Here’s an exercise in cognitive dissonance: Imagine you’re living and working in a country where a film, co-directed by an Israeli filmmaker, wins the top documentary prize at one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, only for the director and his film, and by default his Palestinian co-director, being deemed antisemitic by non-Jewish politicians and journalists. Months go by and that film is finally up for general release, after many difficulties of getting cinemas to play it in the first place, and people have to come to the film’s defence, stating the obvious, that the film is not antisemitic after all, that one should go and watch it with a clear conscience. At the same time of the film’s release, there’s another big film festival happening, far away on another continent, where the organizers have made it a point to be in full solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Badges of the Palestinian flag are handed out at the red carpet, the opening ceremony begins with an act by a dance troupe from Gaza, and a Palestinian film has been chosen as the opening night film. Add to that, the festival is also giving out an award to the best Palestinian film in the program as well as showing an anthology film project from Gaza.
This is where the cognitive dissonance sets in: You are living and working in a country, Germany, where too many things in the cultural sphere are now, without any real arguments, deemed antisemitic, and then you attend the Cairo Film Festival, where the opposite is the case. Where there is no self-censorship, no fear for repercussions when it comes to Palestine. Your brain is processing all of this and at the same time you despair at the state of things back home. And with all this at the back of your mind, you first and foremost need to focus on the films at hand. Such as Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi’s A State of Passion, which perhaps would have a difficult time getting a release in Germany, given that the documentary’s subject was detained and prevented from entering Berlin just a couple of months ago, just as he was due to give a speech at a conference on what he as a Palestinian surgeon saw with his own eyes in Gaza. It’s an infuriating, riveting but also warm and in parts funny portrait of Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, one of the world’s leading specialists in cleft lip surgery, whose life has been marked by helping out those in conflict areas. The film shines a light on his work and his quest to heal people from what they have had to endure over the years, with limited means at his disposal.
Whenever friends and family members of Abu Sittah meet him on camera, they hug him tightly and tell him how happy they are to see him, that they are happy he has made it out alive, happy that he is living and breathing in front of them. As a viewer, this generally ties in to one of the more grotesque realisations when it comes to Palestine, especially when you are not from there but have been following or engaging with Palestinian content on different social media platforms, content from students, farmers, poets or journalists, all of whom suddenly stop posting anything, stop sharing updates on what is happening to them or their homes, simply because they have been killed in an Israeli airstrike. It’s a horrific by-product of being online and connected to the world: Seeing the erasure of a people in real-time. One day you are shown how these people are getting by, and another day they have ceased to exist.
Coming to Abu Sittah, having him present and sitting in front of a camera, talking about his work and the hospitals that are being destroyed one by one, this simple act of documenting becomes so vital and important. In that sense, A State of Passion functions as testimony and time capsule, even though the doctor is clearly reluctant to be the center of attention, musing on what his life could have been like, had he chosen another path. Nonetheless, this is exactly what is required of him, his wife, his mother, his children and his friends, to be witnesses and provide the necessary historical context. Mansour and Khalidi sensitively allow everyone to speak their mind freely and convey their thoughts in this powerful and moving documentary film.
Mohammed Subahi has a similar approach in Madaniya, another film playing at the Cairo Film Festival. The documentary provides a concise background to the Sudanese revolution of 2019 by following three young participants of the protests to topple the regime. The film also serves as an explainer to everything that has happened since. Today, Sudan is facing the largest food crisis in the world amidst a new war between two generals, something that appears to have fallen under the radar a bit and therefore it’s important to platform and amplify projects like Madaniya, which highlight authentic and comprehensible narratives from Sudan itself and not elsewhere. Subahi gives an insight into the ordinary lives and routines of his protagonists and explores their interpretations of the term revolution, their views on building a civilian-led society, their stance over the power of the military and much more. It’s a deeply humane and authentic documentary film, painting a genuine picture of an unfortunate situation escalating to this day.
Schayan Riaz
Edited by Savina Petkova
© FIPRESCI 2024