I have a seat in the abandoned theater

In the stillness of an abandoned film theatre, where the ghosts of archival images appear to be displaced on a forgotten projector screen, we claim our seat. I Have a Seat in the Abandoned Theater, a title drawn from the Mahmoud Darwish poem, is a season of artist films that dedicate space to the resistance, remembrance and resurgence offered by cinema.

Curated by Shasha Movies founder Róisín Tapponi, this programme spans Palestine, Lebanon, Greece, Japan and beyond, unveiling narratives that traverse borders and connect different ideas of solidarity. The films respond to the legacies of displacement, war, migration, and cultural erasure from the 1970s to the present day. They draw parallels across subversive histories, collective memories, and alternative futures, offering us seats in theatres that, like Darwish’s poem, are left abandoned but never empty.

With a particular thematic focus exploring the role of experimental image production in the Palestinian resistance, each film is testament to the role of cinema in directly addressing conditions of ongoing genocide and settler colonialism. Through the mediation of urgent political meaning, we better understand the vital role of image-making in contemporary life.

TAVROS invited Shasha Movies—the pioneering streaming platform for cinema from Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA)—to present a film programme that connects Greece with Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus and even Japan through rare archival and experimental films. Shasha Movies is the first independent streaming service dedicated to films from SWANA, offering a space for emerging and established filmmakers to share their work beyond mainstream platforms. In Athens, this special selection opens up new ways of seeing how film can connect histories, places, and artistic movements, looking at alliances and affinities in the broader Southeast Mediterranean region.

Screening Programme

Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 20:00

No Spank, directed by Jordan Strafer, Greece, 2024, 10 min, Super 16mm single channel film with digital sound, no spoken language

Deep Sleep, directed by Basma Alsharif, Palestine/France, 2014, 13 min, Single-channel HD video, Super 8 transferred to video, color, sound, no spoken language

Avant d’oublier Héliopolis, directed by Valentin Noujaïm, France/Egypt, 2019, 23 min, Super 8 mm & HDV, sound

Ismyrna, directed by Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige, Lebanon/France, 2023, 53 min, HD video with sound, French with English subtitles

* The evening will be introduced by the curator of the programme and founder of Shasha Movies Róisín Tapponi

Friday, 16 May 2025, 20:00

What We Ask of a Statue Is that It Doesn’t Move, directed by Daphné Hérétakis, Greece/France, 2024, 32 min, digital video with sound, Greek with English subtitles

A Fidai Film, directed by Kamal Aljafari, Palestine/Germany/Qatar/Brazil/France, 2024, 78 min, digital video with sound, Arabic, Hebrew, English

* The evening will be introduced by the curator of the programme and founder of Shasha Movies Róisín Tapponi

Monday, 19 May 2025, 20:00

Middle Sea, directed by Zineb Sedira, France/Algeria, 2008, 21 min,  super 16mm colour film

Requiem to a Shipwreck, directed by Janis Rafa, Greece/Netherlands, 2014, 11 min, single-channel video, stereo, 2K, 16:9

Le Bateau de l’Exil (The Ship of Exile), directed by Jocelyne Saab, Lebanon, 1982, 15 min, 16mm with sound, French

One Sea, 10 Seas, directed by Nour Ouyada, Lebanon, 2019, 42 min, digital video with sound, English, Arabic

* The evening will be introduced by the curator of the programme and founder of Shasha Movies Róisín Tapponi

Wednesday, 21 May 2025, 20:00

Red Army/PFLP: Declaration of World War, directed by Masao Adachi & Kōji Wakamatsu, Japan/Palestine, 1971, 70 min, 16mm with sound, Japanese with English subtitles

Friday, 23 May 2025, 20:00

A Night We Held Between, directed by Noor Abed, Palestine, 2024, 30 min, 16mm with sound

The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing, directed by Theo Panagopoulos, United Kingdom, 2024, 17 min, digital video with sound, Arabic, English

Thousand Thrashing Arms, directed by Dina Mimi, Palestine/South Africa, 2024, 14 min, digital video with sound, no spoken language

Jerusalem Pink, directed by Maeve Brennan, United Kingdom, 2015, 41 min, HD Video 16:9 with sound