Off Frame aka Revolution Until Victory
In Off Frame, Mohanad Yaqubi tells a story of people in search of their own image. He created a mosaic of long lost and recently discovered archival footage of the Palestinian people’s struggle to create their own images on their own terms in the 1960s and 1970s, through the creation of the Palestine Film Unit.
Filmmakers such as Mustafa Abu Ali (They Do Not Exist, 1974) wanted to regain control of their own images and stories through revolutionary and militant cinema, from the perspective of the Palestinians themselves.
After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, most of these Palestinian films were lost. Many of the images in Off Frame come from copies that were sent to international film festivals before the invasion. The original prints remain lost to this day.
Yaqubi fills the gap in our collective memory by breathing new life into this forgotten cinema. He shows what happened within the frame and at the same time gives a critical reflection on what has fallen outside it.