Channel
Larissa Sansour Trilogy
A Space Exodus
Larissa Sansour
A Space Exodus
5 mins 53 secs
A Space Exodus (بعثة فضاء) sets up an adapted stretch of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in a Middle Eastern political context. The recognizable music scores of the 1968 science fiction film are changed to arabesque chords matching the surreal visuals of Sansour's film.
The film follows the artist herself onto a phantasmagoric journey through the universe echoing Kubrick's thematic concerns for human evolution, progress and technology. However, in her film, Sansour posits the idea of a first Palestinian into space, and, referencing Armstrong's moon landing, she interprets this theoretical gesture as 'a small step for a Palestinian, a giant leap for mankind'.
The film offers a naively hopeful and optimistic vision for a Palestinian future contrasting sharply with all the elements that are currently eating away at the very idea of a viable Palestinian state.