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On Cinema and Revolutions: Tricontinental Militancy and the Palestinian Revolution
Abstract
This paper explores and analyses the Cinema of the Palestinian Revolution as an expression of Third Cinema, a political and aesthetic project created and sustained by filmmakers throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America during the 1970s. It marks an attempt to place the Cinema of the Palestinian Revolution in the political and the historical context in which it emerged, in particular, the Palestinian Revolution (1967-1982), the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), and the tri-continental connections of solidarity and cultural exchange of the 1970s. In doing so, the paper explains how furthering knowledge of Third Cinema’s politics and aesthetics can illuminate not only our understanding of the past but also of our present. The paper also constitutes a documented reflection on the politics, international solidarity, emancipatory aspirations, and revolutionary aesthetics at play in Third Cinema and the Cinema of the Palestinian Revolution, and their effect on the contemporary cultural and political space. It also focuses on 21st century scholarly and cinematic work about the Cinema of the Palestinian Revolution. These new films and books are a testimony of the revival of interest in the political and aesthetic alternatives offered by Third Cinema and the Cinema of the Palestinian Revolution. This research helps us to make connections, parallels and comparisons showing that similar forms of subjugation -- which Third Cinema and the Cinema of the Palestinian Revolution contested and fought against -- are still being imposed today and highlight how the forms of resistance that they produced can inspire cultural spaces of contemporary political action.
Discipline
Media Arts
Geographic Area
Palestine
Sub Area
Cinema/Film