Perishable Idol
Majid Al-Remaih / France, Kuwait & Qatar / 2025 / World Premiere / 19 min
On a deserted island off Kuwait City, a local archaeologist reflects on memory and history as the recent past becomes increasingly distant.
On the horizon, the skyline of Kuwait City rises above the sea against a dark blue sky. When viewed from the abandoned island of Failaka – formerly known as Icarus – the city is a mirage of the future. In Majid Al-Remaih’s atmospheric and elliptic film ‘Perishable Idol’, local archaeologist Hassan Al-Failakawy returns to Failaka to study the physical remains of the past in the sand. Between the wasteland and the modern ruins of the Gulf War, he asks himself questions about time, restitution and belonging. The bright light of day and the bluish darkness of night are interrupted only by the greenish flashes of a Nightvision camera from the bomb campaigns during the war.