In ‘Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity,’ Egyptian film historian Viola Shafik describes Palestinian cinema as a “national cinema without homeland” – a designation owed to the fact that most of the country’s practitioners live in diaspora, rely on foreign funding, and are barred from showing their films in the Occupied Territories. And yet, through the decades, Palestinian filmmakers have managed to reach the world with their stories and reap international recognition; both for their work and for Palestine. The first Palestinian film is generally believed to be a short documentary directed by Ibrahim Hassan Sirhan in 1935, recording the King of Saudi Arabia’s visit to Palestine. Ten years later, Sirhan founded the Arab Film Company with producer Ahmad Hilmi Al-Kilani. It produced only one feature film, ‘Holiday Eve,’ before its operations were cut short by the Nakba in 1948. For the next two decades, occupation, displacement, and Arab military defeat brought film production to a near-total halt. It was not until 1968 that the industry began to rise back from the ashes, becoming deeply entrenched with the broader struggle for liberation – as it has been, in varying ways,…
Six Films to Stream for an Introduction to Palestinian Cinema
August 16, 2023
