SPACES OF EXCEPTION
dir. Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny, 2019
United States/Lebanon. 90 min.
In English, Arabic, Dine, and Kanienʼkéha with English subtitles.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3 - 5 PM ($10 w/ Q&A)
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14 - 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20 - 7:30 PM ($10 w/ Q&A)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22 - 7:30PM ($10 w/ Q&A)

Shot between 2014 to 2017, Spaces of Exception observes and juxtaposes the communities and struggles of the American Indian reservation and the Palestinian refugee camp. It visits reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, New York, and South Dakota, as well camps in Lebanon and the West Bank, “places defined by their historical and spiritual resistance” in order to “understand the conditions for life, community, and sovereignty.” The film compiles interviews with members of the American Indian Movement, the Mohawk Warrior Society, and Diné families resisting displacement on Black Mesa, as well as members of Fatah, Palestinian environmental and media activists, autonomous youth committees, and the families of political prisoners and martyrs.

While the histories are distinct, dispossession and loss unite these communities in solidarity, and the alternating stories highlight both their unique tragedies and their revolutionary commonalities. Mostly eschewing archival footage, Spaces of Exception showcases the present, in which each day lived is itself an act of resistance.