Our first 14 km MENA Network Party took place on April 24, 2014 from 6-10pm in the Moroccan restaurant Argana in Berlin Moabit. The network meeting aimed at offering a platform for people working on the Middle East and North African region to meet and exchange.   We clearly achieved this aim, thanks to the active participation of about 40 guests from science, NGOs/associations, social initiatives, media, administration, business and trade. The networking guests included for example representatives from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, from Amnesty International, the district office Neukölln, the Free University and the Humboldt University Berlin and the Potsdam University, the European External Action Service, Bread for the World, the Organisation for Human Rights in Arab Countries (OMRAS), CRISP, the DO School in Hamburg, the German Council on Foreign Relations, inamo, Global Project Partners, Konsentio, the European Council on Foreign Relations, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the East Moabit district management. The guests were welcomed by 14km members with Moroccan mint tea and then had the whole evening to get to know each other and to exchange experiences, contacts and ideas – all that accompanied by Arab alternative music (played by JZR Crew from Ramallah), tasty Moroccan specialities and a presentation of pictures from Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.   After Andreas Fricke had welcomed our guests and presented 14km as well as the background of the network event, the guests intensely networked until 10pm. Many new contacts were made, old friends met, lots of topics were discussed and ideas were developed, for example concerning youth exchange with the MENA region, events on migration, human rights and media, as well as other projects. At the end everyone agreed that this should not have been the last MENA network evening. We think so, too, and would like to thank all our guests very much for coming !   The event was technically supported by the East Moabit district management, which we warmly thank. May Micklisch (14 km), Frédérique Lang (14 km), Anja Gebel (14 km) and Eugénie Rooke (intern at 14 km) were involved in the preparation of the event. Photographs by Helena Burgrova (14 km).  

INVITATION 14km and closer – MENA Network Party On April 24  between 6pm and 10pm at Restaurant Argana Stephanstr. 19, Berlin (Moabit)   14km e.V. invites you to an afterwork MENA network party: in order to get to know other interesting people, exchange experiences and get creative. The event brings together different kinds of people who deal with the North African/Middle Eastern region (in main profession or as volunteers). In a relaxed environment you will have the opportunity to make contacts for your work in and with the region – accompanied by Arab alternative sound (Arab Reggae, Ska, Indi Rock, Rai, Dub, Fusion) put on by JZR Crew. Since we would like to provide a network platform for people from many different fields of work, feel free to forward this invitation to other interested persons – for example from science, NGOs/associations, social initiatives, political foundations, media, arts and culture, politics and administration, and business. We look forward to an inspiring exchange! Participation is free, yet due to limited space please RSVP via email to mai.micklisch@14km.org. We will welcome you with a special drink. Tasty Moroccan food and further alcohol free drinks can be purchased at the location. We look forward to welcoming you there! The 14km team View Larger Map

„Libya, the revolution and me“, 6:30 pm at Filmrauschpalast, Lehrter Straße 35, Berlin Moabit We cordially invite you to our film and discussion evening on Libya, which will take place on April 2nd at 6:30 pm in the context of our Arab Film and Discussion Series. We will be screening the film “Libya, the revolution and me” by Nicole Nagel (2013, 82 mins, Arabic/English/German with German subtitles). The film tells how the film maker from Berlin starts documenting the revolt in Libya. While NATO forces support the revolution by air strikes, she portrays the revolutionaries close to the front lines, as well as women supporting them with passion. The filmmaker herself starts holding the revolutionaries' standpoint more and more clearly and open. The film will be followed by a open conversation and audience discussion in presence of the film maker and further guests on the Libyan revolution of 2011 and following developments, as well as on the repercussions on Libyan immigrants in Moabit and Berlin. Attendance is free, donations are welcome. The event will take place at Filmrauschpalast, in the Kulturfabrik Berlin Moabit, Lehrter Str. 35. You can see here where the Kulturfabrik is located. In regular intervals we screen films which deal with different Arab countries and subsequently discuss the films and current social and political situation in the respective countries with guests from Berlin Moabit as well as with country experts, always aiming to make links to North-South relationships. Flyer 14km Libya Event download and share! The project receives financial support in the context of the quarter management Moabit Ost through funds from the Programme Social City (EU, Federal Government, and Federal State of Berlin). Trailer / film preview

„My Makhzen and Me“ (Documentary), 6:45 pm at Filmrauschpalast, Lehrter Straße 35, Berlin Moabit We cordially invite you to our film and discussion evening on Morocco, which will take place on March 5th at 6:45 pm in the context of our Arab Film and Discussion Series. We will be screening the documentary “My Makhzen and Me” by Nadir Bouhmouch (2012, 43mins, Arabic/English/French with English and Arabic subtitles). The film shows how the young film maker returns to his home country after studying abroad in California, and finds it in a state of turmoil in the summer of 2011. The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt had spread to Morocco. Organised by a group of students called the February 20th movement via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and a website called Mamfakinch, people were flooding the streets and demanding change. But the Makhzen (the ruling elite) refuses to loosen its grasp. This film investigates what led to the revolt and what obstacles the people encounter in their struggle for freedom, democracy, human rights and against corruption and poverty. The film screening will be followed by an open discussion on the state of protests and change in Morocco, as well as on their effects on Moroccan migrants in Moabit and Berlin. The evening will take place in English. Attendance is free, donations are welcome. The event will take place at Filmrauschpalast, in the Kulturfabrik Berlin Moabit, Lehrter Str. 35. You can see here where the Kulturfabrik is located.   In regular intervals we screen films which deal with different Arab countries and subsequently discuss the films and current social and political situation in the respective countries with guests from Berlin Moabit as well as with country experts, always aiming to make links to North-South relationships.  The project receives financial support in the context of the quarter management Moabit Ost through funds from the Programme Social City (EU, Federal Government, and Federal State of Berlin).    Flyer Morocco download and share!

