“Women Revolutionary Cinema” series, currently being Restored by The Void Project & supported by London Palestine Film Festival

The Upper Gate (Bawabat AlFawqa)

Film maker: Arab Loutfi

production year 1991

 16 mm Film

 Duration: 90 minutes

Film maker Arab Loutfi waves the story of her Sidon, her home town, through the stories of its people.  Following, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, in 1982, Loutfi, reconstructs her own memories of her city, and collects accounts from, her sister Maha, her uncle and her friends, interspersing them with newspaper clips and personal photographs to illustrate her preoccupations and concerns in relation to Sidon at different times.

Loutfi’s lyrical commentary which accompanies images of the town emphasizes how the streets, buildings and the public places she knew in her youth have all been irrevocably marked by the Israeli invasion. “Lots of people gone and places changed. Anxiety is still there”.