Film: Because the Roots Will Not Die
by Nabiha Lotfi
Documentary, 1977, Lebanon/Palestine, 60 min, Arabic with English VoT
This film was long lost and has been found only recently and restored. It is a rare document of Tell al-Zaatar, Lebanon in 1975/76 before and after the Phalangist massacre: Images of daily street life, workplaces and classrooms are interspersed with testimonies of several women who survived the massacre in the camp. The film oscillates from footage of the women to still images of the massacres’ victims, footage from the battle for Tal al-Zaatar, headlines heralding the camp’s siege, collapse, evacuation and ensuing killings. In the end, it is the voices of the women who are the binding element.
EUME Discussion
Thu 25 Oct 2018 | 19:30–22:00
Thu 25 Oct 2018 | 19:30–22:00
Discoveries from the Palestinian Archives
Film Screening and Discussion: Because the Roots Will Not Die by Nabiha Lotfi (Documentary, 1977, Lebanon/Palestine)
Werkstatt der Kulturen, Wissmannstraße 32, 12049 Berlin
Guests:
Yasser Mokhtar Abdelghany, the son of Nabiha Lotfi, a pianist and piano teacher, is based in Berlin. He was born in Cairo, studied among others in Moscow and performed at numerous concerts in Germany and abroad.
Najat Abdulhaq, a Palestinian scholar, born in Nablus/ Palestine and based in Berlin works as a part time lecturer at the University in Erlangen. She studied economics at the Bir Zeit University and University of Leipzig. In 2012, she received her PhD in Middle East Studies on the role of Egypt’s Jews and Greeks in the Egyptian economy 1885-1960. Her book, Jewish and Greek Communities in Egypt: Entrepreneurship and Business Before Nasser, was published by I.B. Tauris/ London in 2016. Abdulhaq has also worked as a freelance consultant on the Middle East for different Media outlets like the German ARD and German-French cultural channel ARTE, and she is the spokesperson for the ALFILM, Arab Film Festival in Berlin.