Camp Pause

We know very little about why Palestinian camps are located where they are. We also know little about the trajectories of their communities. We often assume that, upon their arrival, refugees were directly transported to tents that later became “camps.” Reflecting on ideas of refuge and the sea that connects them to Palestine, we worked with four residents of the Rashidieh Refugee Camp located on the coast of Lebanon, just south of the city of Tyre. We filmed their every day routes from their homes to the sea, each participant leading us to the final scene in which they choose a spot on the seashore. Along the way, they weave simultaneous narratives about the history of the land, their arrival, the struggle to build, and everyday life in a camp situated away from the city, bordered by agricultural fields and the sea.