On Photography, Dispossession and Times of Struggle

Directed by Akram Zaatari

Taking the idea of loss and dispossession as a starting point, this film is a reflection on photography and its people. It looks at the position of the individual within the context of war and displacement, as well as how photographs have become the sole record of that displacement, at the risk of them being dispersed as well. The film takes us on a journey from the point of view of a reproduction stand and a white backlit frame on which stories of war and loss unfold, from photographer Van Leo talking about the Armenian genocide of 1915 to the funeral of the assassinated Lebanese political leader Maarouf Saad filmed with a Super 8 camera in Saida in 1975. Between them, accounts of displacement and struggle of Palestinians are told through the photographs of Astra Abu Jamra, Samiyyeh Khairi and Abdel Salam Ujayli.