Starting in the 1950s, Eastern Bloc art and film academies forged connections with Arab governments in North Africa and the Middle East, aiming to spread communist ideals through cultural exchange. Already by the early 1960s, North African students were being invited to study filmmaking at institutions such as the Łódź Film School – a process that was well established by 1968, just as Poland underwent a political crisis. At the same time, the 1967 war was instrumentalized to justify the forced exile of Jews, among them teachers and intellectuals, many of whom had remained in Poland precisely because they did not believe in Zionism.
The plot offers anOther ground to ponder our contemporary through an imagined love story.
MIRACULOUS ACCIDENT reflects upon this moment, intertwining historical found footage with original scripted film. It explores The Enemy1The concept of The Enemy in relation to the Arab and the Jew in Europe has been explored by Gil Anidjar in “The Jew, the Arab: A History of the Enemy” (Stanford University Press, 2003), where he examines how European thought has historically constructed both figures as opposing yet intertwined identities. in Europe – between the Arab and the Jew – from an Eastern perspective during the Cold War. The plot offers anOther ground to ponder our contemporary through an imagined love story.
The character of Nadir is deeply influenced by the life story of Abdelkader Lagtaâ, who also plays him in the film. Lagtaâ studied in Łódź at the time and contributed to “Souffles”, the influential Moroccan poetry magazine founded and directed by Abdellatif Laâbi, which became a platform for radical political thought and cultural debate in the 1960s. He later directed LA MOITIÉ DU CIEL (HALF THE SKY, 2015), a film about Laâbi and his collaboration with Abraham Serfaty in a clandestine political movement. His experiences and our conversations became a source of inspiration, shaping the script and the ideas that emerged during the research phase of the project.
MIRACULOUS ACCIDENT captures the intersection of cinema and struggle, weaving its plot through original scripted film and extracts from 1960s student films by Lagtaâ and his peers.
Assaf Gruber
