This Is My Picture When I Was Dead

Director Mahmoud Al Massad followed Jordanian political cartoonist Bashir Mraish, son of the leading PLO fighter Mamoun Mraish, killed by the Mossad in Athens in 1983. Al Massad provides a reconstruction of the attack, with masked motorcyclists firing into Mraish's car, also hitting four-year-old Bashir. He too was initially pronounced dead - hence the title of this documentary. We hear the adult Bashir, in voice-over, wrestling with memories of his father and of the history of Palestine. He was greatly inspired by a teacher, who said, "If your father's weapon was a gun, yours is a pen." Bashir visits old comrades of his father's, who tell him about his history in the PLO. He talks to his mother, who leafs through an old photo album with him and tells him how "the cause" always took priority for his father over his family. Bashir's quest through his memories is reflected by a brain scan he undergoes as part of a medical examination. Different aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are seen in both old and more recent news footage. This plays an important role in Jordan, where approximately one-third of the population is made up of Palestinian refugees. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)