St Clement's is honoured to present a free, public screening of Where Olives Trees Weep on Saturday April 26th at 6 pm. A panel discussion will follow and will include renowned speaker and author Gabor Maté, Palestinian Christian and Vancouver School of Theology alumnus Shadia Qubti, and Simon Fraser University professor Tamir Moustafa. The film will be shown upstairs in the church.
Childcare is available (please contact the organizer in advance of the event to confirm). Parking is available in the lot. There is a ramp, stairlift, and accessible washroom on site.
Where Olive Trees Weep explores themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice. It follows, among others, Palestinian journalist and therapist Ashira Darwish, grassroots activist Ahed Tamimi, Israeli journalist Amira Hass, and trauma specialist Dr. Gabor Maté.
St Clement's Anglican Church in North Vancouver, BC, Canada strives to be an inclusive, welcoming Christian community, faithful to Christ's call to love God and serve the contemporary needs of a changing world. We hope this film screening will help educate our church community and anyone from the broader neighbourhood who attends, on the perspectives and experiences of Palestinian people today. St Clement's proudly supports Alongside Hope (PWRDF), the Anglican Church of Canada relief organization offering humanitarian response in Gaza and the West Bank.
About the panel:
Gabor Maté
Gabor Maté (pronounced GAH-bor MAH-tay) is a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of five books published in 43 languages, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction, Gabor is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. For his ground-breaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His most recent book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture is a New York Times and international bestseller. His next book, co-written with his son Daniel, will be Hello Again: A Fresh Start for Parents and their Adult Children, based on their popular workshop.
www.drgabormate.com
Shadia Qubti
I am a Palestinian Christian born and raised in Nazareth who has worked in faith-based peacebuilding and advocacy initiatives through local and international organizations in Israel and Palestine for 15 years. My academic and public speaking interests focus on theological conversations between Palestinian Christian and North American Indigenous understandings of land, explored in my MA thesis at Vancouver School of Theology. I am (trying) to develop a contextual decolonial approach through Palestinian land-based readings of biblical narratives, including recent work on the Nativity story and an upcoming exploration of Jesus at Gethsemane. As a Palestinian Christian and member of a faith community, I am grappling with theological responses amid genocide. I am particularly dedicated to amplifying the voices and perspectives of women and other marginalized communities, which led to co-founding the Women Behind the Wall podcast. I am currently working as the Community Engagement Animator at Trinity Grace United Church in Vancouver, Canada and serve as a Commissioner to the 45th General Council of the United Church of Canada.
Tamir Moustafa
Tamir Moustafa is a Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University. His research and teaching are centered on the politics of the Middle East, religion and politics, and comparative law and society. He is the author or editor of four books on various topics, including the role of courts in Egyptian politics and religion and politics in contemporary Malaysia. Born and raised in Southern California to an Egyptian-American family, it was Palestine that piqued his early interest in the politics of the Middle East.
Helen Dunn
Helen Dunn is a priest in the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, serving as rector of St Clement’s in North Vancouver, BC located on the unceded and traditional territory of the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Helen played a small part in the grand opening of Creekside Commons, a wheelchair-accessible outdoor meeting space that gathers human and more-than-human creatures alike. Creekside Commons gets its name from Acts 4:32: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.” “Held in common” is understood to include rewilded gardens that encourage the flourishing of plant life native to the watershed as well as the care for and preservation of a salmon-bearing stream.
Helen is a regular contributor to the Wild Lectionary blog and is beginning to engage more fully in conversations concerning theology and land, especially those regarding the Christian response in Israel and Palestine.