We Began By Measuring Distance - Archive (Basma Al Sharif)

We Began By Measuring Distance - Archive

Director: Basma Al Sharif

Duration: 00:52:54; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 63.804; Saturation: 0.040; Lightness: 0.278; Volume: 0.193; Cuts per Minute: 4.441; Words per Minute: 13.797

Raw archive footage used for video We Began By Measuring Distance by Basma Al Sharif.

Source footage comes from personal archive shot mainly in Chicago, Illinois and Ramattan News Agency & Media Services footage Archive including Operation Cast Lead attacks on Gaza in 2008-09.

To see We Began By Measuring Distance, see: http://pad.ma/XI/info

[sound taken from this clip]
Footage comes from Ramattan News Agency & Media Services covering shelling on a Gaza beach in the summer of 2006. The girl seen in the video is Huda Ghalaya--the only remaining survivor from her immediate family of the attack.

[sound taken from this clip]

Stock footage taken by various Ramattan News Agency & Media Services cameramen based in the agency's Gaza office.

[subtitles: appears as closed captioning for voice heard in the clip]
father
father
father
my Father
shoot him, shoot him

[sound taken from this clip and added voice over of below text appears in final video without footage]

on a day as any other day
all of our memories would become significant
only in retrospect
our first memory was marked by the day setting off to a start
with the worst of all evils:

collection of Ramattan News Agency & Media Services archive footage.

[subtitle appears without voiceover]
BOREDOM

16mm film footage shot in Chicago.

Footage

[subtitles]
to pass the time
we indulged in a book memorializing our homeland
our homeland truly is
a history that is no longer within reach

Osama SIlwadi
The book is "Here we are", 2005 by Osama Silwadi, archivist.

Digital Video Footage shot in Chicago Illinois in late 2007 during an ice storm from the 28th floor of an apartment building overlooking lake Michigan.

[subtitles]
with the arrival of evening
the warmth of the summer was exchanged for a black cloud
that descended over the entirety of the mile high city
and surrounded us from the 28th floor
and the days passed
we switched off the air condition
and stood witness behind our window
as a dense fog settled across the body of water below us
when it cleared
we found that the entirety of our surroundings had frozen over
and we grew more and more
and more and more and more and more and more
unsettled

[subtitles]
so we invented a game of measurements
we measured a 360 degree circle and ended up with 360 degrees
we measured one foot and came up with 30.48 centimeters
we measured a shape and came up with a triangle
we measured an apple and came up with orange
and when it was daybreak and the ice had melted
we took our measurements elsewhere
to find a distance between two points

digital video footage shot on Chicago, Illinois's lake front used in a video previous to 'we began by measuring distance', which was unsuccessful.

[subtitles. (footage reversed in final video)]
to fix our text to
yes
that's right
the distance is a bit short
but it will do for now
we continued our measurements
but with issues more challenging and important to us
we began by measuring distance
we measured the distance from Rome to Geneva
695 km
we measured the distance from Geneva to Madrid
1024 km
we measured the distance from Madrid to Oslo
2391 km
we measured the distance from Oslo to Sharm el Sheikh
3988 km
we measured the distance from Sharm el Sheikh to the Gaza Strip
405 km
we measured the distance from Gaza to Jerusalem
78 km
we measured the distance from Gaza to Jerusalem
78 km
we measured the distance from Gaza to Jerusalem
78 km
OH NO!
not like that
we measured the distance from Gaza to Jerusalem
67
we measured the distance from Gaza to Jerusalem
48
we measured the distance from Gaza to Jerusalem
17
when we came up empty handed
we measured the distance between Palestine to Israel
and found that Rome
was not built in a day

digital video footage shot in Chicago, Illinois at the Shedd Aquarium.

[subtitles. (footage reversed in the final video)]
Our measurements had left us melancholy
we elected to go to a place we had seen only in books
where we could go to rest our eyes and ease of our minds
THE VIRGIN FOREST [subtitle appears without voice]

[subtitles. text excerpt comes from 'Characteristics of Old-Growth Forests' found in the public domain of the U.S. Department of Agriculture]
Some general attributes of the virgin forest
are apparent to an observer with even a moderate background
in natural history.
Trees typically vary in species and size.
The multi layer canopy produces a heavily filtered light,
and the feeling of shade is accentuated by sunlight on clear days.
The understory of shrubs, herbs, and tree seedlings is often moderate
and is almost always patchy in distribution and abundance.
Numerous logs, often large and in various stages of decay,
litter the forest floor,
creating some travel routes for wildlife
and blocking others.
Standing dead tress, snags, and rotted stubs are common,
although a visitor gazing toward the ground
will often mistake dead trees in early stages of decay
for live trees.
It is quiet;
few birds or mammals are seen or heard.

[music: abdel halim hafez - Qareyet el Finjan/The Fortune Teller]

News rushes from Ramattan News Agency & Media Services archives during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza 2008-09.

[music: abdel halim hafez - Qareyet el Finjan/The Fortune Teller]

archive-city

[music: abdel halim hafez - Qareyet el Finjan/The Fortune Teller]

Digital video footage shot in Chicago, Illinois at the Shedd Aquarium.

[music: abdel halim hafez - Qareyet el Finjan/The Fortune Teller]

Footage comes from Ramattan News Agency & Media Services archive.

[music SKIPPING: abdel halim hafez - Qareyet el Finjan/The Fortune Teller]

[subtitles]
we began to have the distinct feeling
that we had been lied to
that we
unfortunately
had not rested at all
and that our measurements had left us empty handed

[subtitle appears as caption for voice heard]
For who are you shooting us

For who are you shooting us

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