Quintessence of Oblivion

A filmic journey that was originally conceived as an exploration of the social life of Jerusalem through the history of the city's well known movie palace, the Al Hambra Cinema, from the 1950's until its closure in 1989. When the present Intifada began, everything had to change. Filmmaker Najwa Najjar found herself in the new reality of today's Jerusalem and was faced with the question of how Palestinians living in Jerusalem in 1948 and 1967 could possibly go to the movies after the wars, after their city was divided. Using oral histories of Jerusalemites living both in the city and in diaspora, present day interviews, archival footage of Palestinian everyday life, as well as radio broadcasts interwoven with fascinating clips from the films shown at the Al Hambra over the decades, the film creates a rich and powerful Palestinian mosaic of their Jerusalem past and present.