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Cinema Muzeul Țăranului -
Wednesday, March 28, 2018 - 18:30
Cinema Muzeul Țăranului -
Friday, March 30, 2018 - 18:30
Written by:
Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Cinematography:
Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Editing:
Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Sound:
Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Producer:
Fabian Schoeneich
Production:
Portikus
Romanian Premiere
Winner of the Tiger and Audience Awards at Rotterdam and 25 FPS respectively, Rubber Coated Steel is a forensic procedural that revisits the trial against two Israeli soldiers accused of killing teenagers Nadeem Nawara and Mohamad Abu Daher. Within the space of a shooting gallery, waveforms from video recordings are analyzed to prove that live ammunition was employed – instead of rubber bullets. Through the deafening silence of subtitled court transcripts, we read on as the prosecution makes its case and witness the reductive (in)ability of legal proceedings (and its jargon) to assert The Truth. Redeeming the humanity splintered by statistical evidence, Lawrence Abu Hamdan delivers a sobering look at the imbalance of systems of power and their victims. (Andrei Tănăsescu, BIEFF 2018)
Director:
Website:
Contact:
lawrenceabuhamdan[at]gmail[dot]com
Festivals, awards:
- Tiger Award for Short Film – International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017
- Audience Award - 25 FPS Festival, Croatia 2017
- New York Film Festival 2017
- Sheffield International Documentary Festival 2017
- IndieLisboa 2017
- Winterthur International Short Film Festival 2017
- VIS Vienna 2017
- Yamagata International Documentary Festival 2017
Curatorial comment:
Rubber Coated Steel offers no easy answers, only the painful realization that the law and the world are riddled with distinctions that are seen and heard by some but not by others. Among the most enraging moments of the film are those in which parts of the court transcript are presented struck out, having been officially removed from the record after the fact. The longest struck out section—presented over the course of several subtitle transitions—describes instructions posted on an Israeli military website for making lethal ammunition sound like non-lethal rubber bullets. For me, reading these lines induced two kinds of horror. The first regarded the callousness and racism of a military culture bent on dodging its responsibility for willful murder. But the second came with my realization, even before I finished reading, that what I was reading would be formally disregarded by those who most needed to see it. Recorded only under erasure, these lines—much like Deri’s rubber coated steel gunshots—are hidden in plain sight. We know far in advance what follows them in the transcript: Objection. Sustained. I don’t understand, I didn’t hear you. Lawrence Abu Hamdan shows us that to be silent and to be silenced are very different things—wisdom that applies as well in figurative terms as it does to the very literal world of firearm technology. (John Nyman, peripheralview.com)
Rubber Coated Steel offers no easy answers, only the painful realization that the law and the world are riddled with distinctions that are seen and heard by some but not by others. Among the most enraging moments of the film are those in which parts of the court transcript are presented struck out, having been officially removed from the record after the fact. The longest struck out section—presented over the course of several subtitle transitions—describes instructions posted on an Israeli military website for making lethal ammunition sound like non-lethal rubber bullets. For me, reading these lines induced two kinds of horror. The first regarded the callousness and racism of a military culture bent on dodging its responsibility for willful murder. But the second came with my realization, even before I finished reading, that what I was reading would be formally disregarded by those who most needed to see it. Recorded only under erasure, these lines—much like Deri’s rubber coated steel gunshots—are hidden in plain sight. We know far in advance what follows them in the transcript: Objection. Sustained. I don’t understand, I didn’t hear you. Lawrence Abu Hamdan shows us that to be silent and to be silenced are very different things—wisdom that applies as well in figurative terms as it does to the very literal world of firearm technology. (John Nyman, peripheralview.com)