Creative Diasporas Inc.

My name is Fida Qishta. I am a Palestinian / American filmmaker. I am from Rafah City in Gaza. I'm seeking $15,000 to cover pre-production and production costs for my new film.

It has been 8 years since my first film about Gaza. Where Should The Birds Fly  Filmed during and in the aftermath of the 2008-09 bombings of Gaza. That film told the story of 10 year old Mona Samouni, a resilient and strong young woman. In documenting her life,   I saw not only the courage of a people living amidst immense suffering and destruction. I saw the dignity and humor that sustains and strengthens their humanity. 

Gaza continues to be under blockade and attack. The attack on civilians and innocents this year was unprecedented and horrifying. I decided it's time for a new movie. I plan to convey the impact of the ongoing  attacks on the people of Gaza.  I've been filming in Gaza for several weeks now. Our filming schedule has been delayed several times because of continued aerial  attacks. 

My new project will focus on young artists in Gaza.  Nadeen Abdullatif is  a 10 year old blogger. She wants to become a doctor to help the people of Gaza  The film will also feature a young Palestinian rapper. Both are wonderful story tellers, exploring the frustrations, hopes and dreams of the people of Gaza through their blogs and raps.  What kind of future will there be for these young artists and the generation they represent?  We cannot predict when and how the conditions for the  Palestinian people will change to enable their dreams to become reality.  But  their spirit and determination reveal that while the children of Gaza live in the midst of devastation, their dreams are not rubble.

If you would like to view short clips of Nadeen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAUYwxuJVsk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4CnoqvI_bQ

Links to Where Should The Birds Fly
English  https://vimeo.com/79468766 
Spanish https://vimeo.com/86161417
French  https://vimeo.com/11916396
Arabic   https://vimeo.com/79984430  
Portuguese https://vimeo.com/105184225 


Your support will underwrite pre- production and production costs. Your tax-deductible donation is deeply appreciated.  

Thank you, 
Fida Qishta

Creative Diasporas is the fiscal sponsor for this arts project.

Dear Friends and Music Lovers,

We are launching this campaign to raise14,000 Euros ($17,000) for the 2021 Skopelos Rebetiko Festival

The Rebetiko Festival of Skopelos is a cultural and musical festival that brings musicians from Greece and around the world to this beautiful Aegean island to perform to a global audience. It brings together young and older musicians to share skills and to celebrate this quintessentially Greek music tradition.  Sponsored by the Skopelos Culture Club, It is a free festival. All the musicians and organizers volunteer their time and talent. Your donation will help cover the musicians' travel, accommodations and technical requirements. We plan to record the Festival for the World Wide Web.  We are now planning for a late summer 2021 festival. Despite the pandemic’s cancellation of the 2020 festival, we are hopeful that this year’s will proceed on time. 

What is Rebetiko?

We live in a time of great upheaval and much sadness. We are not the first. But like generations before us we find beauty and hope in the music that brings our communities together.

Rebetiko has a rich history. It is a musical and cultural expression directly linked to song and dance that spread among the urban lower and working-class populations of Greece in the early twentieth century. It has always been the music of the poor and the dispossessed.  Rebetiko songs combine the traditional musical forms of the Eastern Mediterranean with lyrics describing the life of refugees and ordinary people struggling to survive.

Its origins trace back to Greek settlements in Smyrna and Constantinople. Forced by war and ethnic cleansing to leave their homes of many centuries in the early 1920s, 1.5 million Greeks of Asia Minor settled in mainland Greece and many of the Aegean Islands.  Rebetiko was born of a synthesis of Anatolian and Greek traditions. The refugees were ostracized from Greek society and blamed for rising unemployment. The feelings of deep loss and exclusion, nostalgia for home and hope are embodied in its “poem-lament” lyrics. The musicians were often persecuted and sometimes imprisoned.

The famous Greek composer Manos Chartzidakis described this music as the essential expression of Greek kefi or spirit. The soulful stories told in Rebetiko have been likened to those in Country, Blues and Jazz. The music and the lyrics are emotional, haunting, often quite humorous. While the songs capture past customs and practices, Rebetiko is a living musical tradition. During the Greek economic crisis that began in 2008  with the U.S. banking and mortgage meltdown, Rebetiko reemerged as the soundtrack of popular protest, continuing its symbolic tradition of folk culture in conflict with the “establishment”.

Some have described it as the articulation of underdog social movements’ defiance of oppressive states and social structures. It was part of the popular opposition to Greece’s dictatorial governments of 1936-41. It energized the Greek underground Resistance to the Nazi occupation (1941-46) and was taken up by Communist partisans during the Greek Civil War (1946-49). In the 1970s it rallied opposition to yet another military junta.

About Skopelos
This beautiful evergreen island in the northwestern Aegean is a hidden Greek treasure. Perhaps fitting its rich musical traditions, Skopelos is shaped like a saxophone. It is the home of some of the world’s best Rebetiko musicians. It has many beautiful beaches and its mountainous geography provides spectacular views of tree laden hillsides dropping sharply to the sea It is slightly larger than Mykonos and Santorini. The two closest islands are Skiathos and Alonisos.

For more on Rebetiko music
“So Good They Made It Illegal (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2004/apr/19/guesteditors3

Skopelos Rebetiko Festival
https://www.Rebetikoskopelosfestival.com/about-us


Festival Budget
Sound ….........................................2000 euro

Artist's tickets in Greece...............3500 euro

artist's accommodation.....................4500 euro

Seats and stage arrangement..........2500 euro

Extra payments...............................1500 euro

TOTAL...........................................14000  EUROS