Cinema
The Massacre of Kafr Kassem
كفر قاسم
Borhane Alaouié · 1974
Synopsis
In October 1956, Nasser has nationalised the Suez Canal and France, Britain and Israel are preparing to attack Egypt. On the eve of the offensive, the Israeli authorities impose a curfew without warning in the Kafr Kassem region, a Palestinian village in the area they control. The peasants, who have gone out to the fields, know nothing of the measure and return home in the evening. The film goes back to the preceding years, to the discussions in the village and to Nasser's speeches on the radio.
Context
First feature film by its author, shot on his return from studies in Brussels and produced by the Syrian state film organisation, from a screenplay on which the Tunisian Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud collaborated. The film reconstructs the real massacre of Kafr Qassem, without evading the question of what a killing can serve for those who undergo it and for their heirs. Long difficult to see, it now exists in a restored copy held by the rights holders.
Who it is for
A film in Arabic of about an hour and three quarters, militant and uncompromising, which leaves a large place to political discussion; it assumes knowledge of the Suez crisis.
Prizes and reception
Golden Tanit at Carthage in 1974, diploma at the Moscow festival in 1975; the film that made its director known in the Arab world.