The Dreams of the Oppressed Are the Nightmares of the Colonial World

Visualizing the collective imagination of Palestinian and Arab filmmakers across 75 years of exile, dispossession and displacement

In The dreams of the oppressed are the nightmares of the colonial world, Palestinian scholars Nadine Fattaleh and Kaleem Hawa engage in a wide-ranging conversation about Arab history, geography, art and cinema, weaving together theoretical and cultural texts to discuss the afterlives of violence, armed resistance and image-making in the Palestinian struggle. Their exchange centers on the 1987 film The Dream by Syrian filmmaker Mohammad Malas, which chronicles the dreams of Palestinians interviewed in refugee camps in Lebanon. Their discussion expands to consider a constellation of works from the past 60 years by filmmakers including Amiralay, Kassem Hawal, Hani Jawharieh and Jocelyne Saab.

Nadine Fattaleh is a Palestinian researcher, writer and translator from Amman.

Kaleem Hawa is a Palestinian writer and organizer living in New York City.