Unspoken silences: reclaiming colonial archives of Palestine Cineconcert + ScreenTalk (15*)

Rana Eid

Rana Eid was born in 1976 in Beirut. She has worked as sound editor since 2003 on various Lebanese films, collaborating with a number of acclaimed Lebanese filmmakers such as Joanna Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Ghassan Salhab, Mohammad Soueid… In 2006, Eid has opened DB STUDIOS for audio post production with composer NadimMishlawi. DB Studios is now a partner with French association of sound Polyson/HAL. Since then she is working on films from the region and the world (Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Soudan, Morocco, India, China, Nepal, Macedonia, USA, England, Belgium etc..), teaming up with established filmmakers as well as emerging talents. In 2017, She directed her first Feature Documentary “Panoptic”, which premiered in Locarno Film Festival, and participated in many festivals. In 2019, she worked on the sound design of two Academy Award nominated films, “The Cave” by Firas Fayyad, and “Honeyland” by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stephanov. “Hot Milk”, the feature debut of Rebecca Lenkiewicz, on which Rana Eid has worked as a sound designer, premiered at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival, im Competition.  

Theo Panagopoulos

Theo Panagopoulos is a Greek-Lebanese-Palestinian filmmaker based in Scotland. His work explores themes of collective memory, displacement, fragmented identities and archives. He has directed multiple short films that screened in reputable festivals such as Sundance, Doc Lisboa, Thessaloniki among others and his most recent film called The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing won the best short film award at IDFA 2024. He is currently completing his PhD research on colonial film archives connected to 1930s Palestine.

Cynthia Zaven

Cynthia Zaven is a composer, pianist and artist based in Beirut. Her projects combine a variety of media including video and the use of archive material to explore the relationship between sound, memory and identity through interwoven narratives. Her works have been internationally exhibited in museums and biennales. Since 1993, Zaven has also created sound design for theater, live performance, dance, conceptual art projects, and composed original scores for film. The award-winning works have been screened at venues worldwide including the film festivals at Cannes, Locarno, Toronto, Sao Paolo, as well at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and Oxford's Museum of Modern Art. She has written for musicians and vocalists such as the Neue Vocalsolisten, the Ensemble Modern and the Danapris String Quartet. Her music has been published by the Berlin based label, Staalplaat. Zaven is a professor of classical piano at the Higher National Conservatory of Music in Beirut.