Between 1973 and 1983, the prolific Lebanese filmmaker Jocelyne Saab made 16 films about struggles and revolutions across the Arab world, reflecting the region’s transformations while capturing her own evolving voice. In the early 1990s, as conflicts in Lebanon were coming to an end, Saab meticulously collected and stored the vast majority of the images she shot during the first part of her career. She deposited 11 boxes containing 115 film and audio reels at the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC) archives in Paris.

Following Saab’s death in 2019, the Association Jocelyne Saab began preserving her legacy, enlisting filmmaker and archivist Mohanad Yaqubi to catalogue and restore the collection. ‘Revolutionaries Never Die’ is an homage to an independent Arab woman filmmaker working at a turbulent time, and who documented places and people that no longer exist. Using fragments of footage in chronological order, a fascinating and vivid portrait of the filmmaker emerges. Working with historical films is akin to exploring the dark side of matter: opening new avenues to engage with time and memory. It allows for rearrangements that can alter context, where each new ordering of images in a film sequence impacts our present. Reflecting on the past is an act that transforms our perception, intended to challenge our beliefs.