Curatorial

Amidst the crowd mingling after the screening of the film “Off Frame aka Revolution Until Victory”, a woman in the audience approached us gently with a piece of paper, and asked to meet before we leave Japan. The A4 print out contained a sort of a list, mostly in Japanese with occasional English words. After a quick translation, we came to understand this was a list of films on the Palestinian struggle. Some titles we knew, others not. 

A few days later, we were taken by T. San and M. San to a place in the outskirts of Tokyo, a small room in a traditional Japanese house. The air in the room was thick with a presence. A familiar presence. The shelves and boxes occupying the space contained twenty film reels, U-matic tapes, books, posters, documents, among other objects. These have been collected by a Japanese Palestine solidarity group throughout the 1970s and some of the ‘80s. The group has dissolved since long ago and for over three decades the collection has been safeguarded by its members, in space and time, underground. 

The twenty film reels, packaged in canisters and boxes labelled and marked with film titles, dates, some production and distribution details, present a collection of films rendering a history of political mobilisation and solidarity making with Palestine specific to Japan at the time. The films were made by Palestinian, Arab, Japanese and American filmmakers and journalists, and were commissioned by various political bodies, TV stations, and UNRWA. 

In 2019, we were entrusted by the members of the group with this collection and have been generously given the opportunity to engage with it. The films have since gone through an unfolding process of scanning, digitisation, restoration, documentation and research.

Tokyo Reels is a ground set for asking questions, expansive reading, presentation, translation and occasional speculation, as methods of recirculation and redistribution of films, solidarity making and friendship.

Subversive Film