by BENNY BRUNNER
57 minutes, documentary, 2007-2012, Hebrew, English, and Arabic with English subtitles
This is the director-cut of the version broadcast by Al Jazeera English, and is 10 minutes longer.
“Farewell my library! Farewell mansion of wisdom, temple of philosophers, institute of science, council house of literature!” ~ Khalil al-Sakakini
Chronicles of cultural destruction. The story of 70,000 Palestinian books that were looted by the newly created State of Israel in 1948. The film interweaves various storylines into a structure that is both dramatically compelling and emotionally unsettling. The interviews centre on eyewitness accounts and cultural critiques that place the book theft affair in a larger historical-cultural context; in the process, new light is shed on the Palestinian tragedy of 1948 and the moralistic-heroic Israeli narrative of the 1948 war is deconstructed.
A 2911 Foundation and Al Jazeera English production Screened: Israel, USA, UK Broadcast: Al Jazeera English @brunnerb
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