Judy Price

Screenings at the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1

British Mandate in Palestine 9^th – 29^th June

A season of films examining the British Mandate for Palestine and the years preceding the San Remo conference.

 

First World War – Jewish Colonies in Palestine, General Allenby’s Entry into Jerusalem, Allenby meets Weizmann. A brief film of the Jewish settlement at Rishon le Zion, Palestine Front, autumn 1917. The entry of General Allenby into Jerusalem and the reading of his proclamation, Palestine, 11 December 1917 and the Duke of Connaught decorating Allenby and some of his officers at the Turkish barracks at Mount Zion, Palestine, 20 March 1918. Film of British, Indian and Jewish forces, including the meeting of General Allenby with Chaim Weizmann in Jerusalem, Palestine Front, May 1918. 35mins

 

First World War – Hebron, Jerusalem and Gaza. An RAMC doctor, probably Major Paterson, who was doctor in Hebron for 31 years before the war, talking to a group of Arabs; followed by a slow panorama of Hebron, ending at the mosque. Palestine Front, 1918.  Views of the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem guarded by Indian troops, Palestine Front, 1917. Scenes of Gaza and its surroundings shortly after its capture by British forces, Palestine Front, November 1917. 28mins

 

First World War – Camels and Jaffa, Jericho, El Mejdel, Jaffa and the West Country Troops.

Scenes in Jaffa under British occupation, Palestine Front, probably late 1917 after its capture by the Wellington Mounted Rifle Regiment.  Film of 60th Division at Jerusalem and the ANZAC Mounted Division at Jericho, Palestine Front, late 1917. 35 mins

 

Amateur film of Palestine 1939. Scenes of the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, while stationed in Palestine, filmed by Lieutenant David Kennard. Includes film of the Ruins of Capernaum, Haifa, the Wailing Wall, Jaffa Gate. Footage of Coldstream Guards on patrol including the use of gelignite to detonate a rebel Arab roadblock on the way down to the Dead Sea. 45 mins

 

Portrait of Palestine (1947).The historic past, cultural and economic present and potential future of Palestine are all portrayed as (mainly implicit) criticism of "the tension and uncertainty of the last 25 years." 16 mins

 

Palestine. All three episodes of the landmark Thames Television series first transmitted on the ITV network on the 27th June, 4^th July and 11th July 1978. 75mins each

 

Agadati & Axelrod Newsreels. A selection of three mute newsreels including film of the first 'legal' immigrants arriving at the newly constructed port of Tel Aviv from SS Polonia, the establishment of a new settlement of Metzudat Ussishkin in north Galilee, the arrival of Sir Hebert Samuel (first British High Commissioner), opening of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Lord Balfour, Chaim Weizmann and Sir Herbert Samuel in attendance, 1925), Sir Herbert Samuel, Winston Churchill and Lord James de Rothschild in Jerusalem,  Jewish Legion troops, and footage of Vladimir Jabotinsky, Lord Plumer, Albert Einstein, Nahum Sokolov and Mayor Dizengoff. 30 mins

 

War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946 The complete newsreel issues include the following items: JERUSALEM-KING'S BIRTHDAY PARADE.' Lord John S S P V Gort, High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan takes the salute at a march-past in Jerusalem (Palestine) held in celebration of King George VI's birthday. 'PALESTINE.' British troops clear rubble from the bombed police Headquarters in Jerusalem. The new British High Commissioner, General Sir Alan Cunningham is shown in discussion with the Inspector General of Police at the scene of the attack. 'TRAGEDY IN JERUSALEM.' An item covering the aftermath of the bombing of the King David Hotel (HQ of the British Palestine Army Command) in Jerusalem on July 22 1946. 30mins

 

Recruiting Films. Palestine Police (1946) Recruiting film for British volunteers that illustrates the special nature of police duties in the Holy Land.  20mins.

Palestine Recruiting Film (1942). Glimpses of life in an Arab village near Hebron in Palestine during the Second World War. This film was intended to recruit Palestinian Arabs into the Palestine Regiment. This unit, officially raised on 6 August 1942, attracted many Jewish volunteers but failed to stir much enthusiasm for the British cause amongst the Arabs, for whom the memories of their 1936-1939 revolt against British rule were still strong. 20mins

 

Judy Price is a visual artist working with the moving image. In Reel and Assemblage she explores IWM archival material that documents the British Mandate in Palestine from 1917-1948, and the portrayal of Palestine before the State of Israel was established.  Price questions the relationship between memory and recording and asks questions about the social construction of historical meaning.

In Assemblage (2008) film material of a British observation kite balloon used during the Mandate period in Palestine is overlaid with a montage of sounds from religious orders.  The sounds, at times seem to almost imitate or respond to each other, confusing identities, whilst also transforming the kite balloon from war machine to a prophetic apparatus of the sublime.  6 mins

In Reel (2008) Price has selected the disrupted residues of film – the lead-ins and endings of film stock. The scuffing and scratching from handling film material; black cue dots, overexposing at the end of the reel, numbering or logging marks evokes all that is not seen in the documentation of history.  The images have been put to a piece of music called Kaene byr til engli composed by Johann Johannsson. The music brings to the images an intensity and spiritual dimension evoking the sensual and sublime that is found in the spaces disregarded by the more declarative ways of making sense of the world.  7mins

 

