Lasting Images
2003
3 minutes
Super8 Film
Video Installation
On August 19, 1985, Khalil’s maternal uncle, Alfred Junior Kettaneh was abducted. He is still reported missing today, like the seventeen thousand other people kidnapped during the Civil War and whose fate remains officially unknown. In March 2001, the artists stumbled on Kettaneh’s archive of photographs and films. There was one Super 8 film reel that had not been developed. Stored in a yellow bag for fifteen years, it had survived the ravages of the war and a fire that destroyed the house. After much deliberation, the artists decided to send it to the lab. The film turned out to be mostly a bright white. But suddenly, a barely noticeable presence appeared and vanished. Using color correction techniques, the artists delved into the layers of the film, attempting to revive a presence –a ghostly image that resists disappearance lingering like a mourning without closure, memories whose traces are fated to remain.
Filmmakers and artists Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige work between photography, installations, video, and cinema, whether documentary or fiction films. They question storytelling, the fabrication of images and representations, the construction of imaginaries and the writing of history. Their multi-awarded films include Memory Box (2021), Ismyrna (2016), The Lebanese Rocket Society (2012), Je Veux Voir (2008), A Perfect Day (2005)… Several retrospectives of their films have been presented in renowned institutions. Their artworks are part of the most important exhibitions and public and private collections. They have been awarded the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize in 2017 for their project Unconformities. Joana and Khalil are both very involved in Metropolis, Cinematheque Beirut and are the co-founders of Abbout Productions with Georges Schoucair.