Kamal Aljafari / Palestine, Germany, Qatar, Brasil, France / 78’ / 2024

In the summer of 1982, the Israeli army invaded Beirut. During this time, it raided the Palestinian Research Center and looted its entire archive. The archive contained historical documents of Palestine, including a collection of still and moving images. Taking this as a premise, A Fidai Film aims to create a counter-narrative to this loss, presenting a form of cinematic sabotage that seeks to reclaim and restore the looted memories of Palestinian history. It’s a poignant exploration of identity, memory, and resistance, told through a unique blend of documentary and experimental filmmaking techniques.

Conceived and directed by Kamal Aljafari
Edited by Kamal Aljafari, Yannig Willmann
Sound Attila Faravelli
Line Producer and Editing assistant Flavia Mazzarino
Original score by Simon Fisher Turner
Sound mix di Jochen Jezussek
with the voice of Darin Dibsy, Kamal Aljafari

Kamal Aljafari
Kamal Aljafari is a Palestinian filmmaker and artist. His films have screened at major festivals and museums, including Locarno, London, Viennale, and the 35th Bienal de São Paulo. He has received prestigious awards from FIDMarseille, Pesaro, and Visions du Réel. In 2024, IndieLisboa hosted a full retrospective of his work. Aljafari has taught at The New School and DFFB in Berlin and was a Film Study Center fellow at Harvard. Currently a fellow at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination, he is developing Beirut 1931, a fiction film to be shot in Jaffa.