Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory

During the 1960s, in South America, a type of film referred to as «revolutionary films» were gaining traction as an alternative to the traditional commercial film industry. This cinema also focused on the Palestinian struggles for liberation. In a small archive in Rome, director Yaqubi discovered the first pieces of the puzzle that eventually led to the documentary Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory. Yaqubi has assembled film footage from the 1970s showing the Palestinian resistance fight, a battle inspired by other armed revolutions around the world. Through these clips, it becomes clear that resistance must be understood as a moral imperative to Israel’s military aggression, and not necessarily as a way towards victory against the undeniable military superiority. The resistance fights, which today often is expressed religiously, is in this film clearly secular. The documentary therefore shows us how rhetoric may change, but the fundamental battle for freedom goes on.

Mohanad Yaqubi (b. 1981) from Kuwait is a filmmaker and producer who also teaches film at the International Art Academy in Palestine. He has directed and produced several short films, both fiction and documentaries, many shown at international film festival. He is also interested in militant film practices and one of the founders of the Ramallah-based production outfit Idioms Film and the research and curatorial collective Subversive Film.

Read the review of the documentary in Hollywood Reporter here.