A Mull crofter who spent three month living with rural villagers in the South Hebron Hills is bringing home a film festival.
Paul Gibson was out on the West Bank volunteering with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), a project originally founded by the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC).
He was there as an observer to see how people are living under occupation and now that he is back on Mull, he is carrying out the follow-up part of that mission, which is to talk about what he witnessed and to share it.
To do that, he is helping to co-ordinate the not-for-profit Falastin Film Festival visit to Mull from May 9-12. Before then, on May 8, there will also be a festival film screening event in Oban at the Phoenix Cinema.
After the west coast dates, the film festival will move to Edinburgh from May 24-26.
As well as film screenings on Mull there will also be workshops, discussions, question-and-answer sessions and opportunities to enjoy Palestinian food. An Tobar will be the main venue but there will be others.
Paul is also planning a film-making workshop for school youngsters.
The team behind the touring festival is made up of Palestinians and people with connections, such as Paul.
More details of events, times and places will be released nearer the time. A promotional day for the festival is also in the pipeline for Lochgilphead on May 1.
Paul hopes that bringing the festival to Oban and Mull will give people "a good sense of the place" he experienced and also that it will offer a chance to explore the shared themes in Scotland’s history and the Palestine present.
He said Palestinians are often summed up as an ’occupied people’, and spoken for, but they have unending stories to tell. He hopes the festival will tell some of those stories.
"The area that I spent time in was very rural, similar to here in ways. Sometimes there were just a few people in communities other times maybe 100 people living in villages dotted around.
"There were a lot of crossovers between there and the west of Scotland," he added, hoping that people going along to the festival’s events will find them inspiring as they take the opportunity to find out more about Palestinian society, art, culture, and humanity.
More information about the Falastin Film Festival can be found on Instagram @falastinfilmfest or on the festival website at falstinfest.com
Organisers of the film festival have also launched a Gofundme crowdfunder appeal to help fund it, with a goal of £7,000. Fundraising so far is about half way there.
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