Qais Al-Zubaidi - Life on the Wall

In the 1960s, certain names shone brightly, followed by many others. An entire generation dreamed, produced, and struggled, pursuing whatever goal they could within this interconnected world, where their hiding places never end. Some carried a rifle, some wielded a pen, and some attempted to challenge reality through their films. The author of this book and its protagonist are two sailors on the same ship, their companion the camera, in homelands governed by a system that begins with the censor and ends with the citizen/father. Through Qais al-Zubaidi, the Iraqi-Syrian-Palestinian-Lebanese-Berlin Arab who contributed to the inception and development of Arab documentary filmmaking, the professional Mohamed Malas portrays the generation of yesterday with its characters, dreams, endeavors, and defeats. He revisits the scenes he shared with al-Zubaidi, the moments they collaborated on, and the moments of clarity when Qais confided in him about the concerns of his profession and his homeland, speaking about himself behind the camera, not in front of it. This book is not a cinematic biography of Al-Zubaidi, Al-Mas and their generation colleagues, but rather a document about what happened one day in the history of the Arab film industry and its development.