In 2023, Palestinian photojournalist Mariam Dagga documented the creation of a mass grave in Khan Younis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip. This short documentary dissects her video footage frame by frame. Transferred onto medium-format film and stained with the blood of one of the filmmakers, the images become partly obscured and discolored, while the liquid creates its own register of passing time.
The film examines what happens when evidence of mass destruction slowly merges with the landscape. Accompanied by the cadence of poet Ahmad Al-Shaer and a composition by Bint Mbareh, the work resists the accelerating pace of the occupation. It aligns itself with the militant practice of journalists in Gaza who meticulously document reality: an act of resistance that refuses the logic of genocidal destruction.
Stills
