SF ShortsWall Piano Screened Oct. 23-25
“Profoundly inspirational.” – F3 Film Magazine
Wall Piano Palestine, State of Experimental
Wall Piano takes us into a daydream of a child who lives under the shadow of a separation wall. Artists Asma Ghanem (Palestine), Christopher Marianetti (USA), and Alexia Webster (South Africa) worked with a group of children living near the Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah, Palestine, a frontline of the West Bank conflict. The idea for this short film came from 12 year-old ‘Nada’, featured in the film, and is scored by Christopher Marianetti.
Wall Piano takes us into a daydream of a child who lives under the shadow of a separation wall. Artists Asma Ghanem (Palestine), Christopher Marianetti (USA), and Alexia Webster (South Africa) worked with a group of children living near the Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah, Palestine, a frontline of the West Bank conflict. The idea for this short film came from 12 year-old ‘Nada’, featured in the film, and is scored by Christopher Marianetti.
DIRECTOR PROFILE
Asma Ghanem, Christopher Marianetti, Alexia Webster
Director Bios :
Asma Ghanem is a multi-media artist, illustrator, experimental musician & author from Palestine. She was born in Damascus, Syria in 1991. She has a BA from The International Academy of Arts – Palestine, and recently received her MFA degree in audio visual arts from the ISDAT (École supérieure des beaux-arts de Toulouse) in France. Her work explores the space between reality and illusion and its representation. Asma was awarded 3rd prize in the YAYA (The Young Artist Award- The Hassan Hourani Award, 2016) for her experimental music project (Homeland is…), and special mention in the Palest’in & out Festival in Paris in 2015 for her Photography.
Alexia Webster is a South African photographer, videographer and visual artist whose work explores intimacy, family, migration and identity. Her work has been widely exhibited across Africa, the United States, Europe and India and published in numerous international publications. Over the past few years she has been working increasingly on multimedia projects- from collaborating with musicians, designers and animators on public performance pieces and video and photography projects to creating 360 video documentary pieces around the world with the New York Times and National Geographic Magazine. She has received the Artraker Award for Art in Conflict, the CAP Prize award for Contemporary African Photography, the Prince Claus Fund Grant, the Alexia Foundation Judges Special Recognition, the International Women's Media Fund Adelante Grant and a National Geographic Explorer Grant. Her Street Studios series was also shortlisted for the prestigious Prix Pictet Award which was recently exhibited in the V&A Museum in London.
Christopher Marianetti is a composer, producer and educator from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Christopher co-founded Found Sound Nation, a music collective and creative agency, and is an artistic director and founder of OneBeat, a music diplomacy initiative bringing together musicians, social entrepreneurs, and artistic innovators from around the world, now in its ninth year in partnership with The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). His work has been presented at the Lucerne Festival, Gaudeamus, TED, International Symposium on Electronic Art, MATA Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, MASS MoCA, among others. Chris has been awarded a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, the PopTech Social Innovation Fellows Award and the Albuquerque Academy Alumni Service Award. He trained in composition at the Accademia Internazionale in Italy and received his B.A. from Macalester College and M.M. in composition from Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music.
Director Bios :
Asma Ghanem is a multi-media artist, illustrator, experimental musician & author from Palestine. She was born in Damascus, Syria in 1991. She has a BA from The International Academy of Arts – Palestine, and recently received her MFA degree in audio visual arts from the ISDAT (École supérieure des beaux-arts de Toulouse) in France. Her work explores the space between reality and illusion and its representation. Asma was awarded 3rd prize in the YAYA (The Young Artist Award- The Hassan Hourani Award, 2016) for her experimental music project (Homeland is…), and special mention in the Palest’in & out Festival in Paris in 2015 for her Photography.
Alexia Webster is a South African photographer, videographer and visual artist whose work explores intimacy, family, migration and identity. Her work has been widely exhibited across Africa, the United States, Europe and India and published in numerous international publications. Over the past few years she has been working increasingly on multimedia projects- from collaborating with musicians, designers and animators on public performance pieces and video and photography projects to creating 360 video documentary pieces around the world with the New York Times and National Geographic Magazine. She has received the Artraker Award for Art in Conflict, the CAP Prize award for Contemporary African Photography, the Prince Claus Fund Grant, the Alexia Foundation Judges Special Recognition, the International Women's Media Fund Adelante Grant and a National Geographic Explorer Grant. Her Street Studios series was also shortlisted for the prestigious Prix Pictet Award which was recently exhibited in the V&A Museum in London.
Christopher Marianetti is a composer, producer and educator from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Christopher co-founded Found Sound Nation, a music collective and creative agency, and is an artistic director and founder of OneBeat, a music diplomacy initiative bringing together musicians, social entrepreneurs, and artistic innovators from around the world, now in its ninth year in partnership with The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). His work has been presented at the Lucerne Festival, Gaudeamus, TED, International Symposium on Electronic Art, MATA Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, MASS MoCA, among others. Chris has been awarded a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, the PopTech Social Innovation Fellows Award and the Albuquerque Academy Alumni Service Award. He trained in composition at the Accademia Internazionale in Italy and received his B.A. from Macalester College and M.M. in composition from Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music.