Biography
Rashid Masharawi was born and raised in Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He is a self-taught filmmaker. In 1996 he founded the Cinema Production Centre (CPC) in Ramallah, Palestine, which organises workshops geared towards teaching young Palestinian filmmakers how to navigate the field of film production. In addition, the centre’s Mobile Cinema Department screens films in remote villages and refugee camps, bringing cinema to communities who are otherwise deprived of the opportunity to engage with quality films.
Masharawi describes his work as an attempt to create a ‘cinema’ out of the Palestinian situation. He has produced over fifteen films which include features, shorts and documentaries, and which he feels together constitute a mirror or document of Palestinian life over the last twenty years. His feature films include Curfew (1993), Haifa (1996), and Ticket to Jerusalem (2002) and his documentaries include Live from Palestine (2001). His films have been broadcast on international television and received numerous awards and critical acclaim. While he recognises the value of international recognition in perpetuating his practice as a Palestinian Filmmaker, he considers himself more of an Artist and Director than a Palestinian partisan.
Masharawi has screened his video installations and films internationally in exhibitions and events such as, the Biennale of Shargea, MoMa Presents: Rashid Masharawi’s Laila’s Birthday, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2009), en attente, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain (2005), Sharjah Biennial 6, UAE (2003), and KNOTS symmetric-asymmetric (curated by Gangart), MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria (2002-2003). His feature films have been included on academic curriculums at the Israeli Academy of Film and Television and Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, among other institutions.
Masharawi’s film Shahrazad was shown in Sharjah Biennial 6