Mona Rouhana Benyamin

Moonscape

Film, 17 min. Since the beginning of time, hope, nostalgia, and despair have been intertwined. In a video work disguised as a music video, Mona Benyamin (b. 1997, Haifa) explores that connection by tracing the story of Dennis M. Hope, a man who claimed ownership of the moon in 1980 and established the Lunar Embassy, a company that sells land on a variety of planets and moons. The absurd account of Hope and its direct link with modern-day politics, along with email correspondence with representatives from the Lunar Embassy, and Benyamin's personal story, are all combined in her composition of a classical Arabic song whose music video consists of reenactments of scenes from the Arab pop world, starring Benyamin's parents. **A moonscape is an area or vista of the lunar landscape (generally of the earth's moon), or a visual representation of this, such as in a painting. The term is also sometimes used metaphorically for an area devastated or ”moonscape“ leveled in war, often by shelling.