In the second of this year’s dialogue sessions, we welcome filmmakers Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi for a conversation with artisan and entrepreneur Belinda Idriss on embroidery, textile tradition, and embodied knowledge transmission. Carol, Muna, and Belinda will be joined in conversation by curator and researcher Amal Alhaag.
This session follows a Thursday night screening of Mansour’s 2017 film Stitching Palestine, and is part of a tatreez trajectory within the festival programme, which highlights the importance of this cultural tradition as one of the virtual threads materially connecting Palestinian life in Palestine and across the Diaspora. Alongside the screening and dialogue session, festival audiences can also join for a Sunday afternoon hands-on workshop.
Day:
Fri, 10 Oct
Time:
16:30–18:15
Venue:
de Appel
Location:
Foyer
The Dialogue Sessions are a series of conversations taking place throughout the festival, which invite two cultural producers to share short presentations on their practices followed by an extended conversation between them.
Still from Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi’s Stitching Palestine, screening on Thursday 9 October
Belinda Idriss, photographed by Veronique de Viguerie
Biographies:
Carol Mansour is an independent documentary filmmaker who is deeply passionate about social justice and human rights issues and believes that film is an important medium that gives voice to the marginalized. After ten years of working in television, she founded Forward Film Production in 2000 in Beirut, Lebanon. With over 24 years in documentary production, Mansour has covered the world from Sri Lanka to Lebanon to Yemen to Uzbekistan. She has achieved international recognition and honor for her films, with over one hundred film festival screenings and official selections worldwide.
Muna Khalidi holds a Ph.D. in health policy and planning, and with more than 34 years of experience working in the social and health development fields in Lebanon and the region. She has worked with various development and health organizations assisting them to develop strategic plans and to design and develop programs. In 2011, she started collaborating with Carol Mansour on the research and production of documentary films dealing with issues of social justice and human rights, bringing her experience in the academic, public, private, and NGO sectors into the documentary-making field.
Belinda Idriss is the founder of Artijaan, a social enterprise committed to preserving traditional craftsmanship and supporting artisan communities in conflict-affected areas such as Afghanistan and Palestine. By bridging the gap between business and development aid, Artijaan creates sustainable livelihood opportunities for women and girls through ancestral crafts while preserving cultural heritage. Belinda’s French-Yemeni-Djiboutian heritage shaped her deep appreciation for cultural diversity, and Artijaan reflects her global vision of connecting cultures and imagining new systems rooted in empathy, storytelling, and collaboration.
Amal Alhaag is an Amsterdam-based curator, cultural organizer, and researcher. Her work unfolds through short- and long-term collaborations with people, collectives, initiatives and institutions. Alhaag is the co-initiator, facilitator, and collaborator of various interdisciplinary platforms and spaces, including Metro54, The Side Room, Sustaining the Otherwise, and The Anarchist Citizenship.
