PREMIERING AT
SENS INTERDITS
DATES: 10th - 31st (Thursday to Sunday)
TIMES: 1pm to 6pm
LOCATION: Ateliers Presqu'île - Cœur du festival, 5 rue du Petit David Lyon 2, France
WITNESS
A collection of 13 film artworks, emerging from Jenin Refugee Camp and journeying across Palestine
Here, in Jenin Refugee Camp, time does not flow; it stalls, corrodes, erupts. In this single square kilometre, daily life is never left intact - its cycles fractured by invasions, surveillance, drones and rockets. Moments shattered, the fragments collated, then forced into their own jagged rhythm.
Our images emerge not as documentation, but as resonance. Sound and music are not ornaments, but extensions of a state - confusion, searching, alarm. Behind it all, the camp hums steadily, refusing to stay silent.
What appears on screen is not just what the camera captures, but what lingers beneath the skin. What exists in the charged space between seeing and feeling.
These digital artworks do not narrate; they contemplate. They do not explain; they ask. Summoning you into the role of Witness.
Presented By Artists On The Frontline
Visual Artist, Composer and Editor - Khalil Al Batran
Director - Ahmed Tobasi
Producer & Artistic Consultant - Zoe Lafferty
Premiering at Sens Interdits Festival
TEAM
KHALIL AL BATRAN
"Visual arts, theatre and music, for me, are simply artistic tools - they are an endless life"
Khalil Al Batran is an independent interdisciplinary Palestinian artist working across theatre direction, visual arts and music composition. From Hebron in the West Bank, his work explores themes of political and social oppression, identity, and resistance, rooted in lived experiences and creative research.
LIFE
Drones, sirens, sudden raids… then back to “ordinary life”. Danger has become part of the day, even part of its beauty.
زنانات، إسعاف، واقتحام مفاجئ… ثم عودة إلى “الحياة المعتادة”. هنا، الخطر صار جزءًا من اليوم الجميل أيضًا.
GAME
Reality, dream, and imagination blur together. We discover we are a game inside a larger game.
لواقع والخيال والحلم يذوبون في بعضهم. نكتشف أننا لعبة داخل لعبة أكبر.
SPRAY CAN
The alleys of the camp testify to its spirit. Even the walls become witnesses, each layer of paint a living memory.
الأزقّة شاهدة على روح المخيم. حتى الجدران تحمل الذاكرة، محوّلةً كل رشّة طلاء إلى شهادة حيّة.
GRAVES
In this tiny camp, there are only two cemeteries. Not a place of death, but a daily visit for loved ones, an extension of life.
في مساحة ضيّقة، مقبرتان فقط. المقابر هنا ليست مكان موت، بل زيارة يومية للأحبة، وامتداد للحياة.
FROM ABOVE
How are we seen from the sky? Are we truly a threat? Under constant surveillance, these questions remain unanswered.
كيف يُنظر إلينا من الأعلى؟ هل نحن خطر؟ أسئلة غريبة تتكرّر يوميًا تحت المراقبة الدائمة.
ENDURANCE
Handala is not a remote symbol, but the patience of the camp itself. Here, everyone is Handala: steadfast, questioning, enduring.
حنظلة ليس رمزًا بعيدًا، بل انعكاس لصبر المخيم. كل فرد هنا حنظلة؛ صامد، ساخر، ومتشبّث بحقّه في الحياة.
KEEP FILMING
To document is to face the question: Does the image help? Weekly events repeat like destiny, yet we keep filming.
التوثيق يتكرّر كقدر أسبوعي. نصوّر ونشهد، لكننا نسأل: هل تكفي الصورة لإيقاف ما يحدث؟
BULLET PROOF
We once had doors, homes, a market. Now, the question remains: which door will stop a bullet before morning coffee?
في الماضي كان لنا باب وبيت وسوق. اليوم السؤال: أي باب يقدر يوقف رصاصة قبل فنجان القهوة؟
EVERYDAY NEWS
News is no longer on TV or social media. It comes from the mosque announcing the latest martyr, the uproar of voices from the camp, the repeated echo of ambulance sirens, air alarms, and invasions.
الأخبار لم تعد شاشة أو جريدة. هي رائحة المسجد، صدى الأصوات، و”الخبر” الذي يعاد يوميًا في المخيم.
TENT
A story that begins like any child's. A simple 'thank you' for this fate - yet somehow, from nothing, a new beginning is born.
قصة طفل قد تكون قصة كل الأطفال. “شكرًا” على هذا المصير، وكأنها ولادة جديدة تبدأ من الصفر.
CITY OF LIGHT
“We rose from death and remains, and washed water with blood.” Words that remain as part of the camp’s sonic archive
نهضنا من الموت والأشلاء، وغسلنا الماء بالدم”. كلمات تبقى حيّة كجزء من الأرشفة السمعية للمخيم.
TABOO
An archive of open testimonies, tracing the stages we pass through. From the Nakba to the ongoing genocide.
أرشيف ممتد: من النكبة إلى الإبادة المستمرة. شهادات مفتوحة بين الماضي والحاضر، قبل وبعد.
VOICE OF PALESTINE
Every passerby carries a Palestinian voice within. A collective sound both past and present, echoing through the streets and the body.
كل عابر يحمل داخله صوتًا فلسطينيًا. صوتٌ جماعي يتردّد في الشارع، في الذاكرة، وفي الجسد.
