896
      • Palestine, histoire d'une terre
      • Palestine Is Still the Issue
      • The Palestinians
      • Palestinians: The Right to Life
      • Sands of Sorrow
      • A Sketch of Manners
      • The Stones Cry Out
      • They Do Not Exist
      • Voices Across the Divide
      • The Zionist Story
    • OTHER >
      • 9 Star Hotel
      • Ana Falastine / Je suis Palestine / I Am Palestine
      • And Still They Dance
      • Art/Violence
      • As the Poet Said
      • Avenge But One of My Two Eyes
      • Blessed Blessed Oblivion
      • The Children of Ibdaa
      • Details
      • Diary of a Male Whore
      • Dissent! Eyal Sivan
      • For Cultural Purposes Only
      • From Palestine With Love
      • The Gatekeepers
      • Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine
      • Homage by Assassination
      • How We Can Solve the Palestinian Israeli Problem
      • The Human Turbine
      • Ici et ailleurs / Here and Elsewhere
      • Inshallah Beijing!
      • Introduction to the End of an Argument
      • Israël-Palestine: l'emprise des images
      • It's Better to Jump
      • The Lab
      • The Law in These Parts
      • The Lebanese Rocket Society
      • Lesh Sabreen?
      • Light at the End of the Tunnel
      • Like Twenty Impossibles
      • The Listening Chamber
      • Live from Palestine
      • Looking Awry
      • Over the Wall: Football Beyond Borders
      • Palestine Remembered
      • Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land
      • People and the Land
      • The People and the Olive
      • Port of Memory
      • Ramallah's Maradona
      • Since You Left
      • A Sketch of Manners
      • Slingshot Hip Hop
      • Stay Human - The Reading Movie
      • The Stones Cry Out
      • Targeted Citizen
      • Taste the Revolution
      • Trip to the Moon
      • USA vs Al-Arian
      • Z32
    • SHORT FICTION FILMS >
      • A Boy, a Wall and a Donkey
      • Diary of a Male Whore
      • Lesh Sabreen?
      • Like Twenty Impossibles
      • Looking Awry
      • Make a Wish
      • My Palestine
      • The Shooter
  • A-Z
    • 1913: Seeds of Conflict
    • 5 Broken Cameras
    • 500 Dunam on the Moon
    • 9 Star Hotel
    • Abu Jamil Street
    • African Palestinian: Ali Jiddah
    • Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza)
    • The Alpha Diaries
    • Ana Falastine / Je suis Palestine / I Am Palestine
    • And Still They Dance
    • Aqabat Jaber: Passing Through
    • Aqabat Jaber: Peace With No Return?
    • Arafat, My Brother
    • Arna's Children
    • Art/Violence
    • As the Poet Said
    • Asurot
    • Avenge But One of My Two Eyes
    • Behind the Walls
    • Belonging
    • Beyond the Mirage: The Face of the Occupation
    • Bil'in Habibti
    • Blessed Blessed Oblivion
    • A Boy, a Wall and a Donkey
    • Budrus
    • Camp Faces
    • The Case for Cultural & Academic Boycott of Israel
    • Checkpoint
    • Children of Fire
    • Children of Gaza
    • The Children of Ibdaa
    • Children of Shatila
    • Chronicles of a Refugee
    • Cinema Jenin
    • Citizen Nawi
    • Collecting Stories From Exile: Chicago Palestinians Remember 1948
    • The Colour of Olives
    • Common State: Potential Conversation [1]
    • Concrete
    • Crossing Kalandia
    • Death in Gaza
    • Deportation
    • Details
    • Diary of a Male Whore
    • Dispatches: Gaza - The Killing Zone
    • Dissent! Eyal Sivan
    • Dreams Deferred: The Struggle for Peace and Justice in Israel and Palestine
    • Edut - Testimony
    • Encounter Point
    • Enraged
    • Epicly Palestine'd
    • Fertile Memory / Mémoire fertile
    • Fire on the Marmara
    • Fix Me
    • The Flying Boys of Gaza
    • Flying Paper
    • For Cultural Purposes Only
    • Forbidden Marriages in the Holy Land
    • From Palestine With Love
    • Frontiers of Dreams and Fears
    • The Gatekeepers
    • Gaza Loss of Innocence
    • Gaza Strip
    • Gaza Suffering 1-8
    • Gaza Under Siege
    • Gaza: Unwatchable
    • Gaza Water
    • Gaza-Strophe
