This screening is part of: POLITICS OF THE IMAGE: COLLABORATIONS BETWEEN THE PALESTINIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT AND THE TWO GERMANIES
In 1975 the PLO Department of Culture and Information (DCI) began negotiating a cooperation agreement with the East German DEFA Studio for Documentary Films. In it, DEFA granted the PLO access to the State Film Archive of the GDR. From this resource, Lebanese director Rafiq Hajjar made FROM PALESTINE (1975) for the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), while Kais al-Zubaidi made PALESTINE – A PEOPLE’S RECORD (1982) for the DCI. While Hajjar avoids the use of colonial footage of Palestine for his Leninist film, al-Zubaidi uses any available material to tell a rather linear story of Palestine, deploying the archive for illustration and evidence.
Rafiq Hajjar
FROM PALESTINE / MIN FILASTIN / GEBOREN IN PALÄSTINA
1975, 22 min, 35mm-to-DCP. In German with English subtitles.
Kais al-Zubaidi
PALESTINE – A PEOPLE’S RECORD / FILISTIN – SIGIL SHA’AB / PALÄSTINA – CHRONIK EINES VOLKES
1984, 110 min, 35mm-to-DCP. In Arabic with English subtitles.
Total running time: ca. 135 min.