Punk & Politics Movie Night #6: SLINGSHOT HIP-HOP (2008) / SALT OF THE EARTH (1954)

SLINGSHOT HIP HOP (2008) DIRECTED BY JACQUELINE REEM SALLOUM

SLINGSHOT HIP HOP depicts the struggles of Palestinian youth in Palestine and inside Israel living under occupation and seeking to build a future. Difficult and joyous, the film is a fresh and unique approach to witness life for Palestinians between the river and the sea. It takes Hip Hop back to its ghetto roots as a trenchant critique of oppression.  Ostensibly about Hip Hop, the film is about overcoming the closed future facing Palestinian youth.

The feature-length documentary film from 2008 tracing the history and development of Palestinian hip hop from the time the group DAM pioneered the art form in the late 1990s. Directed by Syrian-American filmmaker Jackie Reem Salloum the film weaves together the stories of young Palestinian artists living in Gaza, the West Bank, and inside Israel as they discover hip hop, and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by military occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and separation walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is a story of young artists breaking through the obstacles that separate them.

Slingshot Hip-Hop (2008) trailer

SALT OF THE EARTH (1954) DIRECTED BY HERBERT J. BIBERMAN

At the height of McCarthyism, director Herbert J. Biberman—one of the infamous “Hollywood Ten”—became transfixed by the strike against the Empire Zinc Company, led by Mexican-American miners and their families in Grant County, New Mexico. Together with several other blacklisted filmmakers, Biberman decided to create a feature film based on the events, casting and working alongside local nuevomexicano community members. The neorealist Salt of the Earth (1954) was unsurprisingly labeled as subversive and denounced in the U.S. as communist propaganda. Lead actress Rosaura Revueltas was even deported to Mexico before filming had finished. Upon its release, the film was widely banned in the U.S. but did find success in Mexico and Europe. The film has since become a classic of both Chicano and feminist cinemas.

Salt Of The Earth (1954) trailer