The Silent Protest: 1929 Jerusalem

On 26 October 1929, around 300 women converged from across Palestine and organised a silent demonstration in Jerusalem, travelling in convoy to protest the British High Commissioner’s bias during the Buraq Uprising. Retracing their journey through archival photographs and present-day locations, the film attempts to recover a largely forgotten act of anti-colonial resistance.

Mahasen Nasser-Eldin: ‘Being a creative practitioner in documentary film has deepened my understanding of how film can revive meanings of the past within colonised societies, where local narratives have been lost or abandoned by “dominant” histories. In this sense, film may capture representations of history that respond to local, on-the-ground needs for cultural expression that help locate the “missing” within lost knowledge. It also has the potential to foster reflection on how the past is constructed and represented through a lens relevant to the present. I hope this film encourages viewers to explore the interconnectedness of political and historical experience at both local and global levels. It is also a call to consider how we make sense of our shrinking worlds in times of genocide and authoritarianism.’