The Muslim Student Association (MSA) held a film screening and fundraiser in the MLK room on Friday, March 8 to reflect on Palestinian history.
With traditional Palestinian and Jordanian food, the event showcased the 2008 documentary “To My Father” and held a short debrief afterward for attendees to discuss and engage with the film. All proceeds from the event will go to UNRWA and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund to help aid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Senior Mihailo Stevanović said he initially came to the MSA months prior with the idea for the screening.
“I’ve had the desire to share screenings of Palestinian topics for a bit,” Stevanović said. “I thought it was a wonderful way to illuminate and humanize.”
Stevanović decided on “To My Father.” The documentary, set partly in a Palestinian refugee camp in Rafah, pays homage to Palestinian studio photographers of the 1950s-70s. Stevanović said the documentary focuses on a subject that otherwise has a gray spot in understanding among students.
“I hope that we come out of it with a more nuanced understanding of what life in the Rafah refugee camp was like and how human and real the people that live there are,” Stevanović said.
MSA co-president and senior Zyad Baliamoune said the club had initial reservations about the potential risks of pursuing hosting a screening.
“I thought it was a really strong, bold, kind of potentially dangerous idea, obviously with the climate of Brookline’s polarized political views about what’s happening in the Middle East,” Baliamoune said.
Baliamoune said the screening aimed to challenge this separation of beliefs by engaging with the community and building understanding through different perspectives.
“Sometimes, and this applies to everybody, when you are stuck in a place where you only hear what you agree with, your beliefs aren’t challenged,” Baliamoune said. “I think it’s good to have an open mind and to listen to others who may disagree with you because they offer you perspective, and I think perspective is super, super important.”
Senior Maysam Khan, co-president of the MSA, praised the film for its ability to focus on shared humanity.
“Through photography, I feel like it made it less about the politics and more about the people,” Khan said. “Although this is a big thing right now, it’s important to remember that we’re all human.”
