Several weeks ago I attended the NYC premiere of a film called “Slingshot Hip Hop” at MoMA. It’s a feature length documentary film produced by first-time director Jackie Reem Salloum. It may have been her first film, but you would never know if she didn’t say so—in front of a sold-out theater. Through cinéma vérité scenes and MTV-style animations, “Slingshot” allows the music of resistance to reveal itself as a character in its own right. This cultural remedy for a severely oppressed people has been seen before in film—but not coming out of Palestine.
While there are quite a few documentaries dedicated to the conflict in Israel / Palestine, this one takes a fairly unique approach by gravitating toward a very Palestine-centered viewpoint. Yet it doesn’t come off as propagandistic. The audience watched as DAM, Palestinian Rapperz (PR) and Arapeyat overcome the obstacles of living in occupied lands. (more…)
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