aemi announces ‘A Fidai Film’ as DISSOLUTIONS ’25 Opening Event

Published date: 01 Sep 2025

aemi is thrilled to announce that the Irish premiere of A Fidai Film from Director Kamal Aljafari will open DISSOLUTIONS ’25.

In the summer of 1982, the Israeli army invaded Beirut. During this time, it raided the Palestinian Research Center and looted its entire archive. The archive contained historical documents of Palestine, including a collection of still and moving images. Taking this as a premise, A Fidai Film explores the visual memory of this looting and appropriates images now in the hands of Israeli archives.

Kamal Aljafari is a Palestinian filmmaker and artist. His films have screened at major festivals and museums, including Locarno, London, Viennale, and the 35th Bienal de São Paulo. He has received prestigious awards from FIDMarseille, Pesaro, and Visions du Réel. In 2024, IndieLisboa hosted a full retrospective of his work. Aljafari has taught at The New School and DFFB in Berlin and was a Film Study Center fellow at Harvard. Currently a fellow at Columbia University’s Institute for Ideas and Imagination, he is developing “Beirut 1931,” a fiction film to be shot in Jaffa.

“In the summer of 1982, the Israeli army invaded Beirut. During this time, it raided the Palestinian Research Center and looted its entire archive. The archive contained historical documents of Palestine, including a collection of still and moving images. Taking this as a premise, ‘A Fidai Film’ aims to create a counter-narrative to this loss, presenting a form of cinematic sabotage that seeks to reclaim and restore the looted memories of Palestinian history. It’s a poignant exploration of identity, memory, and resistance, told through a unique blend of documentary and experimental filmmaking techniques.” (Doha Film Institute)

This screening and the decision to open the festival with this stunning work of artist film is an expression of aemi’s ongoing solidarity with Palestine and the Palestinian people.

Book tickets for DISSOLUTIONS ’25 HERE 

Film Credits:

Conceived and Directed by: Kamal Aljafari

Edited by: Kamal Aljafari, Yannig Willmann

Sound: Attila Faravelli

Line Producer & Assistant Editing: Flavia Mazzarino

Original Music: Simon Fisher Turner

Sound Mixing: Jochen Jezussek

Voice: Darin Dibsy, Kamal Aljafari

2023 © kamal aljafari productions