    • The Great Book Robbery
    • Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine
    • Das Herz von Jenin
    • Homage by Assassination
    • Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah
    • House
    • A House in Jerusalem
    • How We Can Solve the Palestinian Israeli Problem
    • The Human Turbine
    • Ici et ailleurs / Here and Elsewhere
    • In Search of Palestine: Edward Said's Return Home
    • In the Spider's Web
    • Infiltrators
    • The Inner Tour
    • Inshallah Beijing!
    • Introduction to the End of an Argument
    • Invasion
    • The Iron Wall
    • Israël-Palestine: l'emprise des images
    • Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace
    • Israel vs Israel
    • Israeli Settlements Explained
    • The Israeli Wall in Palestinian Lands
    • It's Better to Jump
    • Jaffa, the Orange's Clockwork
    • Jenin Jenin
    • Jerusalem … The East Side Story
    • Journey Through an Invisible War
    • Kinder der Steine - Kinder der Mauer
    • The Lab
    • Land of the Story
    • The Land Speaks Arabic / La terre parle arabe
    • Last Supper - Abu Dis
    • The Law in These Parts
    • The Lebanese Rocket Society
    • Lesh Sabreen?
    • Light at the End of the Tunnel
    • Like Twenty Impossibles
    • The Listening Chamber
    • Live from Palestine
    • Living Under Occupation: Daily Life in Occupied Palestine
    • Looking Awry
    • Make a Wish
    • Memory of the Cactus
    • Measures of Distance
    • Messages From Al Yarmuk
    • Missing Gaza
    • My Father from Haifa
    • My Land
    • My Neighbourhood
    • My Palestine
    • Al-Nakba
    • Native Sons: Palestinians in Exile
    • Nazareth 2000
    • The New Generation
    • No Child Is Born a Terrorist
    • (No) Laughing Matter
    • Nowhere Left to Go
    • Occupation 101
    • Occupation Has No Future
    • Occupied Palestine
    • On the Side of the Road
    • Once I Entered a Garden
    • One Family in Gaza
    • Open Bethlehem
    • Over the Wall: Football Beyond Borders
    • La Palestina en 1896
    • Palestine Blues
    • Palestine, histoire d'une terre
    • Palestine Is Still the Issue
    • Palestine Palestine
    • Palestine Remembered
    • A Palestinian Woman
    • The Palestinians
    • Palestinians: The Right to Life
    • Paradise Lost
    • Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land
    • People and the Land
    • The People and the Olive
    • Perforated Memory
    • Piombo Fuso / Cast Lead
    • Port of Memory
    • Promises
    • Rachel
    • Rainbow
    • Ramallah's Maradona
    • Roadmap to Apartheid
    • Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel
    • Al-Sabbar / Cactus
    • Sands of Sorrow
    • Secret Hebron: The School Run
    • The Shooter
    • Since You Left
    • A Sketch of Manners
    • Slingshot Hip Hop
    • Stay Human - The Reading Movie
    • Stolen Children, Stolen Lives
    • Stone Cold Justice
    • The Stones Cry Out
    • Targeted Citizen
    • Taste the Revolution
    • The Tea Boy of Gaza
    • Tears of Gaza
    • Tell Your Tale, Little Bird
    • Thank God It's Friday
    • They Do Not Exist
    • This is My Land … Hebron
    • This Is Not Living / Hay Mish Eishi
    • To Know Is Not Enough
    • To Shoot an Elephant
    • Trip to the Moon
    • The Turtle's Rage
    • Uncut Chronicles: Gaza-Israel War. Deadly July 2014
    • Until When ...
    • USA vs Al-Arian
    • The Village Under the Forest
    • Visit Palestine
    • Voices Across the Divide
    • Wadi
    • Wadi, Ten Years After
    • Wadi Grand Canyon 2001
    • Waiting ...
    • Waiting for Sallah El-Din
    • Wall/Mur
    • War on Gaza: Al-Shifa Hospital
    • Welcome to Hebron
    • When Saturday Came
    • Where Should the Birds Fly
    • Women in Black
    • Women in Struggle
    • Women in the Sun
    • A World Not Ours
    • Would You Have Sex With an Arab?
    • Young Freud in Gaza
    • Z32
    • The Zionist Story
  • RESOURCES
    • Daily life in Gaza: The local point-of-view
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  • About Us

