Origin: Palestine | Documentary | Director: Abdel Salam Shehadeh | 52 minutes

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To my father

Abdel Salam Shehadeh 2008 docu 52 min.

"Those were the days when girls were prettier, when eyes were in all
colours, without any colour! What's different now? The camera, or the
eyes?" asks Abdelsalam Shehadeh in this poetic homage to the studio
photographers of the 1950's to 70's. Set partly in a refugee camp in Rafah,
this is a remarkable look back at fifty years of Palestinian and Arab
history, through photographs, reportage and the voices of these
photographers today. The portrait image has always been something to
cherish, but Shehadeh shows that it has also been turned into a tool of
control and object of fear through ID systems, and, of course, into a form
of commemorating and remembering the missing and the dead. To My Father is
a personal and moving film that confirms the talent of Gazaborn director
Shehadeh (Gaza, Another Kind of Tears, Rainbow), who has worked all over
the world as a director, cameraman and journalist. A photo here is not just
a photo: it brings history to life.

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