Two Travellers to a River

Johan Grimonprez

Belgium

2018

2 min

Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

Synopsis

When asked a question on politics, poet Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), who was regarded as the national poet of Palestine, answered: “I write about love to expose the conditions that don’t allow me to write about love.”

In this short video, Palestinian actress Manal Khader recites fragments from two poems by Darwish: “Two Travellers to a River” and “Things Would Be Different”, both published posthumously in A River Dies of Thirst, from journals Darwish kept in 2006 during the Lebanon War. Director Johan Grimonprez juxtaposes these words with two discordant images, one which appears to be scorched earth and the other a home.

Tickets & Times

Accessibility

Sat, november 16

Part of Shadow World & Two Travellers to a River

20:00 – 22:02

Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Mon, november 18

Part of Shadow World & Two Travellers to a River

09:30 – 11:37

De Balie: Grote Zaal

Fri, november 22

Part of Shadow World & Two Travellers to a River

15:45 – 17:20

Pathé City 1

Credits

2 min

color

DCP

Spoken languages: Arabic

Director

Johan Grimonprez

Production

Daan Milius for Zap-O-Matik

Co-production

the Arts Research Fund of University of College Ghent

Cinematography

Nicole MacKinlay Hahn

Sound

Rayan Obeidine

Music

Karsten Fundal

Narration

Mahmoud Darwish

Narrator

Manal Khader

More from the program section Retrospective: Johan Grimonprez

In homage to our Guest of Honor, IDFA presents seven films by critically acclaimed artist and filmmaker Johan Grimonprez. With his singular exploration into present-day media, his work examines how our collective imagination shapes our understanding of historical events.

View program section