A Night We Held Between takes the ancient tale of the Minoan Labyrinth as historical inspiration, connecting mythology to the present socio-political reality in Palestine. Set in particular ancient sites across Palestine—caves, carved holes, underground passages, and wild valleys—the land, and landscape become the film’s main protagonists. Timeless, haunting scenes evoke that which is lost, forgotten or forsaken, while repetition and ritual recall ancient gestures related to goddesses, caves and offerings – gestures that resonate through to the present and open up spaces for the communal expression of connection to land and culture across time and space. 

Noor Abed (b.1988) works at the intersection of performance and film. Abed attended the Whitney Independent Study Program in Νew York in 2015-16, and the Home Workspace Program (HWP) at Ashkal Alwan, Beirut 2016-17. Abed’s work has been screened and exhibited internationally at Anthology Film Archives, New York, Gabes Cinema Fen Film Festival, Tunisia, Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Lagos Biennale, Leonard & Bina Gallery, Montréal, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Ujazdowski Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, The Mosaic Rooms, London, and MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome, among others. In 2020, together with Lara Khaldi she co-founded the School of Intrusions, an independent educational collective in Ramallah, Palestine. Abed was an assistant curator for documenta fifteen, kassel 2021-22.  She is currently an artist in residence at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam 2022-24.

A Night We Held Between is produced with the support of the Han Nefkens Foundation—Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2022.

Noor Abed is the recipient of the Han Nefkens Foundation—Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Grant 2022, which awards artists under the age of 50 living in West or Central Asia, supporting the production and exhibition of a new moving image work. The work is selected and exhibited in collaboration with Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai; the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) in Manila; NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and WIELS, Brussels.

A talk with the artist will take place on Friday, April 26, 2024. More details here. 

Noor Abed, A Night We Held Between, 2024
16mm film, 4k digital transfer, with sound, approx. 30 mins.
Commissioned by Han Nefkens Foundation – Fundació Antoni Tàpies Video Art Production Award