Before Their Flood

Before Their Flood was originally made as a limited-release zine to accompany Before Their Flood: Water Politics in the Arab World, a screening and discussion at Maysles Documentary Center in September 2023. The program, curated by Palestinian writers, Kaleem Hawa and Nadine Fattaleh, centered around two films—Everyday Life in a Syrian Village (Omar Amiralay, 1974, Syria, 83 min.) and The Marshes (Kassem Hawal,1976, Iraq, 45 min.)—and meditated on the lasting impact of dam construction and agricultural reform across the Middle East.

The zine features essays by Kaleem Hawa and Nadine Fattaleh further probing the work of Omar Amiralay and Kassem Hawal. It also includes an original translation of a rare text by Saadalah Wannus on working with Amiralay on Everyday Life, and a reproduction of a 1971 interview between Kassem Hawal and Omar Amiralay (originally published in the pages of al-Hadaf magazine).

These essays, images, translations, and interviews together pose complex questions of national development, colonialism, and forced displacement, and shed light on the history and future of radical Arab cinema. -Publisher