Hani Jawharieh

Footage shot by the late photographer and cinematographer, Hani Jawharieh, slowed-down, studied, and re-assembled with material from where it was found—piles of film reels discarded by former Soviet cultural centers in Amman, Jordan, accompanied with commentary by literary and film scholar Nadia Yaqub. Via Dolorosa (Latin for the Arabic ‘Way of Suffering’) is itself a processional route that Jawharieh filmed in his birth city of Jerusalem.

The film presents a harmonious picture of Palestinian civil life in Jerusalem that is disturbed by the Israeli army’s occupation of the city following 1967.

The Key was made by Ghaleb Sha'ath to accompany the Palestine delegation to the 1976 UN Habitat conference in Vancouver. It is the first Palestinian film produced by Samed Cinema Production Foundation.