Land of Promise - L'Chayim Hadashim (1934). This is one of Palestine's earliest sound films and part of a larger campaign to encourage settlement and investment in "the Jewish homeland." Land of Promise emphasizes secular accomplishments and portrays Zionist settlers with considerable cinematographic and editorial skill. Punctuated by evocative close-ups, this part-documentary, part-travelogue, part-message film shows Palestine as a land of opportunity, the place for fulfilling an ancient dream. 57mins

 

Exodus (1960). Based on Leon Uris' sweeping novel, Exodus is the epic saga of the founding of Israel in the days following the Second World War. Paul Newman stars as an Israeli resistance fighter, a member of the Haganah, involved in the effort to bring a group of 600 European Jews from British-blockaded Cyprus into newly-partitioned Palestine, right before the United Nations is to vote on making it a Jewish homeland. 3hours 30 mins

 

This Modern Age – Palestine (1946).The Rank Organisation launched the This Modern Age series of short films in 1946 and one its earliest subjects was Palestine. The film examines both Jewish and Arab claims to the territory and includes a “filmed debate”. 20mins

 

Credits: Toby Haggith, Judy Price, Stephen Horne, Deborah Steinmetz (The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archives of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the World Zionist organization), Ilil Barak-Weiser, (Jerusalem Cinematheque), Fleur Buckley (British Film Institute), Vicky Smith (Fremantle Media), Elizabeth Gault (Park Circus) the IWM cutting room staff: Tom Adams, Lynn Chapman, Stephen Lovesay, Brian Mongini, George Smith, and finally, James Barker for his knowledge and insight.

 

Monday 9

11.00am     First World War – Jewish Colonies in Palestine, General Allenby’s Entry into Jerusalem, Allenby meets Weizmann

2.00pm       Agadati Newsreels & Axelrod Newsreels

3.00pm       War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Tuesday 10

11.00          First World War – Hebron, Jerusalem and Gaza

2.00pm       Amateur Film in Palestine 1939

3.00pm       War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Wednesday 11 No Public Film Shows

 

Thursday 12   No Public Film Shows

 

Friday 13

11.00am     First World War – Camels and Jaffa, Jericho, El Mejdel, Jaffa and the West Country Troops.
                   Live keyboard accompaniment from Stephen Horne.

2.00pm       Agadati Newsreels & Axelrod Newsreels

3.00pm       War Pictorial Newsreels 1945 and 1946

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Saturday 14

11.00am     First World War – Jewish Colonies in Palestine, General Allenby’s Entry into Jerusalem, Allenby meets Weizmann.
                 Live keyboard accompaniment from Stephen Horne.

2.00pm       This Modern Age – Palestine

3.00pm       Portrait of Palestine

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Sunday 15

11.00am      Land of Promise - L'Chayim Hadashim 57mins

1.30pm       Exodus 1960

 

Monday 16

11.00am      Palestine – Episode 1:  Promises

2.00pm       War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946

3.00pm       First World War – Jewish Colonies in Palestine, General Allenby’s Entry into Jerusalem, Allenby meets Weizmann

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Tuesday 17

11.00am      Palestine – Episode 2: Rebellion

2.00pm       War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946

3.00pm       First World War – Hebron, Jerusalem and Gaza

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Wednesday 18   No Public Films Shows

 

Thursday 19

11.00am      Palestine – Episode 3: Abdication

2.00pm       War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946

3.00pm       First World War – Camels and Jaffa, Jericho, El Mejdel, Jaffa and the West Country Troops

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Friday 20

11.00am      Agadati Newsreels & Axelrod Newsreels

2.00pm       War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946

3.00pm       Amateur Film in Palestine 1939

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Saturday 21

11.00am      Land of Promise - L'Chayim Hadashim  57mins

2.00pm       This Modern Age – Palestine

3.00pm       Portrait of Palestine

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Sunday 22

11.00am      Agadati Newsreels & Axelrod Newsreels

1.30pm       Exodus 1960

 

Monday 23

11.00am      Palestine – Episode 1:  Promises

2.00pm       Recruiting – Palestine Police and Palestine Recruiting Film

3.00pm       First World War – Jewish Colonies in Palestine, General Allenby’s Entry into Jerusalem, Allenby meets Weizmann.

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Tuesday 24

11.00am      Palestine – Episode 2: Rebellion

2.00pm       Recruiting – Palestine Police and Palestine Recruiting Film

3.00pm       First World War – Hebron, Jerusalem and Gaza

4.00pm        Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Wednesday 25

11.00am      Palestine – Episode 3: Abdication

2.00pm       Recruiting – Palestine Police and Palestine Recruiting Film

3.00pm       First World War – Camels and Jaffa, Jericho, El Mejdel, Jaffa and the West Country Troops

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Thursday 26

11.00am      Agadati Newsreels & Axelrod Newsreels

2.00pm       Recruiting – Palestine Police and Palestine Recruiting Film

3.00pm       War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946

4.00pm       Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Friday 27

11.00am      Amateur Film in Palestine 1939

2.00pm       Recruiting – Palestine Police and Palestine Recruiting Film

15.00pm     War Pictorial News 1945 and 1946

16.00pm     Assemblage and Reel (Judy Price)

 

Saturday 28

11.00am      Land of Promise - L'Chayim Hadashim 57mins

2.00pm       This Modern Age – Palestine

3.00pm       Portrait of Palestine

 

Sunday 29

11.00am      Palestine – Episode 1: Promises

1.30pm       Palestine – Episode 2: Rebellion

3.15pm       Palestine – Episode 3: Abdication