Panel
© Berliner Festspiele / Reflexes & Reflections
What role can art play in a situation that is dominated by hate, violence, trauma and pain?
In her music and screenplays the actor, singer and writer Mira Awad focusses on her identity as an Arab Israeli. By working closely together with the Jewish singer Noa, including at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, she represents the effort to overcome boundaries through music. The Jewish Israeli theatre director Sapir Heller recently appeared at numerous German theatres with her production of “How to Remain Humanistic after a Massacre in 17 Steps”. In this theatre text by the Israeli playwright Maya Arad Yasur, which was written immediately after 7 October, a woman sets herself the task of not losing her humanity in the face of the most appalling crimes. The sculptures of Osama Zatar process the border experiences that have marked his life from his early years in Palestine to his emigration to Germany and Austria, raising issues such as belonging and stereotypes.
Before and after the event, the “Reflexes & Reflections Library” in the Upper Foyer invites visitors of this event to read in-depth and visit the photo exhibition “Overlaps” by Ali Ghandtschi.
Please be mindful of our code of conduct for freedom of expression and respectful exchange.
Mira Awad – Actor, Singer, Writer, Artist and Activist
Sapir Heller – Theatre Director
Osama Zatar – Sculptor
Janis El-Bira – Culture Journalist
Mira Awad is a Palestinian-Israeli, internationally acclaimed, multidisciplinary artist and activist. As singer, songwriter, actress, scriptwriter and more, Mira Awad has dedicated a career in the arts to the agenda of non-violence and human solidarity. She became famous in Israel following her appearance in the Israeli TV-sitcom “Arab Labor”, and achieved international fame after representing Israel in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest together with Noa, a Jewish-Israeli singer. As an activist, since October 7th she has been an even stronger advocate for an urgent shift in national narratives and the need to break the ongoing cycle of retaliation.
Sapir Heller was born in Israel and has lived in Munich since 2008. She is a theatre director and has directed at venues including Schauspiel Frankfurt, Theater Essen, Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Theater Augsburg, Maxim-Gorki-Theater, Berlin, Theater Lübeck and the Münchner Volkstheater. In her works she has repeatedly dealt with German-Jewish history.
Osama Zatar was born in Ramallah/Palestine. A trained carpenter, he left the country after marrying an Israeli woman. He studied Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, the city where he continues to live and work. This is also where he founded the “OneState Embassy”, a collective that seeks to develop artistic prospects for peace, together with the Israeli photographer and activist Tal Adler.