A new film program from DAFilms titled «Palestinians, Before the Rupture» presents a powerful retrospective of documentaries that chronicle life under occupation long before the escalation of violence in October 2023. Spanning over two decades, the selected works challenge the notion of a single rupture point, instead tracing an enduring reality of dispossession, exile, and survival.

The program includes Still Life and Terrace of the Sea by Diana Allan, which reflect on Palestinian exile in #Lebanon, evoking a lost sense of home through intimate portraits. Alessandro Cassigoli and Dalia Castel’s Good Times offers a surreal snapshot of life divided by a concrete wall, while Videomappings: Aida, Palestine by Till Roeskens overlays personal memory onto fragmented geography.

Mahdi Fleifel contributes two films: 3 Logical Exits, a sobering analysis of life choices in a Palestinian refugee camp, and 20 Handshakes for Peace, a biting critique of political spectacle. Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel, co-directed by Michel Khleifi and Eyal Sivan, and Sivan’s solo work Jaffa, the Orange’s Clockwork both interrogate historical erasure and the manufactured narratives surrounding the land.

The collection is rounded out by The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation by Avi Mograbi, which draws on testimonies from Israeli soldiers to reveal the inner workings of colonial control.