Screening: Spaces of Exception

Spaces of Exception, co-directed by Matt Peterson and Malek Rasamny as part of their project The Native and The Refugee, investigates and juxtaposes the struggles, communities, and spaces of the Palestinian refugee camp and the American Indian reservation. The film was shot over the course of three years in the West Bank and Lebanon, as well as in Arizona, New Mexico, New York, and South Dakota and is an attempt to understand the significance of the land, its memory and divisions, and the conditions for life, community, and sovereignty. Spaces of Exception features interviews with members of the American Indian Movement, the Mohawk Warrior Society, and Diné families resisting displacement on Black Mesa, as well as Palestinian militant organizations based in the camps, alongside environmental activists, autonomous youth committees, and the families of political prisoners and martyrs.