Looking Heaven in the Eye is about an event of the same name held in Chicago on December 23, 2023, organized by friends of Dr. Refaat Alareer, who was killed in a targeted bombing by Israeli forces on December 6, 2023. The gathering was to remember Refaat and all martyred Palestinian storytellers.
Dr. Alareer was a professor of English, teaching world literature, comparative literature, and both fiction and creative writing at the Islamic University in Gaza.
He was an editor of Gaza Writes Back and Gaza Unsilenced. His personal story was recently featured in the anthology Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire. Dr. Alareer was a frequent commentator for the online publication The Electronic Intifada including in the fall of 2023.
His poem “If I Must Die” and images of kites have been featured in protests for Palestine and the calls for a cease-fire around the globe since his death.
Music by Clarissa Bitar
Filmed by Kim Le Mezo and Tom Callahan of Sensitive Visuals
Edited by Tom Callahan of Sensitive Visuals