Hisham Zreiq is a Palestinian filmmaker, poet and visual artist; he was born in Nazareth (1968) to a Christian Palestinian family.
He is considered one of the pioneers of computer fine art, starting doing computer art in 1994, and he showed his work in many galleries across the world. In 2001 Hisham Zreiq went to live in Germany. In 2006 He started filming his first documentary the sons of Eilaboun, a documentary about the massacre, expulsión and return of the residents of a small Palestinian village in the Galilee.
In 2008 he created the short film Just Another Day dealing with the Arabs living in western world after September 11 terror attacks, followed in 2001 by Before You is the Sea.
Zreiq’s art is his perspective on life, pains, disappointments, happiness, and his philosophical look at life. He uses extensive symbolism and metaphors in both his visual art and films. One example is the cross that symbolizes punishment and sacrifice, as Jesus was punished and sacrificed his life. His art is somehow surrealist, and looks like it was extracted from a dream-like world. The intensity of emotions cannot be ignored, and captures the eyes of viewers, encouraging their minds to wander. His pieces are powered by strong composition and powerful representation of colour.
In 2004 Zreiq was one of the winners of the award “Kunst- und Förderpreis Sparkasse Bayreuth”, and his work was exhibited Kunst & Museum Hollfeld.
His films were screened in several festivals and events, such as:
- Sixth Annual International Al-Awda Convention 2008, California USA
- Boston Palestine Film Festival 2008, USA
- International İzmir Short Film Festival 2008, Izmir, Turkey
- Amal The International Euro-Arab film Festival 2008, Spain
- Carthage Film Festival 2008 (Palestine: To remember section), Carthage, Tunisia
- Regards Palestiniens, Montreal, Canada
- Chicago Palestine Film Festival, 2009
- 13th Annual Arab Film Festival, 2009
- Sixth Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, Minnesota, USA
- Salento International Filem Festival, 2010, Italy
- Palestine Film Festival in Madrid, 2010, Spain
- 18th Damascus International Film Festival, 2010, Syria
- Al Ard Doc Film Festival, 2011, Cagliari, Italy
- Toronto Palestine Film Festival, 2012, Toronto, Canada
Sons of Eilaboun – Trailer
Hisham Zreiq´s Work
Sources:
Further readings:
– http://hishamzreiq.com/justanotherday.html
