In the ancient myth of the Minoan labyrinth, Athenian warrior Theseus escapes King Minos’s maze after decapitating the half-man, half-bull beast, the Minotaur. He is aided by Cretan princess Ariadne, who provides him with a ball of thread to guide him out of the labyrinth. However, he abandons her upon his return to Athens.
This Greek legend is one that Palestinian filmmaker Noor Abed has borrowed powerful symbols and motifs from and integrated into her latest short story, A Night We Held Between.
Noor’s experimental film was screened at this year’s BFI London Film Festival as part of their Collective Summoning shorts exhibition, and it is a visceral, enthralling effort.
It’s a 30-minute cinematic provocation that speaks to the unease and pain, as well as the resilience and love, required to ensure Palestine’s continued survival in the world, in our hearts, and in our minds.
Noor is said to have found the folk song Song for The Fighters at the Sonic Archive of the Popular Art Centre Palestine, and she uses it as a harmonious thread to weave together scenes shot across. “Farewell, warrior of our town,” the singer wails rhythmically, as an older man and a young boy pass old photos between them. “Be well and come back to protect us.”
The scene then cuts to a female warrior, clad in all black, whipping a stick around in a freestyle expression of skill and power. A quiet, layered hum of voices, wind, and echoes of the land scores her movement, then intensifies as Noor takes the viewer into the underground world of caves and passages. The camera creeps around the dark, labyrinthine space, with flashes of reds and yellows bringing warmth to the dank yet earthy surroundings.
Noor creates a vast, ancestral mise en scène not just through the traditional dress worn by the various actors and dancers, but through the rural, almost untouched backdrop of Palestine’s ancient sites that she places them against. Noor also shot and framed the action with a Super 8 camera, emphasising her characters’ often ritualistic practices with grainy, textured beauty.
This is most potent when the camera invites you to observe a group of women executing a ceremonial dance around dusty cave openings and later a fire, from dusk till dawn. Their intimate movements are not neat or dainty; they are robust and emphatic.
As with the warrior, the women throw themselves into the repetitive act in an almost trance-like state, symbolising the importance of feminine authority and force within the culture. It’s intense to witness them fling their bodies up and down, their unwavering motion calling on the spirits of the land and their ancestors for strength and resilience in the face of separation, grief, and longing.
The sociologist, philosopher, and historian Ibn Khaldun once wrote of the natural unity of an Arab community with few blood ties, describing it as “Asabiyyah,” and that deep bond permeates throughout.
With A Night We Held Between, Noor beautifully articulates the collective power conjured when nature meets humanity when the group feeling of the Palestinian people connects their past, present, and future.
Hanna Flint is a British-Tunisian critic, broadcaster and author of Strong Female Character: What Movies Teach Us. Her reviews, interviews and features have appeared in GQ, the Guardian, Elle, Town & Country, Mashable, Radio Times, MTV, Time Out, The New Arab, Empire, BBC Culture and elsewhere
Follow her on Instagram: @hannainesflint
