Palestine Cinema Days Subprogram -9th Edition
The selection of films we have assembled here represents a period that marks a turning point in Palestinian political history and artistic expression. As one of the strongest representations, cinema stands for the changing image of Palestinians before and after Beirut. How and in which films and what exactly was represented?
The Palestinian revolution and armed struggle began to wane. Palestinians once again found themselves dispersed, bringing back traumatic memories of 1948 and 1967. The image of the Palestinian refugee, from which the Palestinians had liberated themselves, was replaced by the fedayee and reappeared throughout the Arab region and the world, leading to a form of universalization of the Palestinian liberation struggle, inserting it into the postcolonial discourse until today.
This re-emerging image manifested itself in the means and themes of Palestinian cinema. The films of this era reflect a change in the narrative and visual expression form and content. At this point, the cinema of resistance ended, and Palestinians began to explore new forms of cinema that better fit their new historical context and narrative and visual expression content.
The 1980s thus represent not only a shift in the language of cinema but also a turning point in the visual language of Palestinian and Arab cultural history. The film selection is therefore embedded in a panel discussion program that addresses the dynamics of contemporary visual memory culture concerning the exodus and its aftermath.
Here, the position of the image (moving and still) occupies a unique role as the primary vehicle of memory. But images only function as vehicles of memory if we can read them in their context. We must know about the event it represents so it serves as a memory aid. Indeed, we can describe the relationship between the image, its representation, and the ability to decipher it as reciprocal.
Therefore, it is necessary to be familiar with what we see if the image should function as a memory carrier, depicting the preferred meaning of collective memory. Slavoj Zizek's description of this interrelation between seeing and hearing inspired the title of our program, for it is the voice that '(...) points to a gap in the field of the visible, to the dimension of what eludes our gaze. Ultimately, we hear things because we cannot see everything.'
Who defines the stories we hear when we see these signposts? Who makes the connections? And what does this say about the memory we value for the collective consciousness and experience of Palestinians? What does 'collective memory' mean to us? How is this term to be defined in our case of Palestine? A history characterized by a kaleidoscope of memories and stories. What are the dynamics of forgetting and remembering? How are the icons of our memory defined? Do they represent the moment and construct a collective, or do they reduce our multiplicity of memories?
These questions were addressed by three different panel discussions on the historical turn from a socio-political perspective, on the impact on the visual arts, and, of course, reflected in cinematic aspects. The debate included guest speakers such as Dr. Issam Nassar, Dr. Hamid Dabashi, and Dr. Nadia Yacoub.