Tokyo Reels: A Rare Archive of Solidarity Films at the 21st Lemesos International Documentary Festival

Limassol Municipal Arts Centre - Apothikes Papadaki in collaboration with the 21st Lemesos International Documentary Festival, brings the presentation of Tokyo Reels by Subversive Film to launch a new programme series under the title of “Translocal Solidarities”.

Tokyo Reels is accessible to the public throughout the Lemesos International Documentary Festival, 01 - 08 August 2026 at the Project Room (Lanitis Carob Mills) from 19:00 - 23:00. You are welcome to join us on 01 August at 19:00 for the launch of the showcase and on 07 August at 17:00 for an open conversation on the intersections between documentary cinema, archives and the reactivation of solidarity constellations.

Tokyo Reels is a unique collection of twenty 16mm films, produced between the 1960s and 1980s in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Discovered in Japan, the collection contains films made by Palestinian, Arab, Japanese and international filmmakers and journalists, commissioned by political organisations, television stations and humanitarian groups and that were adapted for Japanese audiences through translation, dubbing, and re-editing.

In 2016, Subversive Film gained access to this remarkable collection and undertook extensive research, restoration and digitisation over several years, bringing these films back into public circulation. Since 2022, the work has been presented internationally at documenta 15, the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and at international film festivals in Berlin, Rotterdam, Toronto, Tunis, and Vienna, among other cities.

Translocal solidarities investigates the translocal and political dimensions of cinema and audiovisual archives, curated by Marina Christodoulidou and Eleni Tzialli.

Subversive Film is a cinema research and production collective that aims to cast new light on historic works related to Palestine and the surrounding region, to engender support for film preservation and to investigate archival practices. Their long-term and ongoing projects explore this cine-historic field including digitally reissuing previously overlooked films, curating rare film screening cycles, subtitling rediscovered films, producing publications, and devising other forms of interventions. Formed in 2011 by Mohanad Yaqubi and Reem Shilleh, Subversive Film is based between Ramallah and Brussels.

Mohanad Yaqubi is a filmmaker and producer, and one of the founders of Idioms Film, an independent film production company based in Ramallah since 2004. He is also a member of Subversive Film — a collective that researches and re-disseminates militant cinema practices of Palestine. Since 2017, he has been a lecturer and researcher at the School of Arts in Ghent.

Reem Shilleh lives between Brussels and Ramallah. Her practice is informed by an ongoing research on militant and revolutionary image practices specific to Palestine and its solidarity network, by examining the transnational web of struggles past and present. She interlaces research, moving image, editing, archival, and writing practices to question the infinite formations of memory and collectivity, from within the conditions of the present. She is a member of Subversive Film and the Kitchen.