Experimental Short Film Screening
2026-05-29T19:00:00Z - 2026-05-29T21:00:00Z
La Baleine – cinéma et bistrot, 59 Cours Julien, 13006 Marseille, France
This screening will present four experimental short films by three Palestinian filmmakers. Mahmoud Alhaj’s “Control Anatomy” and “The Right to See,” as well as Oraib Toukan’s “When Things Occur,” portray Gaza as a site of surveillance, military and architectural violence, and intense—and at times predatory—media attention. “A Stone’s Throw” by Razan AlSalah, meanwhile, highlights the convergence of various forms of injustice and exploitation, as well as the shared struggles of exploited populations. 🎤 Screening followed by a discussion with Razan AlSalah (director), moderated by Line Ajan (curator and translator) THE RIGHT TO SEE Palestine | 2022 | 7 min | Documentary By reworking images from Google Maps, among other sources, Mahmoud Alhaj recounts the isolation caused by the policies of the Israeli occupation —symbolized by the apartheid wall and the siege of the Gaza Strip—which represent direct violence towards the Palestinians, geography and his rights as a human. Directing & Production: Mahmoud Alhaj WHEN THINGS OCCUR Palestine, UK | 2016 | 28 m | Documentary “When Things Occur” weaves together Skype conversations with Gaza-based photographers, fixers, and drivers who were behind specific images that diffused from screen to screen in the 2014 War on Gaza. The film probes the face of mourning and grief – its digital embodiment, transmission, and representation. It asks how the gaze gets channeled within the digital realm, and how empathy travels. Equally, how the documentary signifier – and its abstraction – operate when viewing suffering. What exactly is viewing suffering ‘at a distance’ – and how many meters or kilometers is that? What is the behavior and political economy of the image of war? Who is the ‘local’ in the representation of war? What is the daily routine of those who represent war? Directing & Production: Oraib Toukan CONTROL ANATOMY Palestine | 2024 | 17 min | Documentary Through a blend of powerful imagery, archival, and historical materials, Mahmoud's voice takes us on a decades-long journey exploring the transformation of the tools of war and their relationship to ethics, memory, technology, and the violence inflicted on the Palestinian people. The film touches on three generations of violence, corresponding to different historical moments, revealing the invisible distortion of violence that unfolds over an extended period. Directing & Production: Mahmoud Alhaj A STONE'S THROW Palestine, Canada, Lebanon | 2024 | 40 min | Documentary Amine, a Palestinian elder, is exiled twice from land and labour. He is displaced from his birthplace Haifa seeking refuge in Beirut, and again to Zirku Island, for work on an offshore oil platform and work camp in the Arab Gulf. "A Stone’s Throw" trespasses borders to reveal an emotional and material proximity between the extraction of oil and labour in the region and the Zionist colonization of Palestine. The film rehearses a history of the Palestinian resistance when, in 1936, the oil labourers of Haifa blew up a BP pipeline. Director: Razan AlSalah Production: Sharlene Bamboat 🎟️ Price: €6.50 🐣 Childcare will be provided by festival volunteers during the screening! Please let us know if you would like childcare for your child(ren) by the day before at the latest by emailing [email protected]
