Connecting people through art 

We are glad to annonce that A Night We Held Between by artist Noor Abed

(1988, Palestine) will be presented on Sunday 23rd of February at MCAD, in Manila and then screened for a month (please check screening schedule below) at  the Balanghai ni Ikeng Cinematheque, Ili-Likha Artists' Wateringhole, Baguio.

The screening opens on Tuesday, 25 February 2025 at 3pm, followed by a conversation with the artist Noor Abed, and Jeckree Mission, Head of Exhibitions, MCAD. Light refreshments follow.

A Night We Held Between is an exhibition under MCAD Commons, conceptualized as a programmed space that is removed from the main gallery space of the museum in Manila.

Conceived as a project to continue the expanding activities of the museum, MCAD Commons brings MCAD's singular programming to a larger audience that allows for engagement with creative development, ideas exchange, and support of the artistic processes across the areas of research, art practice, and curatorial discourse.

The film centers around “Song for The Fighters,” which was found in the sonic archive of the Popular Art Center Palestine. Through the layers of the song, in a labyrinth of sounds and sites, the film conjures history as a permanent present tense, a collective and imaginative act.

The film was shot in ancient sites in Palestine—caves, carved holes, underground passages, and wild valleys—the land becomes our main character. It traverses beyond the first layer of visibility to reveal a vast, hidden world similar to the one we know. Throughout the film, scenes intertwine rituals and narratives of community and resistance into everyday representations of social life in Palestine, thus emphasizing the role of collective rhythmic movement and the potential impact that shared feelings can evoke in creating and sustaining a community.

A Night We Held Between was produced through the Han Nefkens Foundation/Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grant in 2022, in collaboration with NTU Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore; WIELS, Brussels; Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), Manila and Jameel Art Centre, Dubai. It was selected as a first-prize winner of the e-flux Film Award 2024.

Screening Schedule:

Tuesday, 25 February 2025, 3PM
Exhibition Opening and a conversation with the artist Noor Abed, and Jeckree Mission, Head of Exhibitions, MCAD

Week 1

3PM and 3:45PM
Saturday–Sunday, 1–2 March 2025

Week 2

5:30PM and 6:15PM
Friday, 7 March 2025

3PM and 3:45PM
Saturday–Sunday, 8–9 March 2025

Week 3

5:30PM and 6:15PM
Friday, 14 March 2025

3PM and 3:45PM
Saturday–Sunday, 15–16 March 2025

Week 4

5:30PM and 6:15PM
Friday, 21 March 2025
3PM and 3:45PM
Saturday–Sunday, 22–23 March 2025

Noor Abed (1988, Palestine) is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker. She works at the intersection of performance and film.Through a process of image making, her works create situations where social possibilities are both rehearsed and performed. Abed attended the Whitney Independent Study Program in Νew York in 2015–16, and the Home Workspace Program (HWP) at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut 2016–17. She was a fellow at the Raw Material Company in Dakar in 2019, and in 2020, she co-founded, with Lara Khaldi, the School of Intrusions, an independent educational collective in Ramallah, Palestine. Abed was an assistant curator in documenta fifteen, Kassel 2021–22, and an artist in residence at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam 2022–24. She was awarded the Han Nefkens Foundation/Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grant in 2022, and her film A Night We Held Between was selected as a first-prize winner of the e-flux Film Award 2024. Her book Stars at Midday was published in October 2024.