Meet Fadwa Faranesh, an unmarried, 30-something Palestinian woman living in Bethlehem in the politically volatile West Bank. Known for her delectable cooking and deep-seated sense of duty to her family and aging father, our kitchen maven insists on continuing the preparations for the wedding of her younger sister, despite constraints of daily life under occupation. Politics blend with family tensions to create a sometimes humorous and sometimes heartbreaking meal. 

Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies in the Department of History at Columbia University since 2003, where he also served as Director of the Middle East Institute, and was one of the founding co-Directors of the new Center for Palestine Studies. He has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, Georgetown University, and for 16 years at the University of Chicago. 

As Though She Were Sleeping is an homage to dreaming, "the only way of escaping oppression, be it familial, religious, or political."

This is a fiction based on the true story Occupation Layer: PALESTINE featuring members of Palestinian Dance Troupe El-Funoun from Ramallah.

ArteEast will present From Memoir to Reportage and Back Again: Gazan Writers Salon, to present contemporary writing from Gaza to New York's literary audiences. Through readings of both poetry and prose, the writers will offer a rare glimpse into the diverse emerging and established voices that make up the dynamic literary scene in this city.

Is there a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and how is the international community complicit? Was there, in fact, a breach of international humanitarian law and human right violations during Operation Cast Lead? With the use of US manufactured weapons being used on civilians, what is the role of the US and the responsibility of Americans in particular?

You are invited to Nathalie Handal's book party for Poet in Andalucia.

Come to the screening of this important documentary following by a special Q&A conversation with award-winning director Julia Bacha.