Fierté Nationale: De Jéricho vers Gaza. A film by Sven Augustijnen.
Screening Wednesday 25 March, 6.20pm IFI.
Followed by Q&A with Sven Augutijnen, moderated by Alice Butler, co-director of aemi
Tickets on sale now at IFI.ie
Fierté Nationale: De Jéricho vers Gaza follows Hassan Al Balawi, a Palestinian diplomat in Brussels, as he returns to his homeland on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, the historical leader of the PLO. Filmed in 2019, Balawi’ s journey from the occupied West Bank to the border of Gaza draws a subjective image of what has become of the Palestinian liberation struggle after the attempted peace process of the Oslo accords, and before the tragic events of October 7, 2023.
In 2016 Hugh Lane Gallery presented ‘The Metronome Bursts of Automatic Fire…’, Augustijnen’s first solo exhibition in Ireland, which centred on the politics of firearms. Carefully selected ‘TIME’ and ‘LIFE’ magazines dated from 1959 to 1985 with supplementary film material from the RTÉ archives evoked how both weapons and journalism have been entangled in the fabric of our histories. The installation display was neither condensed nor edited for political clarity or official archiving but were laid out in silent witness to the reoccurring tragic global events. Further information: Sven Augustijnen: The Metronome Bursts- HLG
Video, color, 16:9, Arabic & French spoken, BE, 2025, 93’
-
About the director
Sven Augustijnen (°1970) lives and works in Brussels. His films, publications and installations on political, historical and social themes constantly challenge the genre of the documentary, reflecting a wider interest in historiography and a predilection for the nature of storytelling: ‘Historiography is by no means a natural phenomenon. The way we use stories, images and fiction to construct reality and history fascinates me. ’ He had solo-shows at Wiels, Centre for Contemporary Art, Brussels; de Appel, arts centre, Amsterdam; Malmö Konsthall; Vox, Centre pour l’Image contemporaine, Montréal; CCS Bard, Annandale-on-Hudson. Recent group-shows include The Unfinshed Conversation, The Power Plant, Toronto, Gestures and archives of the present, genealogies of the future, Biennale Tapei, Living Together, Kunsthal Vienna and Congoville, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp. Sven Augustijnen is represented by Jan Mot, Brussels and is a founding member of Auguste Orts, Brussels.
Credits
Concept and image Sven Augustijnen
Protagonist Hassan Al Balawi
With Général Tawfiq Al-Tirawi, Lieutenant Ayat Housheiya, Hassan Saleh, Mahmoud al-Aloul, Mahmoud Abbas, Lina, Zeina, Khaled Yasser Arafat et Zubayda Zankari, Aisha Bargouthi-Saifi, Yaël Dayan, Jannat Nasser, Zahira Omar Saadine Production assistants Fairuz Ghammam and Boris Belay
Editing Mathieu Haessler
Sound recording Benoît Bruwier and Sacha Hackier
Sound mix Frédéric Furnelle – A Sound studio Grading Cobalt and Lennert De Taeye
Produced by Auguste Orts, co-produced by Projections, Cobra Films
With the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie–Bruxelles, S.M.A.K., Friends of Auguste Orts Fund, Image/mouvement du Centre national des arts plastiques, la République et canton de Genève, collectif dimanche des curatrices Bénédicte le Pimpec et Isaline Vuille, Mophradat, WIP Wallonie Image Production, deAuteurs, Jan Mot, Lund University / Malmö Art Academy
