Experimental | 13m

A rare film by the legendary filmmaker Mustafa Abu Ali, one of the founders of the Palestine Film Unit, the first filmic arm of the Palestinian revolution. Shot by a French news team, the footage was edited by Mustafa in Lebanon to produce one of the earliest films on the occupied territory in Gaza. Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza employs experimental editing tech- niques to produce a cinematically and politically subversive film. The film won the prize as best film at the Damascus Film Festival in 1973 and was screened at multiple festivals. It was the only film produced by the Palestine Cinema Group, which in 1974 became the Palestine Cinema Institute.

Director: Mustafa Abu Ali
Editing: Emile Bahri
Narration: Issam Sakhnini, Rasmi Abu Ali
Qanun Performance: George Abyad, Céline Bodson
Producer: Palestine Cinema Group of the Research Centre

Experimental | 5m

Combining still and moving images, Batniji’s short experimental film invites reflection on daily life and violence.

Director: Taysir Batniji

Experimental | 19m

Long still frames, text, language, and sound are weaved together to unfold the narrative of an anonymous group who fill their time by measuring distance. Innocent measurements transition into political ones, examining how image and sound communicate history. We Began by Measuring Distance explores an ultimate disenchantment with facts when the visual fails to communicate the tragic.

Produced by The Sharjah Biennial Production Programme.

Director: Basma Alsharif

Experimental | 16m

Assassinated Lebanese intellectual Mahdi Amel—often dubbed “the Arab Gramsci” — famously said: “He who resists is never defeated.” What use is his thought to us today, and what is our responsibility as image makers to Gaza?

Produced by The Sharjah Biennial Production Programme.

Directors: Mary Jirmanus Saba, Tareq Rantisi

Experimental | 18m

This video portrays scenes of daily life in Gaza through the lens of a disrupted communication between two friends, Diaa and Mohannad. Diaa requests filmmaker Mohannad to use his phone to capture raw visual materials during his displacement journey from Gaza, Khan Yunis, and Rafah since October. Mohammad’s compliance cements a bond forged during their student days and addresses the phenomenon of data clouding and transferring through alternative channels like Telegram.

Directors: Diaa Lagan, Mohannad El-Masria & Fuad Halwani