‘Mahmoud Darwich, et la terre comme la langue - Simone Bitton’

Simone Bitton is a famous French documentary-maker. Having lived in Morocco, Israel and France, she sees herself as an “Arab Jew who doesn’t like walls and borders”. It comes as no surprise that her multifaceted identity and concern for the human race gave her the desire to put Darwish on the big screen.  She got the opportunity in 1998, the year in which she filmed, in collaboration with Elias Sanbar, Mahmoud Darwich : et la terre comme la langue (Mahmoud Darwish: As the Land is the Language). According to the filmmaker “If the beauty and depth of this work has won over so many readers throughout the world and through so many translations, it’s because it concerns us all, and is something that everyone can relate to”.

The film will be screened in the presence of the director at 6pm on 25 January. This screening will be preceded, at 4.45pm, by Mahmoud Darwich à Tolède, Simone Bitton’s brand new short which has been commissioned by the Darwish Chair.