Memories for a Private Eye #2

The second film in a trilogy exploring artist Rania Stephan’s personal archive, Memories for A Private Eye #2 revisits the death of her mother, Najla, in Beirut in 1983 during a bombing targeting the Palestine Research Center. Stephan uses a diverse body of archival materials, from the American Alien franchise to Lebanese cinema, delving into cinematic imagination to explore the workings of memory. In an approach that blends investigation and cinephilia through editing, the insistent, fragmentary nature of memory becomes a means of conveying the inexpressible. Personal memories and collective narratives intertwine with fiction in a search for meaning. A speculative relationship to history emerges, offering a way to heal from wounds left by the territorial and bodily violence of an occupation regime.