BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA |16| May 29, 2013, 9:30 pm Serene Husni, Zinco (HD Video)
Zinco is a portrait of Al Talbieh (Zizya), a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan established in the wake of the 1967 June War. Decades later, the camp has become less of a temporary solution and more of a permanent “zone.” By retracing the development of the camp, from the canvas that once made up refugee tents to freshly painted cement roofs, the film looks for visual manifestations of Palestinian displacement, taking the slowly changing construction material of Palestinian refugee shelters as a signifier for exile. “Zinco” is an Arabic slang word that refers to the corrugated tin rooftops that still cover most of the camp’s habitats today. The film relies on anecdotes and personal narratives in telling the story of the camp, and explores new ways of representing oppressed peoples and histories.