The Forgotten
Spring Grants 2016 - Production Stage
Ghada Terawi / Feature Documentary / Palestine, Qatar, United Arab Emirates / 90 min / Original Language: Arabic, English, Japanese / Interests: History, Biography, Identity
Synopsis
A journey in the life of Kozo Okamoto, a Japanese freedom fighter and member of the Japanese Red Army, who gave up his life in Japan to join the Palestinian liberation movement. The film knits together a map of Okamoto’s journey through stories of Palestinian and Japanese people who passed through Kozo’s life. Living the romantic dream of being a “world revolutionary” was a stage in Okamoto’s life, but being the lone survivor of the Lod Airport Operation in 1972 was a turning point. Interrogation in Israeli jails, a trial, and 13 years in Israeli prison marked his whole life and formed the person he is now.
Being freed from prison after a prisoner-exchange deal between Israel and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1985 took him on another journey, where he faced loss, insecurity, guilt, and betrayal. ‘The Forgotten’ seeks to reveal Okamoto’s life journey, which is full of contradictions—ups and downs, waiting and hope, pain and frustration. This journey will be told by Ghada, the film director, who is the daughter of two Palestinian fighters. The idea of revolution was part of her childhood, history, and personality. Although the film will tell the story of Kozo Okamoto, his past and present, struggles and dreams, it will also shed light on the current Palestinian struggles and challenges as seen from the director’s point of view.
Credits
- Director
- Ghada Terawi
- Screenwriter
- Ghada Terawi
- Producer
- May Odeh
- Production Company
- Odeh Films
About the Director
Ghada Terawi was born to Palestinian militants in Beirut in 1972. She grew up between Beirut, Tunis and Cairo, and graduated from the American University of Cairo with a BA in International Relations. She currently lives in Palestine. Terawi began working in the field of documentary filmmaking in 1998 and produced her first film, ‘Staying Alive’, in 2001. Her other films include ‘What’s Next’ (2003), ‘The Way Back Home’ (2006), ‘The Last Station’ (2007), ‘Golden Pomegranate Seeds’ (2009), ‘On Air’ (2011) and ‘The Storyteller’ (2013).