35 min, B&W, 16 mm
An iconic work produced by the Palestine Cinema Institute in Beirut, Kufr Shuba was directed by the Iraqi filmmaker Samir Nimr, and named after the village of Kufr Shuba in South Lebanon, which was the site of solidarity between the Lebanese people and the Palestinian resistance following a fierce battle that devastated the village. Kufr Shuba’s filmic structure is reminiscent of Mustafa Abu Ali’s seminal 1974 film They Do Not Exist in its oscillation between lyrical aesthetics and political statement – from Yasser Arafat’s 1974 speech to the UN General Assembly to “address the question of Palestine” to the reflections of resistance fighters crouching beneath the trees. Stylistically rich, the film’s long landscape shots following Palestinian and Lebanese freedom fighters disappearing between the olive groves also echoes the 1971 film Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War by the Japanese Red Army (JRA) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which was also shot in Lebanon and drew on on fûkeiron, Japanese theory of landscape cinema. The film is a poetic testament to the steadfastness of Palestinian and Lebanese people, to their commitment to the liberation struggle, and their love for the land. As an affectionate voice-over refers to the village of Kufr Shuba as “the head of the arrow of an enduring warrior,” the clear political message is that solidarity is the only way to victory.
Kufr Shuba is available in Arabic with English subtitles.
Directed By: Samir Nimr
Screenplay: Rasmi Abu Ali & Samir Nimr
Editor: Samir Nimr
Narration: Rasmi Abu Ali
Sound By: Riad Abdallah
Production: Soulafa Mirsal, Mawafaq Salameh, Ibrahim Al-Mossader
Produced By: Unified Media, Palestine Film, Palestine Cinema Institute - PLO
