(No) Laughing Matter + Hassan Everywhere
Introduced by Ken Loach, Vanessa Rousselot and Andrew Kavanagh
Hassan Everywhere
Dir: Andrew Kavanagh Ireland 7 mins 2009
This moving tale of friendship and homecoming captures the burgeoning love of two young artists who share a vivid connection to the landscape of their respective birthplaces Palestine and Israel.
(No) Laughing Matter
Dir: Vanessa Rousselot France 55 mins 2010 Subtitled
Convinced that humour knows no frontiers, young filmmaker Vanessa Rousselot embarks on an unusual quest: to search for humour in the West Bank. At first she finds only disillusionment – “our whole situation is a joke”. But little by little, Rousselot uncovers and reveals Palestine’s own vibrant culture of humour, one that occasionally challenges conventional expectations. From inane stories mocking the residents of Hebron (the classic butt of Palestinian jokes) to self-deprecating political quips and bittersweet anecdotes about the absurdity of everyday life, the director’s investigation plunges her deep into Palestine’s peculiar comedic universe, one in which bright glimmers of hope and humanity endure in the shadow of conflict.
How to book
Tickets available through Watershed Box Office tel: 0117 9275100 or online at watershed.co.uk: £7.20 Full / £ 5.60 Cons