Palestinian Stories: Through a Clear Lens
Michael Maria with the Boston Palestine Film Festival team
Michael Maria is the programming director for The Boston Palestine Film Festival. Starting in 2007, The Boston Palestine Film Festival brings Palestine-related cinema, narratives, and culture to New England audiences. Featuring a variety of young filmmakers and expert commentators the film festival allows emerging artists to share honest and independent views of Palestine and its history, culture, and geographically dispersed society.
atac: Hey Michael, it's so nice to meet you. Can you tell us how your story begins?
Michael Maria: I am a Palestinian American born and raised in Massachusetts, from a Christian Palestinian family with roots in Bethlehem. It took a long time to embrace my Palestinian identity! In my college years and beyond, I started connecting the dots between the aspects of Palestinian culture that I was raised with, and the present day reality of life for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation; what that meant on a daily basis for ordinary people like my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, as well as my parents prior to their emigration to the US.
atac: How did embracing your identity inform what you do in your life now?
MM: I've been an organizer with the Boston Palestine Film Festival since 2011, but even before then, I was volunteering with a non-profit called Alternate Focus to air Palestine-centered documentaries on Boston and Cambridge public access channels.
atac: Would you say your background has been a driving force in your artistic and career pursuits?
MM: I've been driven by the power of Palestinian narratives through film, to make them broadly accessible to as many eyes as possible. Direct access to Palestinian voices leads to humanization, understanding, empathy, and alliance, which we've overwhelmingly lacked in the US, politically, in the news media, and in entertainment. Palestinians are traditionally only seen through foggy lenses of "non-white", "Islamic", and "other", and in contexts of violence, which has led to the dehumanization of Palestinians in American society (along with the broader Arab and Muslim communities), and the devaluing of Palestinian lives and rights.
Narrative and documentary film is a tremendously powerful way to quickly move someone emotionally, and to inform on new perspectives. We all have experienced this in each of our own lives, if we think back to some of our favorite films!
atac: What are some pieces of media that have influenced and inspired you?
MM: Ismail by Nora Al-Sharif, and The Promise television series by Peter Kosminsky are two incredibly powerful works of media that moved me tremendously during my early days with the film festival. Both are period pieces taking place in 1948 during the original Palestinian Nakba (when Israel was created, 15,000 Palestinians were killed, and nearly a million Palestinians were displaced and prevented from returning to their homes). Both works beautifully capture the Palestinian experience of dispossession and displacement of that time, in ways I had never seen before on film, and I was so moved.
I also have to call out the 2001 documentary Promises, which was my very first introduction to film centering Palestinians. It features Palestinian and Israeli children in Jerusalem and demonstrates the potential for coexistence and mutual understanding between them, which is ultimately what our end goal is.
atac: Do you have any specific moments that pushed you to continue working in film?
MM: One of the best moments for me was the return of live screenings at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in 2022, following 3 years of absence due to Covid. Our opening night screening began with a Palestinian Dabke flash mob (a traditional Palestinian folk dance), and energy and spirits were the highest I've ever seen.
atac: Wow that sounds exhilarating! What's some advice you have for those who want to make art that has that kind of impact?
MM: You will never be able to make everyone happy! Don't even try. Stick with your creative instincts and integrity. If you are rocking the boat, then you are making art that is disruptive and ultimately the most impactful and meaningful. Just ride those waves and stay true to yourself.
The Flag by Firas Khoury is the opening film screening at the MFA Boston on January 19
atac: I know that the film festival will look slightly different this year. What should we expect?
MM: The Boston Palestine Film Festival made the painful decision to postpone our live screenings, originally scheduled for October 13-22 2023, following the Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli bombardment of Palestinian society in Gaza. While acknowledging that the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza continues, and Israeli aggressions against Palestinians are escalating across Palestine, we felt the time is right to reschedule our live screenings, which will now be taking place January 19-25 at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and MassArt. We will be screening Alam (The Flag), A House in Jerusalem, Mediterranean Fever, and Notes on Displacement (with director Khaled Jarrar in attendance). Film and screening details can be found at bostonpalestinefilmfest.org
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The Boston Palestine Film Festival will take place January 19th through 25th at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and MassArt. We’re looking forward to the potential of bringing a screening to Framingham in 2024!
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