Filmer, c’est exister is a Geneva-based film festival dedicated to Palestinian cinema, using film as a space of expression, resistance and visibility. Showcasing documentaries and fiction by Palestinian filmmakers and allies, the festival highlights lived realities, personal narratives and political contexts that are often absent from mainstream screens, affirming cinema as a vital act of existence and testimony.
Organized with BDS, CETIM and the Lebanese Film Festival, this programme reflects on the cultural and political reasons for boycotting an Allianz‑sponsored cinema day. It presents a curated shorts programme (Some Strings), whose formal experiments and intimate textures examine memory and connection; and the feature Un monde fragile & merveilleux, introduced live and followed by a videoconference with director Cyril Aris and actress Mounia Akl. Discussions include activists from BDS and aim to situate the cinematic work within broader political debates. Proceeds from the shorts session will be donated to the YAFFA association for Palestine.
In Arabic with French subtitles.
17:00 – SOME STRINGS de AA. VV. (short films)
Followed by a discussion on the reasons for the boycott with guests (in partnership with BDS Geneva).
19:00 – UN MONDE FRAGILE & MERVEILLEUX by Cyril Aris
Followed by a video conference with director Cyril Aris and actress Mounia Akl.
Uli M. Schueppel’s 1987 debut feature plunges into an apocalyptic nocturne of despair, mysticism and a stark Berlin underground aesthetic. Rendered in raw, expressionistic images, the film follows fragmented lives on the edge of collapse, blending documentary grit with poetic surrealism. Alexander Hacke’s original score—rooted in industrial textures and haunting melodies—underscores the film’s hypnotic atmosphere; his live re-creation heightens the visceral drama and the work’s otherworldly intensity.
Augusto Zegarra’s Runa Simi follows Fernando, a radio host from Cusco, who dreams of dubbing The Lion King into Quechua to advocate for his endangered indigenous language. Filmed with tender realism and intimate father‑son close-ups, the film balances gentle humor and quiet determination as the pair confront setbacks. Runa Simi is a story of transmission, linguistic reclamation and cultural resistance, a warm, humane portrait of love, memory and communal resilience.
Ciel Sourdeau’s eight-minute, seventeen-second video unfolds as a subversive tutorial: part gore, part experimental film, it repurposes pedagogical forms into an improvised, transgressive bricolage. Mixed by Adrien Kessler, the piece layers tactile sound and rough-edged visuals to probe bodies, identity and the limits of instruction. Its stripped, confrontational aesthetic alternates shock and dark humour, inviting a re-examination of learning rituals and the politics of representation through intimate, unsettling imagery.
Opening: 3 September, 18:00
Romain Girard’s documentary is an intimate immersion into the theatrical creative process, following rehearsals and performance to expose the labour behind a staging of Molière. Through a careful, observant lens it deciphers Tartuffe and the mechanisms of domination the play interrogates, tracing how a director’s intentions shape the actors’ relation to the text. The film privileges close observation and theatrical detail, offering a reflective, textured portrait of language, control and the pulse of live theatre.
In presence of Jean Liermier and Romain Girard, and by producers Chantal Bernheim and Patrick Siegenthaler (Actua Films).
Stephen Apkon’s compelling documentary explores the possibility of choosing a different path in the face of conflict, bringing together personal stories, dialogue, and powerful reflections on peace and non-violence. At the heart of the film is the belief that reconciliation and human connection can break cycles of violence and open the way towards a more peaceful future. The screening offers an intimate and thought-provoking perspective on what it means to move beyond division and imagine another way forward.
Followed by a discussion in English with Sulaiman Khatib (Palestine) and Iris Gur (Israel) — two members of Combatants for Peace — and director Stephen Apkon on peacebuilding, non-violent resistance, and the search for alternatives to conflict.
In English with French subtitles.
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