21 min, Color, 16 mm
Veteran filmmaker Khadijeh Habashneh was a central figure of the Palestine Cinema Institute (PCI) and remains a custodian of their archives, consolidating a lifelong commitment to the documentation and preservation of the Palestinian struggle. A clinical psychologist and an organizer with the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW), Habashneh gave particular focus to women’s conditions under occupation and to the realities of children. Produced by the PCI and the GUPW, Children without Childhood revolves around the lives of children orphaned during the Tel al-Zaatar massacre in North-Eastern Beirut in the summer of 1976. Living in Bait El-Somoud (‘house of steadfastness’), the home that was established for them by the GUPW, the children’s lives reflect on the multifaceted challenges of their young lives in diaspora camps and under Israeli occupation. One child states simply, “My duty is not to die.” The film underlines the contradiction between the International Declaration of Child Rights and the reality of the living conditions of Palestinian children.
Children without Childhood is available in Arabic with English and French subtitles.
Directed By: Khadijeh Habashneh
