The Center for Palestine Studies at Columbia University is pleased to announce the arrival of Palestinian filmmaker Amer Shomali as a visiting artist in residence at the Center for Palestine Studies and School of the Arts through December 31, 2015.

Amer Shomali is a Palestinian multidisciplinary artist, using painting, digital media, films, installations and comics as tools to explore and interact with the Palestinian sociopolitical scene focusing on the creation and the use of Palestinian revolution iconography. He holds a Master's degree in Animation from the Arts University Bournemouth in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from Birzeit University. He was born in Kuwait in 1981, and is currently based in Ramallah, Palestine.

Shomali's artistic work has been featured at many exhibitions around the world including France, Belgium, Greece, Tunisia, Germany and Canada. Shomali moves smoothly between various artistic practices and forms. His academic background in architecture and animation is coupled with an interest in and increasing knowledge of the Palestinian visual heritage compounded by an expressive boldness that enables him to engage with different media and methods.

In 2014, Shomali completed the documentary The Wanted 18, co-directed with Canadian director Paul Cowan, about the efforts of the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour to establish an independent dairy industry during the First Intifada. The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The idea for The Wanted 18 began in Shomali's boyhood, spent largely at a Syrian refugee camp, where his main escape had been reading comic books, one of which dealt with the story of the Beit Sahour cows.The Wanted 18 was named Best Documentary from the Arab World at the 2014 Abu Dhabi Film Festival, the Best Documentary at Carthage Film Festival. Tunis, 2014, and the Best Documentary at Traverse City Film Festival 2015.

The Wanted 18 will be screened at Columbia University on Wednesday November 11, 2015 at 7PM.