Archive of Disappearance

The repetitive, continuous looting and destruction of Palestinian visual archives by the Israeli State has constructed a cultural realitycultural reality in which Palestinians have no archives, and as a result, are unable to create a visual narrative grounded in a vibrant, vivid past. In this chapter, I assess how this constructed cultural reality affects and translates into Palestinian and Israeli film productions. I examine what it means when Israeli filmmakersIsraeli filmmakers have access to Palestinian archival film and photos while Palestinian filmmakersPalestinian filmmakers do not. I also look at how Palestinian artistsPalestinian artists, researchers and filmmakers have been attempting to search out and find visual archives in order to construct modern Palestinian narratives.