Blessed Blessed Oblivion
Blessed Blessed Oblivion was part of IDFA program in 2023, and withdrawn by the filmmaker. Upon the request of the filmmaker, we publish the following text as received:
"This film was one of 12 to withdraw from participation at IDFA 2023, amongst 28 total withdrawals that included moderators, jury, and others in protest at the festival's damaging denunciation of an action in solidarity with Palestine that took place on the opening night of the festival. At the time, the festival erased all information relating to the films withdrawn in protest from the website. In response to the publication of the Palestine Film Institute's 'Industry Protocol in Times of Genocide' in August 2024, and as a gesture towards transparency, IDFA reinstated the information relating to the withdrawn films in September 2024. No further accountability has been taken.” - The Palestine Film Institute on behalf of the filmmakers, for the full statement click here
Film Synopsis
“Whatever I’ve wanted I've done. I haven’t left a thing,” says Ahmad, the subject of Jumana Manna’s kaleidoscopic short documentary. While he speaks these words with some swagger, the underlying tone of his assertion betrays the weight of the Palestinian reality. Exploring the stereotypes of East Jerusalem “thug” culture, we see garages where men work interminably on a car, lathering its surfaces, barbershops tending to hair with meticulous care, and gyms where muscles get pumped.
Manna uses close-up fragments to construct an eroticized and parodic montage of bodies, objects and places. Arabic pop songs provide ironic commentary on the images, which get intersected by snippets of dialogue, with the protagonist alternating between confessions of debauchery and debt, national poems and dirty jokes.