How does Basma Alsharif introduce a new discourse to Palestinian cinema by using video essays?

Abstract

Frustrations with the nationalist discourse seen in Palestinian cinema motivated the research in this study. This thesis took four videos of Palestinian filmmaker and artist Basma Alsharif and discussed that they belong to the video essay genre. The videos were: We Began By Measuring Distance (2009), The Story of Milk and Honey (2011), Farther than the Eye Can See (2012), and Home Movies Gaza (2013). We proposed that Alsharif's video essays give space to an emerging post-colonial and post-structuralist approach to Palestinian filmmaking. This paper introduces that Basma Alsharif's films offer a new cinematic language, thus adding a new dimension to Palestinian cinema. Her films shift away from the dogmatic nationalist discourse to a more personal, subjective and self-reflexive one. It is suggested that Alsharif, through her video essays, opened up the potential to provide a different and unfamiliar approach to the audio-visual experience of Palestinians writing (visually) about the Palestinian struggle.