This upcoming documentary film about the critically important case of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah includes interviews with Samidoun international coordinator Charlotte Kates, Samidoun Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib, Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat coordinator Khaled Barakat and many others, including Robert and Maurice Abdallah (Georges’ brothers), Jean-Louis Chalanset (Georges’ lawyer), Suzanne le Manceau (co-founder of the Collectif pour la Libération de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah (CLGIA)), Bertrand Sassoye (former political prisoner) and Jean-Marc Rouillan (former political prisoner). Watch the trailer below and donate to help finalize this film!
Fedayin: The Struggle of Georges Abdallah traces the course of an indefatigable Arab Communist and fighter for Palestine. From the Palestinian refugee camps that shaped his conscience to international mobilizations for his release, we will explore the situation of one of the longest-held political prisoners in Europe.
Participate in the donation campaign to help the directors, Vacarmes Films, finalize the film! https://www.lepotcommun.fr/pot/9452awzl
Watch the trailer (French with English subtitles):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELsplqKFAqc?cc_load_policy=1&cc_lang_pref=en
See the film’s website, in French: https://fedayin-lefilm.com/
Synopsis:
For over 35 years, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah has been imprisoned. A Lebanese communist engaged in resistance alongside Palestinian fighters, he has been imprisoned by the French judicial system and successive governments since 1984. Beyond the judicial harassment to which he has been subjected, this documentary film will trace the political course of Georges Abdallah and seeks to show how his ideas and struggle are still vital and necessary.
The film takes us to Lebanon, to the Palestinian refugee camps, where he forged himself politically. We follow his engagement in the Palestinian resistance and against the Israeli occupation with the FARL (Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Fractions), a commitment that will take him to France in the 1980s, where he will be sentenced for complicity in murder. Through a series of interviews (in France, Lebanon, Belgium and Germany), we go to meet his family, his lawyer, his supporters, his friends and people who have rubbed shoulders with him. With them, we trace a life of resistance to imperialism and Zionist occupation.
Why this movie?
For several years, we have been campaigning alaongside many others for the release of Georges Abdallah. Some of us visit him regularly and have, over the years, built a political relationship based on trust. There is a multitude of mobilizations, actions and campaigns to demand the release of Georges Abdallah and many video archives of these events. On the other hand, apart from a short film about Georges Abdallah’s activities directed by Secours Rouge (Red Aid) a few years ago, we do not know of a film that looks deeper into his history and political commitment. (Currently, Pierre Carles is also working on a documentary film project.) It seemed essential to us to try to remedy this. One year ago, we launched this film project. Without pretension, we want to bring a new stone to the mobilization for the release of Georges Abdallah.
In order to have a better understanding of the environment in which the struggle of Georges Abdallah was born, we chose to go to Lebanon, Berlin, Brussels and several cities of France to meet his comrades in struggle, his family and his supporters.
In Lebanon, we spent several days in the Palestinian refugee camps in Saida, Beirut and Tripoli. We were warmly guided in the footsteps of Georges Abdallah to Kobayat, his native village, and to the places he frequented.
