OBLIVION: Forced Disappearance, Memory, Absence, and Political Erasure
An Unpacking the ArteArchive Program featuring works by Jihan K, Ghassan Halwani, Akram Zaatari, Habiba Djahnine, Argyro Nicolaou, and Muhannad Lamin
Curated by Laila Sharif, NNAAC Fellow
Screening Online: June 18–28, 2026
Available worldwide | FREE / $5 suggested donation
RSVP: artearchive.org
This film program examines forced disappearance as a political strategy and an enduring lived reality across the SWANA region. Through documentary and essay films, it centers testimony, memory, and visual absence as counterpoints to state violence and historical erasure. OBLIVION is curated by ArteEast NNAAC Fellow Laila Sharif and co-presented by ArteEast and BAM as part of Unpacking the ArteArchive, a legacy program preserving and presenting 20 years of ArteEast film and video programming.
Program:
- My Father and Qaddafi (Jihan K, 2025) — 88 mins
- Erased, Ascent of the Invisible (Ghassan Halwani, 2018) — 74 mins
- All Is Well On the Border (Akram Zaatari, 1997) — 40 mins
- Letter to My Sister / Lettre à ma sœur (Habiba Djahnine, 2006) — 68 mins
- Screen Recording 2020-11-20 at 1.59.44 PM (Argyro Nicolaou, 2020) — 10 mins
- Prisoner and Jailer (Muhannad Lamin, 2019) — 15 mins