Film Review: Fidai – Palestinian Collage Film Turns Suppressed Footage into Works of Art

Using archival material of destroyed homes, terrified children and dead bodies, Palestinian filmmaker Kamal al-Jafari juxtaposes poems by Palestinian writers in Arabic to humanize his subjects. 'Fida' means one who is willing to sacrifice themselves for a greater good. By borrowing this word, which is often used in military contexts, for his collage film, al-Jafari creates a powerful surge of images against a wave of propaganda and the erasure of history.

Using archival materials of destroyed houses, terrified children and dead bodies, Kamal Al-Jaafari adds humanity to the loops by juxtaposing poems by Palestinian writers.

Monday 12 October 2026 10.00 CEST Last change on Monday 12 October 2026 10.01 CEST

In Arabic, "sacrifice" means someone who is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. Palestinian filmmaker Kamal al-Jaafari, borrowing this term, which is sometimes used in a military context, for his collage film, launches a powerful uprising of images against the wave of propaganda and historical erasure. Much of the film is drawn from archival material once housed at the Palestine Research Center in Beirut. In 1982, during the Lebanese civil war, Israeli forces attacked the center and seized the archive. It is believed that most of these documents on Palestinian history - books, newspapers, audio-visual artifacts - are still in the hands of the Israeli army.

The films that were secretly obtained in Al-Jaafari's film contain physical traces of political repression. The images are scratchy, grainy and pixelated, yet through the power of montage they evoke striking visual parallels to the relentless violence Palestinians have endured over the decades. Black-and-white footage taken during British rule shows soldiers patrolling the streets and inflicting violence on the native population. Similar acts have been carried out since then by Israeli forces. Editing creates a sense of continuity through repeated images rather than chronological order. Time and again we see destroyed houses, terrified children and bodies of Palestinians killed by the occupying forces.

More than a simple composite work, this film also carries out its own historical intervention. Many of the reels are engraved with derogatory inscriptions added by Israeli authorities, which Al-Jaafari covers with streaks of red paint. Instead, there are excerpts from the poems of Palestinian writers such as Ghassan Kanfani, whose words bring back a sense of humanity to these images of the past. Al-Jaafari's film brings liberation, albeit momentarily, to the captive archive through these revival strategies.