The Native and the Refugee is a long-term multimedia project by Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny profiling the terrains of the Indian reservation and the Palestinian refugee camp, “spaces of exception” that have become essential in the struggle for decolonization and indigenous autonomy. While the existence of such spaces is the result of settler-colonialism (albeit at different stages) and are repositories for its ongoing violence, they also open up new possibilities for resistance and for conceptualizing existence outside the boundaries of the nation-state.
Since 2014, Peterson and Rasamny have produced more than a dozen films, including the feature length Spaces of Exception, as well as a book, radio program, writings, and lectures. These works are not just documentation of modern life in reservations and refugee camps, but rather political collaborations and re-articulations of sovereignty and identity.
SPACES OF EXCEPTION
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2019
United States/Lebanon. 90 min.
In English, Arabic, Dine, and Kanienʼkéha with English subtitles.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3 – 5 PM ($10 w/ Q&A)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20 – 7:30 PM ($10 w/ Q&A)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22 – 7:30PM ($10 w/ Q&A)
Shot between 2014 to 2017, Spaces of Exception observes and juxtaposes the communities and struggles of the American Indian reservation and the Palestinian refugee camp. It visits reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, New York, and South Dakota, as well camps in Lebanon and the West Bank, “places defined by their historical and spiritual resistance” in order to “understand the conditions for life, community, and sovereignty.” The film compiles interviews with members of the American Indian Movement, the Mohawk Warrior Society, and Diné families resisting displacement on Black Mesa, as well as members of Fatah, Palestinian environmental and media activists, autonomous youth committees, and the families of political prisoners and martyrs.
While the histories are distinct, dispossession and loss unite these communities in solidarity, and the alternating stories highlight both their unique tragedies and their revolutionary commonalities. Mostly eschewing archival footage, Spaces of Exception showcases the present, in which each day lived is itself an act of resistance.
This program is a retrospective of short form work that spans the entire Native and the Refugee project, and includes films shot across Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Lebanon, as well as from the Standing Rock movement.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3 – 7:30 PM ($10 w/ Q&A)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21 – 10 PM ($10 w/ Q&A)
Featuring:
WE LOVE BEING LAKOTA
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2015
United States/Lebanon. 12 min.
In English.
THE WALLS OF BETHLEHEM
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2015
United States/Lebanon. 14 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.
THE WAY OF THE LONGHOUSE
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2015
United States/Lebanon. 12 min.
In English.
ALL MY RELATIONS
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2016
United States/Lebanon. 15 min.
In English.
JENIN
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2017
United States/Lebanon. 8 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.
BEDDAWI
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2017
United States/Lebanon. 6 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.
BEDOUINS OF JERICHO
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2021
United States/Lebanon. 8 min.
In Arabic with English subtitles.
Total Run Time: 75 min.