Kings and Extras: Digging for a Palestinian Image

The films produced by the PLO’s media department were intended to present a self-determined image of Palestinian reality. During the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982, however, the film archive disappeared. In this road movie, director Azza El-Hassan travels through Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, following a series of contradictory and often confusing clues about the archive’s whereabouts. Her increasingly absurd search eventually leads her to a martyrs’ cemetery, where the films are said to be buried—yet, for obvious reasons, no one is willing to dig. As the search reaches one dead end after another, El-Hassan encounters new stories and fragments of memory, gradually constructing a narrative of her own. The film reflects on the situation in the Middle East, exploring the legacy of a failed revolution, the complex relationship with neighboring Arab countries, and questions of contemporary Palestinian identity. Through myths, personal histories, and self-created narratives, El-Hassan examines the lasting effects of defeat and loss. Despite its serious subject matter, the film also finds moments of humor, expressing the director’s simultaneous feelings of belonging and estrangement.