film Sling Shot Hip Hop
| Film | Sling Shot Hip Hop IMDb, IMDb Discussion board | |||||||||||||||
| Code | SLING |
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| Genre | Documentary | |||||||||||||||
| Director | Jackie Salloum IMDb | |||||||||||||||
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| Cat | Documentary | |||||||||||||||
| Year | 2007 | |||||||||||||||
| Release | 2008 | |||||||||||||||
| Country | USA | |||||||||||||||
| Runtime | 80 min | |||||||||||||||
| Format | Color, Sony HD Cam | |||||||||||||||
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| Synopses |
A new generation slings rhymes instead of rocks as Palestinian rappers form alternative voices of resistance within the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. Interweaving multiple stories of young Palestinians in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, filmmaker Jackie Reem Salloum spotlights a vibrant hip-hop scene as emerging artists discover rap and employ it as a means to surmount age-old schisms deepened by occupation and poverty. Tamer, Joker, and Suhell are the charismatic artists of DAM, the first group to put Palestinian hip-hop on the map. They struggle to produce an album despite crushing poverty, progressing from their initial awkward recording attempts to triumphant sold-out shows in Europe. As politics increasingly informs their art, these young rappers evolve into community leaders and activists for social change. Trapped in Gaza, facing ongoing military attacks, the group PR (Palestinian Rapperz) hope someday to meet their fellow rappers, but separation walls and internal checkpoints prohibit access. Surprisingly, Palestinian hip-hop is not just for the boys. Female soloist Abeer and the group Arapeyat are redefining gender roles and shaking cultural traditions.
Devastated by decades of conflict, yet armed with the music of revolution, rappers portray the hopes and dreams of a new generation of Palestinians defying the boundaries that separate them. Slingshot Hip Hop is a rousing parable of the Palestinian struggle propelled by an American art form gone global. |
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| Links | FilmThreat | |||||||||||||||
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| Misc Info |
Pr: Rumzi Araj, Jackie Reem Salloum, Waleed Zaiter |
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| Fri. January 18, 11:30am, Prospector Square Theatre, Park City Sat. January 19, Noon, Screening Room, Sundance Resort Sun. January 20, 11:30pm, Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City Mon. January 21, 6:00pm, Tower Theatre, SLC Wed. January 23, 9:30pm, Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City Fri. January 25, 8:30pm, Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City |
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| from Cinematical |
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Sundance Review: 'Slingshot Hip Hop'Posted Jan 21st 2008 8:02PM by Eric D. Snider  When you hear that Slingshot Hip Hop is a documentary about Palestinian rap groups, you probably have the same thought I had: What, that old subject again? Why can't filmmakers come up with something original? Just kidding. One of the joys of a film festival is seeing documentaries on unusual topics that you had never considered before, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't know Palestine had even one rap group, let alone a major hip hop movement. First-time feature filmmaker Jackie Reem Salloum (an American with Palestinian and Syrian roots) knows that our curiosity will be piqued simply by hearing the subject matter, and I'm afraid she coasts a little too far on that, actually. The movie's lack of focus suggests she was hoping the mere novelty of it all would carry it for 85 minutes. It does carry it for a while, though. When Public Enemy rapped about a "fear of a black planet," they probably had no idea they would one day be a source of inspiration to Arab kids living in Israel and the West Bank -- ones who saw their own struggle against the oppressive Israeli government as paralleling that of the urban black kids against American racism. DAM, the first Palestinian rap group (they started in 1999), believed that just as Americans had a "fear of a black planet," Israelis have a "fear of an Arab nation." It's that bad blood between the groups that has led to centuries of untold misery and suffering on both sides, but DAM's three members - two brothers and a friend, all now in their mid-20s -- wanted to find a positive outlet for their feelings. They work with children in their community, the Israeli city of Lyd, and are bona fide heroes among the younger generation. They emulate the American style of "gangsta" rap, but actual violence is not part of their agenda. Slingshot Hip Hop is narrated by Suhell, whose older brother Tamer