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The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived

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The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived
Directed byHeiny Srour
Written byHeiny Srour
Produced byHeiny Srour
CinematographyMichel Humeau
Edited byHeiny Srour
Production
company
Srour Films
Release date
  • 1974 (1974)
Running time
62 minutes
CountriesFrance
Lebanon
United Kingdom
LanguageArabic

The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived (Arabic: ساعة التحرير دقت) is a 1974 documentary film directed, written, produced and edited by Lebanese filmmaker Heiny Srour.[1] The film is notable for being the first film directed by an Arab woman to be shown at Cannes.[2]

Srour was compelled to make the film during her work as a film critic for AfricAsia in 1969, she was interviewing a male delegate of the PFLOAG. She was interested in the feminist description of the Oman liberation group, a moment that Terri Ginsberg describes as "revelatory" for Srour and thus she shifted her focus to documenting the Omani struggle for liberation.[2] She and her crew traveled 500 miles across the desert and mountains and under the bombardment of the British Royal Air Force so that they can shoot the film in Dhofar.[3]

Plot

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Per Terri Ginsberg in her book Films of Arab Loutfi and Heiny Srour: Studies in Palestine Solidarity Cinema, The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived, "....focuses on the struggle of the Omani people, represented by the DFLP-allied PFLOAG, for their liberation from the oppressive, British-backed Sultanate of Qaboos ibn Sa‘id, a notorious collaborator with neocolonial oil interests."[2] Beginning as a contemporary news report, the film later portrays the guerilla fighters, primarily focusing on female participation in the movement.[4]

Reception

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The film was awarded the Grand Prix du Scenario by the Tunisian Agence de coopération culturelle et technique (ACCT).[2]

References

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  1. ^ Hillauer, Rebecca (2005). Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers. American University in Cairo Press. pp. 183–184. ISBN 9789774249433.
  2. ^ a b c d Ginsberg, Terri (2021). Films of Arab Loutfi and Heiny Srour: Studies in Palestine Solidarity Cinema. Cham, CH: Springer International Publishing AG. p. 25. ISBN 9783030853532.
  3. ^ "SAAT EL TAHRIR DAKKAT (THE HOUR OF LIBERATION HAS ARRIVED)". Film Fest Gent. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  4. ^ Shafik, Viola (31 March 2023). Resistance, Dissidence, Revolution: Documentary Film Esthetics in the Middle East and North Africa. Taylor & Francis. p. 133. ISBN 9781000824766. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
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