(NO) LAUGHING MATTER / BLAGUES À PART

Vanessa Rousselot (France/Palestine 2010, 54 min.)

Convinced that humor knows no frontiers, a young filmmaker embarks on an unusual quest: to search for humor in the West Bank. At first she finds only disillusionment – “our whole situation is a joke” – but little by little she uncovers a vibrant culture of humor that defies conventional wisdom. From inane stories mocking the residents of Hebron – the classic butts of Palestinian jokes – to self-deprecating, political quips and bitter-sweet anecdotes about the absurdity of everyday life, her journey plunges her into a little known universe, one in which a glimmer of hope and humanity endure in the shadow of conflict…

Teaser: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=661665809251&oid=96271850996
Info about the production: http://www.tvfrance-intl.com/tl_files/programme/blagues-a-part/no-laughing-matter-press-kit-wide.pdf

Picture
Blagues à part est un documentaire tourné par une jeune française, Vanessa Rousselot, auprès des Palestiniens, dans les territoires et avec ceux qui vivent en Israël. A des gens rencontrés souvent dans la rue, ou au hasard de visites, la réalisatrice a demandé de raconter les blagues qui ont cours chez eux. L’idée de décaler ainsi l’interminable chronique doloriste et violente de la détresse palestinienne soumise depuis plus de 60 ans à l’oppression, la dépossession et l’exil, est en soi excellente. Ne serait-ce que parce qu’elle réinterroge les stéréotypes, aussi bien les nôtres, spectateurs occidentaux abreuvés des mêmes représentations depuis si longtemps, que celles des Palestiniens eux-mêmes, ayant intériorisées leur positons de victimes ou d’opposants farouches, au risque de faire disparaître ce qui est le tissu de la vie même, d’un jour le jour inévitablement plus complexe et contrasté, sans bien entendu faire disparaître pour autant cette ombre sinistre qui obscurcit la vie de millions de gens depuis si longtemps.
      Mais la réussite de Blagues à part va bien au-delà de son programme. Avec un très juste sens cinématographie, la réalisatrice laisse dériver les situations qu’elle a enclenché, les réponses à côté, les irruption d’autres rapports à la réalité et au langage, l’apparition improbable d’un vieux monsieur qui collationne méthodiquement les blagues palestiniennes classées par époques, lieux et situations politiques dans des boites d’archives, les silences comme les fous rires qui empêchent le récit, construisent un monde mental où règne le désespoir, mais qu’habitent des vivants, hommes, femmes, adolescents, vieille dame bouleversante, et non des « figures » assignées à un rôle  ou une fonction (fut-ce celle de raconter une blague).
      Libérateur, le rire ne l’est évidemment pas au regard de l’enfermement et de l’injustice –mais la question du rire se révèle au moins libératrice d’une manière nouvelle pour le cinéma de regarder ce qui existe. Diffusé seulement à la télévision (sur Planète, qui l’a coproduit), Blagues à part n’est jamais sorti en salles. C’est bien regrettable.

Jean-Michel Frodon


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