“Fedayin: Georges Abdallah’s Fight,” the new film focusing on the life and struggle of Georges Abdallah, premiered in Lebanon on Tuesday, 9 November in the Al-Madina Theatre in Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon is the home country of the imprisoned Arab Communist struggler for Palestine, who has been imprisoned in France for over 37 years.
The film, directed by Collectif Vacarme(s) Films, features historical footage and interviews with Abdallah’s brothers Robert and Maurice, fellow political prisoners like Jean-Marc Rouillan and Bertrand Sassoye, as well as with Samidoun’s international coordinator Charlotte Kates, Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib, Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat, and many more advocates for his liberation.
The Lebanese Campaign for the Liberation of Georges Abdallah has organized screenings of the film throughout the country in the coming days.
On Wednesday, 10 November, the film will screen at 6 pm at the Martyr Maarouf Saad Center in Saida, while on Thursday, 11 November, it will be shown at the Cultural Association in Tripoli at 4 pm. On Friday, 12 November, the film will be screened in the Al-Qassam Kindergarten in Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, while it will return to central Beirut on Saturday, 13 November with a 7:30 pm screening at Barzakh in the Hamra neighborhood.
The Lebanon screenings have also prompted additional Arab projections of the film. On Saturday, 13 November, Fedayin will premiere in Bahrain, with a 7:30 pm screening at Bait al Salmaniya, organied by the Bahraini Association to Resist Normalization with the Zionist Entity and the Bahraini Democratic Youth Association.
Al-Akhbar newspaper dedicated a special issue to Georges Abdallah’s case to accompany the screening of the film. Articles include an interview with the Collectif Vacarme(s) Films team and director Matthieu Jeuland as well as a piece by the Collectif Palestine Vaincra highlighting the global campaign to free Abdallah. Most recently, over 1,000 people marched in Lannemezan, France, on 23 October, the 37th anniversary of Abdallah’s arrest, to demand his release, gathering outside the prison gates to salute their imprisoned comrade and revolutionary leader.
The mass march capped an international month of action that included dozens of screenings of “Fedayin,” throughout France, across Europe, and internationally. The film, featured at the Boston Palestine Film Festival, Chicago Palestine Film Festival and Sunbird Festival in Ramallah, among others, has been seen by thousands of people around the world and sparked mobilizations to the demonstration. Dozens of additional screenings are scheduled in the months to come.
The film is available with appropriate subtitles in French, Arabic, English, German, Italian, Catalan and Castilian Spanish. If you want to show Fedayin in your area, email us at [email protected] and contact the directors at [email protected]. We will help you to get your screening organized, and the directors are available to attend your events in person or to join your in-person events via video link.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges people and organizations around the world to organize screenings of “Fedayin” in the coming month and beyond. This film has an important role to play in highlighting Georges Abdallah’s case to international audiences and helping to break down the walls of injustice that continue to keep him imprisoned in France, away from his homeland Lebanon.
