Festival Aflam | Courts-métrages de Kassem Hawal

Editorial

What can cinema do in an Arab world upended by wars of erasure and governed by the law of the strongest, in contempt of international law and the people? It can bring people together, break isolation, create encounters between filmmakers and audiences, and offer a space to pick up the threads again, revisit history and stories, and repair memories and images.

This is the purpose of this edition of the festival, which is part of the 2026 Mediterranean Season. Aflam is contributing to the momentum launched last May by enabling works, stories and imaginaries to circulate. The 2026 festival will also be an opportunity to celebrate five years of the Vive archives series, Aflam’s annual program that has honored this cinematic heritage since 2021. The 2026 edition will focus in particular on questions of memory, the preservation of archives and the passing on of collective stories through cinema.

Festival Aflam – 13th edition

A Word, A Gun

by Kassem Hawal | 1973 | Lebanon | 15 min

This film pays tribute to the Palestinian writer and activist Ghassan Kanafani, assassinated by the Mossad on 8 July 1972 in the explosion of his car bomb in Beirut. He was on his way to the newspaper Al-Hadaf, where he was editor-in-chief. The film asserts that a powerful word can have the same impact as a rifle in a revolution.

Palestinian Identity

by Kassem Hawal | 1984 | Lebanon | 38 min

In 1982, the Israeli army invaded Lebanon and occupied Beirut. As the PLO was forced to leave the city, Kassem Hawal filmed Palestinian cultural centers looted and set on fire by the Israelis, who seized films, photographs and manuscripts. Through interviews with the poet Mahmoud Darwish and the artist Ismail Shammout, the documentary examines the systematic destruction of Palestinian culture and the attempt to erase a collective memory.

Why We Plant Flowers, Why We Carry Guns

by Kassem Hawal | 1974 | Lebanon | 9 min

Why We Plant Flowers, Why We Carry Guns (1973) is one of Kassem Hawal’s first political films. Shot in Lebanon, it bears witness to the early years of his commitment alongside the Palestinians. In 1982, during the Israeli invasion of Beirut, the film was stolen along with many Palestinian archives. For decades, the work was considered lost. Recently, Ayed Nabaa found one of the three reels that made up the film. It is only a fragment, a vestige snatched from oblivion, but it is enough to bring this unique testimony back to life.

Preceded by:

Katsakh Archive – Attack on Beirut

1968 | 1 min

The “Katsakh: Mediterranean Archives” project is a personal collection of nonfiction films shot with Super 8 mm and 16 mm cameras in cities and villages across the eastern Mediterranean between the 1920s and 1970s. The collection aims to capture the diversity of life and culture in the region, serving as a rich historical archive that invites viewers to connect with our past.

Practical information

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Festival screenings