is DAM's front man. After examining the roots of that group, we meet several of the groups they inspired, including PR (Palestinian Rapperz), whose members live in the prison-like Gaza, unable to leave to meet their fellow hip-hoppers in person. It's when the focus is on those injustices and hardships that the film is at its most powerful. There's a particularly sad vignette about kids living in a refugee camp who put on an illegal rap show and wind up in prison on trumped-up charges. What the film lacks, though, is a cohesive theme or story line. An introduction to the Arab rap movement is all well and good, but it's not enough - an introduction is only the first part of a story, after all. What should have been the emotional climax of the movie, when the Arab rap groups finally get through checkpoints and walls and bureaucracy and are able to meet each other, is tacked on over the closing credits like an afterthought. Salloum has some excellent rough material here; she just doesn't make it flow the way her rappers do. |
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| from FilmThreat |
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(2008-01-20) I do not like hip hop. Well, let me take that back. I like some of the older hip hop but now I guess I'm just too old and cranky to even try to like it or try to seem hip anymore. So when Jackie Reem Salloum's documentary about the rising Palestinian hip hop scene kicked off, I immediately started in with the eye rolling. We meet Tamer, the frontman for politically minded rap trio DAM and we get a kind of "Cribs" look at his house. He's toking on a hookah and shows off his CD collection which is at least 35 deep. As we see more of Tamer and his crew it's clear that all the annoying accoutrements of hip hop culture have made their way to the Middle East. Baggy jeans, Nike hoodies, untied shoes and thick chains adorn the three as they rap about the trouble and hardship they face day to day. And right about then, I realized that this movie is actually pretty insightful and amazing. In fact, it seems only natural these men would turn to hip hop, especially the old, politically minded hip hop of Public Enemy and the like to try and rally youth as well as make themselves heard. Whereas hip hop frequently talks about day to day life in the ghetto and in the hood, the people in Gaza and Palestine have it ten times worse. The Israeli occupation has forced them to basically live in a prison. At any given time the Israeli's can and do lay siege to the peaceful Arab neighborhoods. Hearing Tamer and his groups raps with titles such as "Who's the concertTerrorist?!" really drives home the point that these people need an outlet and they need a way to bring youth together in order to try and create change. There's also an intense feeling of impending doom throughout "Slingshot Hip Hop" because if the Israeli's were to discover DAM and other activist hip hop groups, it's pretty much a given they'd be headed off to prison or worse. It's exactly this kind of fear that forces up and coming female rapper Abeer (aka "Sabreena da Witch") to cancel out of a big show. Or rather, her parents force her to cancel which plays back into the Fresh Princes classic hit "Parents Just Don't Understand." And thus, my knowledge of hip hop is now spent. Another example of the constant pressures felt in this society happens when two young boys, up and coming rappers who are taken in by DAM, are arrested for throwing rocks in protest...two years earlier. The last we hear from them they're in prison for eight months, still awaiting a trial. At one point the Palestinian rappers decide to get together a bunch of Arab hip hop groups for one big concert. DAM is on board as is Abeer as well as another group featured in the film, MWR. They invite Gaza rappers PR (Palestinian Rapperz) to the show and we follow WMR as they make the 5 hour journey to travel 14 miles into occupied Palestine for the gig. They get stopped at the border as do hundreds of others in a car jam reminiscent of the one in Jean-Luc Godard's "Week End." The annoyance level and stress the men onscreen are feeling bleeds into the audience as the wait seems eternal. A mere 14 miles might as well be 14,000. "Slingshot Hip Hop" is an exciting film as well as a frightening and sad look at the people in Palestine and Gaza. While I still don't understand why these young men and women need to take the obnoxious American hip hop styles in order to truly be real "rappers," I still respect their message. I also noted a proliferation of crappy American style hip hop graffiti and again, not to be a cranky cynic, it just seems silly. But on the other hand, whatever these guys and girls can do to get through the rigors and stress that go along with living in an occupied area, they should do. |
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