THE DUPES

Tewfik Saleh | Syria | 1972 | 107 mins

After the nationalization of Egyptian cinema in the 1950s and the subsequent collapse of the industry in the late ‘60s, a large number of filmmakers were invited to make films in Lebanon and Syria, including Youssef Chahine and Henry Barakat. The jewel of this shortly-lived exiled cinema was Tewfik Saleh’sThe Dupes (Al-Makhdu’un) , the uncompromising adaptation of Ghassan Kanafani’s acclaimed 1963 novella, Men in the Sun. A sobering chronicle of three Palestinian refugees in Iraq attempting to escape their destitute camp life to get to Kuwait, Saleh’s adaptation – one of the greatest in Arab film history – is by turns austere, ferocious and defiant, setting a template for numberless Palestinian chronicles to emerge. Initially banned in Syria and Egypt upon release, The Dupes has lost none of its power to provoke, stimulate and confront.

This special, free screening is presented in partnership with KCL Action Palestine and will be followed by a discussion on the film, the book, and Palestinian resistance literature, led by SAFAR curator and film expert Joseph Fahim and Anna Bernard, Head of Comparative Literature at Kings College London.

Tickets are free but we strongly recommend reserving your place in advance.