Screening of ART/VIOLENCE with supporting program, on 27.11 at 19 o'clock (Corona Kinoplex, Kaufbeuren in Allgäu/Bavaria) The film ART/VIOLENCE documents the time after the murder of Juliano Mer-Khamis (2011), a peace activist and founder of the Freedom Theatre in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin. In a compound of interviews, scenes from the theater, flashbacks and animations, the film documents old as well as new theater projects, but also the difficulties and challenges that the young actors and actresses are facing in their work. The screening is embeded in a supporting program. This begins with a short introduction of Dr. Anja Gebel (14 kms), followed by a talk with Christian Artner-Schedler (Pax Christ) on the subject "work for peace in Palestina and Israel" as well as a public discussion.                                  The distribution and the Roadshow of ART/ VIOLENCE were made possible thanks to the political development film award 'CINEMA fairbindet', donated by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Distribution and Roadshow were realized by the Arsenal Institute of Cinematography and Videoart. The project 'CINEMA fairbindet' is implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). Cooperation partner: DW academy   More informations about the movie :  An artist is shot. Juliano Mer-Khamis - peace activist, director and actor - died in 2011 in front of his theater, in the refugee camp of Jenin. The refugee camp of Jenin is near the city of the same name in the north, in the West Bank, which is occupied by Israel since 1967. With more than 12.000 inhabitants, it is one of the biggest Palestinian refugee camps. To date the murder is still not clarified. Mer-Khamis, the son of a Jewish mother and a Palestinian father, led the Freedom Theatre since 2006 and fought with the means of art against the hopelessness and the violence in the refugee camp. Besides, the theater represented for him a possibility to offer a stage to artists, despite their nationality or gender. The film "Art/Violence" documents the period in the Freedom Theatre after Juliano Mer-Khamis' murder: What they should do with his legacy? How can they handle the powerless feelings of sorrow and rage? How can they go on with the theater? In a compund of interviews, scenes from the theater, recordings of a hip-hop concert, flashbacks and animations, the film documents old as well as new theater projects, but also the difficulties and challenges that the young actors and actresses are facing in their work. The structure of the film "Art/Violence" is divided in three chapters which refer in each case to a project of the Freedom Theatre: Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carrol,1865) Alice, the heroine of the story, follows a speaking, white rabbit in a fantastic journey in a wonderland full of oppositions and absurdities, a journey in which all known order systems are gradually broke up. In the adaptation from the Freedom Theatre, Alice escapes from her reality of poverty and oppression. In the wonderland, she meets characters who bring her to think over her own identity and to question what is "correct" and what is "wrong", what "is "normal" and what is "abnormal ». "The last piece that Jul' directed before his murder was Alice in Wonderland. I was the 'red queen' who is the ruler in Wonderland and who controls everyone. She represents leaders, for example Barak or Abu Mazen." (Mariam Abu Khaled)  Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett, 1952) In While Waiting, the Freedom Theatre's new interpretation of Waiting for Godot, the spectator waits for the never appearing Godot with the protagonists Didi and Gogo. The reality shown in the film as well as the theater play are full of insecurity. The stay offers the firm belief that a sense lies in the fact of waiting for Godot. "Even if we are actresses in a theater which is no theater, in a homeland which is not a homeland, in a country which is not a country, it shows the fact that we have interpreted While Waiting as Palestinian women, that we have gained our rights. Those rights, which were taken from us, those rights we have abandoned." (Batoul Taleb) Waiting for Godot is one of the most-quoted examples of absurd theater. Beckett's obstinacy for a strict fidelity to actors and actresses gender in the roles distribution is well known, however the Freedom Theater team went against that will with a feminine cast for the male parts. The piece refers to questions about the meaning of life in the view of invariant and unexplicable processes. The new interpretation deals with powerlessness feelings and thematises gender problems.  Antigone (Sophocles, in or before 442 v. Chr.) The heroine of the piece, Antigone, goes against the will of her uncle, the king Kreo. She buries the body of her brother, who Kreo executed on grounds of high treason and then who's funeral was forbidden. For having done that, Kreo sentences Antigone to death. When Kreo finally changes his mind because of the warning of the Gods revenge, it is already too late, Antigone has killed herself. "Before the murder of Juliano, we had begun to work on Antigone in Jenin, a film from which we hoped that it would have been able to represent the complexity of the death for art, for women's rights and for the liberation from Israeli occupation" (UdiAloni) This third and last chapter in the film follows the 12-year-old daughter of Juliano Mer-Khamis, Milay Mer, who undertakes - a year after the death of her father - to fulfil one her unrealized dreams: the cinematic adaptation of Antigone. She meets in Jaffa the well-known actors Saleh Bakri and Amer Hlelel as well as Udi Aloni, Mariam Abu Khaled and Batoul Taleb to turn a crucial scene. Her free interpretation thematises the patriarchal structure of the society in the Palestinian zones, by means of the question, whether and how freely an actress on the stage may develop her own expression styles.     Festivals and Awards Panorama of the Berlinale 2013 – World Premiere / Winner of the CINEMA fairbindet Prize Cinema South Festival (Sderot, Israel) – Prize of Juliano The Jerusalem International Film Festival (Jerusalem, Israel) Documentarist Film Festival (Istanbul, Turkey) Montreal International Documentary Festival – RIDM (Montreal, Canada) MedFilm Festival Rome – Winner of the “Open Eyes Award 2013″