This is a film adapted from the novella  Rijāl Fi Al-Shams / Men of the Sun by  Ghassan Kanafani in 1963. How the past bleeds into the present as a story of dispossessed Palestinians is presented as the colonial settler regime controlling Palestine continues the war against the actual inhabitants of historic Palestine. This film version was scripted and  directed by Tewfik  Saleh, an Egyptian who made a number of films that can be counted as part of Third Cinema. He suffered censorship in  Egypt and left in the 1970s and this film was produced by the Syrian National Film Organisation.  The film was shot in black and white academy, running for 107 minutes in Arabic; English sub-titles provided.

This digital version was a restoration by the Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project in cooperation with the  Cineteca di Bologna working with the National Film Corporation and the family of Tewfik Saleh. It was screened as part of the 2023 Il Cinema Ritrovato. The Festival  Catalogue contained comments by Saleh made for a French Film Dossier in 1971.

I worked on the adaptation of Men in the Sun by Ghassan Kanafani – a militant of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine assassinated on 9 July 1972 in Beirut by the Zionist secret service (Mossad) – from 1954 to 1971. My intentions and my interpretation of the novel and its characters changed in light of the tragic events that took place in the region in June 1967 and September 1970. In the latest version, I wanted to emphasises the element of escape that characterise the Middle East at this time. Three characters from three different generations, representing three phases of the same collective problem, decide to flee their situation in search of what each considers or hopes to be their individual salvation. But the end is very different from their expectations; there is no individual salvation from a collective tragedy. And this is the lesson that history teaches us every day.

Saleh here refers to the seizure of Palestinian lands and the further expulsion of Palestinians during and after the six-day war in 1967; and the expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organisation from Jordan in 1970, including the massacre of Palestinian militants and civilians. The film’s central characters are victims of the earlier Al-Nakba (Palestinian catastrophe) of 1947 and 1948. Set in the 1950s in the Iraqi desert; three dispossessed Palestinians  attempt  to journey to a new life in Kuwait.

This screening launches the coming Leeds Palestinian Film Festival; continuing a tradition of a title presented as part of the Leeds International Film Festival. The following screenings in the Leeds Palestinian Film Festival follow between  November 18th and December 9th,.  There are a number of events and screenings at various venues in Leeds and close by. With the latest phase of the War on the Palestinians by the zionist settler regime, supported by imperialist states including Britain, this celebration of Palestinian film, art and resistance takes on an even more important  meaning.

The Leeds Palestinian Film Festival Team are filled with horror, grief and sadness at the current violent loss of life across Palestine/Israel.

We are motivated by a strong belief in justice, respect and dignity for all people, which is why we have selected the films for this festival carefully.

The intentions of our 13 outstanding and thought-provoking events are:

  • to shine a light on hidden stories of Palestinians, their history, culture and politics
  • to challenge stereotypes and one-dimensional views
  • to portray a people in all their diversity

We believe our programme provides invaluable context which can help to illuminate the root causes of the present violence, and to develop responses grounded in understanding and care for others.

All our events constitute safe spaces for constructive and respectful dialogue, with no place for racism, xenophobia or aggression. [LPFF]