CHRONICLES FROM THE SIEGE Discovery

Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Pierre Le Gall.

In his striking debut feature, Palestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Alkhatib crafts a compelling mosaic of interconnected vignettes that captures the rhythms of life under siege with both urgency and deadpan delivery. While the omnipresence of bombardment, hunger and displacement defines the landscape, the film remains steadfastly focused on the people determined to endure it. A group of cinephiles shelter in a video store as snipers stalk the streets; the store’s shell-shocked owner drifts through a city transformed beyond recognition; a black marketeer races to secure a blood donation for his pregnant wife; a man goes to desperate lengths for just one puff of a cigarette; and a couple’s attempts at intimacy are repeatedly interrupted by the relentless demands of survival. Moving fluidly between heartbreak and biting black humor, Alkhatib reveals how tenderness, absurdity, and resilience persist amid catastrophe and the devastating circumstances facing Palestinians today. Winner of the Best First Feature Award in the Perspectives section of the Berlinale, the film announces a major new cinematic voice. –Mimi Brody