ACLAÍ Palestine documentary to premiere at Cork International Film Festival

ACLAÍ Palestine's documentary is set to premiere at Cork International Film Festival on Friday, November 20.

The Triskel Cinema will show Here We Remain, which documents the process of Ainle Ó Cairealláin - West Belfast native and brother to KNEECAP's Móglaí Bap - opening the ACLAÍ Palestine gym in 2020.

It also provides an insight into life in Aida camp and the displacement of Tulkarm and Nour Shams camps as situations in the West bank escalated.

"The film is at times shocking at at times inspiring," said ACLAÍ Palestine online. "We hope that we are making a contribution of some value to the wealth of cinema that has been produced in Palestine over the years by many great film makers.

"Here We Remain was a collaboration from start to finish and would not have been possible without the invaluable contribution and efforts of everyone on the team in Palestine and in Ireland."

 

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The community gym and movement space is located in the Lajee Centre found in the Aida camp. The refugee camp was established not long after the Nakba, or 'catastrophe', of 1948, when over 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes, villages and cities by Zionist forces. 2023 figures from the UNRWA showed there were over 7,000 people living in the camp, in an area of just 0.071 kilometres.

"There's no space to expand, because the camp is hemmed in by the Apartheid Wall," explained Ó Cairealláin in a Hot Press interview. "There's a military base right beside it - practically on top of it - and there's about eight watchtowers, some of which are manned around the clock by [Israeli] soldiers.

"It's really hard to understate how much effort the occupation has gone to, to suppress all aspects of life in Palestine," he adds. "And that includes simply being able to exercise."

Watch the trailer for Here We Remain below: 

 

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