Youssef Fahdeh, a Story from Baalbeck Studios

This installation explores the delicate nature and content of remnants in film archives, specifically the remnants of pioneering films or lost films that were never completed. The piece does not try to present a comprehensive picture of these films, but instead undertakes excavation work into phenomena and personalities that have been erased or buried, either by chance or deliberately, in the sands of time.
By looking into these fragments, gaps emerge between impact and legacy: Individuals or practices that have had a formative impact on the field of Middle Eastern cinematography have been lost or omitted from history. These underappreciated elements are brought to light here, both physically by the processing of the archival material and in terms of their contents by tracing artistic, social, and political dynamics to fill in missing storylines around the limited traces that remain.

Screening of fragments from Fi al-dar ghariba by Youssef Fahdeh during Archival Assembly #3

Ayman Nahle is a visual artist, filmmaker, cinematographer, film editor, and film archivist. Since 2014, Nahle has collaborated on e-flux New York’s project The Institute of the Cosmos as the cinematographer for films by Anton Vidokle. He has also co-produced and directed many short films. His work has been showcased in cinemas, film festivals, galleries, and museums around the world. Since 2020, he has been actively involved in archival practices, contributing to various workshops and research projects as an audiovisual archivist for the collections of UMAM Documentation & Research (UMAM D&R).