Banned for decades, Egyptian director Tewfik Saleh’s uncompromising film is shatteringly prescient. Three Palestinian refugees, a boy, a younger and an elderly man, each with their own back story, attempt to flee to Kuwait through a blisteringly hot desert, concealed in the empty tank of a truck. From the novella by Ghassan Kanafani – a militant intellectual assassinated by Mossad in 1972 – this allegorical statement on the Palestinian struggle makes for urgent viewing. Simple in structure, it’s more shocking for the directness with which the story is told.
Restored in 2023 by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with the National Film Organization and the family of Tewfik Saleh. Special thanks to Mohamed Challouf and Nadi Nekol Nas. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation
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