In honor of the memory of Palestinian Poet Mahmoud Darwish, CIRS hosted a literary evening to recall his life and his legacy. His Excellency, the Palestinian Ambassador to Qatar, Munir…

As part of its ongoing outreach efforts, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) hosted B.Z. Goldberg and Justine Shapiro, creators of the multiple award-winning documentary film Promises, and invited them to take part in public screenings of the film. Promises is a documentary film that follows the stories of seven children from opposite sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The film was a nominee in the category of “Best Feature Documentary” at the 74th Annual Academy Awards.Goldberg and Shapiro were invited to come to the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar campus, where they were welcomed by CIRS staff and where they conducted an informal workshop with SFS-Qatar students and faculty.On April 14th, 2008, CIRS organized two different screenings of Promises in one day in order to accommodate public demand and interest in the documentary. The first screening at the auditorium in the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) was the matinee and aimed at local Qatari and international high-school students, who attended the screening accompanied by their chaperones. The matinee was attended by 150 students from the American School of Doha and from Amna Bint Wahab School for Girls. The evening event, also held at the CNA-Q auditorium, was dedicated to the members of the general public and began with a reception for the attendees before the screening of the film. Both Goldberg and Shapiro were in attendance and took the stage after the screening of the film, in order to answer audience questions.