Palestine Cinema Days: They Do Not Exist + The Dream

PALESTINE CINEMA DAYS AROUND THE WORLD is an initiative by Filmlab Palestine: on 2 November, cinemas around the world will screen a Palestinian film to keep the spotlight on Palestinian stories and Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.

For this fourth edition, De Cinema is screening a short and a medium-length documentary. Admission is free.

THEY DO NOT EXIST (Mustafa Abu Ali, 1974, 25′)
THEY DO NOT EXIST is a landmark in Palestinian revolutionary cinema. Abu Ali paints a vivid picture of daily life in occupied Palestine and of the armed resistance. His documentary combines a powerful political message with innovative editing and musical sequences that denounce Western colonialist culture. In doing so, he places the Palestinian cause within the context of a universal struggle against imperialism: genocides against indigenous peoples—in Vietnam and Mozambique, for example—and those perpetrated by Nazi Germany. Palestine is an integral part of geopolitical history.

THE DREAM (Mohammad Malas, 1987, 45′)
This Syrian documentary was filmed in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon, shortly before the 1982 massacre. Mohammad Malas interviews women, children, and the elderly, as well as fighters, who reflect on their daily reality—and their dreams. Ultimately, they all dream of the same thing: returning to their homeland, Palestine, and leading a dignified life there.