Cinema of Palestinian Return
Friday, May 3 – Saturday, May 18
Anthology Film Archives

The month of May marks the 76th year of the nakba, a commemoration soaked in the blood of Gaza, whose people have faced relentless massacre and dispossession by Western and Zionist forces. Preserving, circulating, and politically engaging with the cultural production of the Palestinian struggle is a minimum demand. The films that emerged from this struggle are tethered to the dreams of the Palestinian people, who despite setback and catastrophe continue to assert their right to return to their homeland.
 
“Cinema of Palestinian Return” is guest-programmed by Kaleem Hawa and Nadine Fattaleh.

OCCUPIED PALESTINE, PROGRAM 1
Vladimir Tamari
AL QUDS
1968, 18 min, 16mm-to-digital. In English.
“A short film made by Vladimir Tamari following the first anniversary of the occupation of Arab Jerusalem by the Zionist army at the start of the 1967 war. Using footage from UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) cinema archives where he worked as a technician, Tamari edited this film and organized its narration and addition of music by his friends, all volunteers and amateurs as he was, in order to express the feelings of the Palestinians at the loss of their capital city and center of their spiritual, commercial, and intellectual life.” –PALESTINE FILMS
 
Kamal Aljafari
RECOLLECTION
2015, 70 min, DCP. In English.
“RECOLLECTION was inspired by a late-night TV encounter in a London hotel room. While flipping channels, Kamal Aljafari stumbled upon Menahem Golan’s THE DELTA FORCE (1986), about an elite counter-terrorism team rescuing hostages from kaffiyeh-clad terrorists in a Beirut played onscreen by Jaffa. As Chuck Norris sped through the streets, Aljafari noticed, in the background, someone he recognized from his youth. In his film, Aljafari collates images shot in Jaffa from the 1960s to the ’90s, such as the bourekas films that often reinforced Zionist origin narratives and hero mythologies in their scenes of slapstick action, car chases, shootouts, and Arab-coded Mizrahi ‘thugs’ threatening Ashkenazi maidens. He then enacts what he describes as ‘cinematic justice,’ using digital software to erase the leading actors, and leaving only those figures who appear in the background.” –Kaleem Hawa, CINEMA SCOPE