‘Speak Image, Speak’ challenges the distorted portrayal of Palestinians, using the imagery of the 1972 Munich Olympics as a starting point. The film explores how Palestinians resist erasure and criminalisation in Germany, reclaiming their history and voice against state-imposed silence.
The image of the masked Palestinian assailants at the 1972 Olympic Games became a recurring motif representing Palestinians as the embodiment of terrorism. Against the backdrop of the symmetrical Olympic village, it almost resembles a scene from a science fiction film. Due to the attacker’s facelessness, his figure remains an abstraction of absolute evil and violence. The figure of the Palestinian as an inherent security threat persists in Germany to this day. ‘Speak Image, Speak’ takes the grainy image of the masked Palestinian with the stocking mask as a starting point to examine the images that circulate about Palestinians. It speaks back to the overwriting of Palestinian history and the distorted imagery that has facilitated their dehumanisation.
The film explores the Palestinian past and present in Germany through the experiences of those who face criminalisation and persecution and are not meant to speak. Survivors of the Nakba and of genocide direct their gaze at the visual fantasies imposed upon Palestinians. They refuse to be silenced.‘Speak Image, Speak’ narrates a self-determined and disobedient counter-memory of Palestinian history in Germany—one that has not yet been told.
The film explores the Palestinian past and present in Germany through the experiences of those who face criminalisation and persecution and are not meant to speak. Survivors of the Nakba and of genocide direct their gaze at the visual fantasies imposed upon Palestinians. They refuse to be silenced.‘Speak Image, Speak’ narrates a self-determined and disobedient counter-memory of Palestinian history in Germany—one that has not yet been told.
