The Film: A Cinematic Dialogue Across Time
Revolutionaries Never Die is a feature-length documentary by Palestinian filmmaker and archivistMohanad Yaqubi. The film originated from an invitation extended by Jocelyne Saab to Yaqubi in October 2018, proposing a collaboration. Yaqubi did not respond in time, and Saab passed away two months later.Revolutionaries Never Die is his belated response: a cinematic conversation assembled from the images, words, and historical traces Saab left behind.
The project gained significant momentum after winning theGrand Prize for Best Project in Post-Production at the Cairo Film Connection in 2025. The film premiered in theConcorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers of the Present) competition at the 79th Locarno Film Festival in August 2026.
A Deep Dive into the Archive
Yaqubi worked from a collection of115 reels of film preserved by Saab at the French Film Archive, covering the period between1973 and 1983. This decade was pivotal for the Middle East and for Saab's own career, as she transitioned from being a war correspondent to a fully-fledged documentarian.
The film traces Saab's artistic and political journey through the turbulent 1970s, with particular attention paid to thePalestinian revolution, the Lebanese Civil War, and the relationship between filmmaking and political struggle. Fragments of footage are arranged chronologically, while Saab's own voice – reconstructed through material she recorded in Arabic, French, and English – guides the narrative.
The collection documents a wide range of struggles: the Palestinian cause, the complexities of the Lebanese Civil War, the Polisario Front's struggle against Morocco, the 1977 bread riots in Cairo, and the social and political inequities in post-revolutionary Iran.
A Personal and Universal Story
The film is structured asa letter that can never be delivered. It explores unanswered questions around the meaning of political filmmaking, representation, and the aesthetics of revolution in the Arab world.
The personal connection between Yaqubi and Saab became profoundly concrete when hisfamily's house was bombed in Gaza in April 2024. He immediately identified with a scene from Saab's 1982 filmBeirut My City, where she stands in front of her own bombed house. Yaqubi describes this moment as the key where "these two parallel lines – these parallel lives – connect" , explaining that "this loss stitched our stories together, like one continuous looping reel".
A Humanist Vision
Yaqubi's film highlights Saab's "human-approach cinema," emphasizing her ability to show the joy, resilience and humanity of people living through conflict. He notes that Saab always found the angle to tell a story, whether through an old woman, a young boy, or a student. She filmed soldiers dancing to remind them of joy and observed the imagination that leads to resilience.
Festivals and Awards
- Cairo Film Connection 2025 – Grand Prize for Best Project in Post-Production
- Locarno Film Festival 2026 – World Premiere in Concorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers of the Present) competition
Press Coverage
- "Revolutionaries Never Die Review: Vital, Searching Doc Builds A Cinematic Bridge Between Gaza And Lebanon" –Outlook India, August 2026. The review calls the film a "profoundly moving, sobering paean to extraordinary resilience of people who've been battered again and again yet mine strength and purpose to power through".
- "Cairo Award Winner Mohanad Yaqubi on Lebanese Filmmaker Jocelyne Saab" –Variety, November 2025. An interview with Yaqubi about the project's origins, his identification with Saab's experience of loss, and his thoughts on political filmmaking.
- "Locarno Filmmakers of the Present: Revolutionaries Never Die" –Business Doc Europe, August 2026. An in-depth article exploring the film's themes and Yaqubi's personal connection to the material.
- EXCLUSIF: La bande-annonce de Revolutionaries Never Die –Cineuropa, July 2026. Announcement of the film's world premiere and the exclusive reveal of its trailer.
- Locarno Film Festival 2026 –Afcinema, July 2026. Listing of the film's selection in the official competition.
- Cairo Film Connection Projects Continue Global Success –Cairo International Film Festival, July 2026. Announcement of the film's selection at Locarno and its previous success at the Cairo Film Connection.
- Inquietudini della storia –Corriere del Ticino, August 2026. A review describing the film as "absolutely interesting for how it illuminates all the current tensions of the Middle East through the images of a very courageous filmmaker of yesterday".