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Cine Concert at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

I'll be performing Palestine, a revised narrative at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, on November 14th, 2026. The project was originally commissioned by Rabih El Khoury for ALFILM, Arab Film Festival Berlin, for its 15th edition in April 2024, featuring archival material courtesy of the Imperial War Museums. Since its premiere, Palestine – A Revised Narrative has been presented in Beirut, London, Manchester, Pordenone, and Gabès.

Palestine, a revised narrative (30’)
Editing, music and live piano performance: Cynthia Zaven
Sound Design: Rana Eid

The piece was voted Best Modern Silent in the Silent London Poll of 2025, an annual audience-voted survey celebrating achievements in silent cinema, including modern silent films, restorations, festivals, and screenings.

For more information on the event, please click here

Opening of Gabès Cinema Fen

Grateful to have been invited to perform the cine concert Palestine, a revised narrative at the opening of the Gabès Cinema Fen, an annual festival celebrating the art of the moving image. The festival takes place each year in Gabès, a city in southeastern Tunisia. The performance was followed the next day by a conversation with Rabih el Khoury about the making of the project.

To know more about the festival, please click here

Hypogeum V

Hypogeum V is a video by Vatche Boulghourjian for which I worked on the sound and music, shot entirely in the newly discovered Bronze Age hypogeum in Byblos, Lebanon. An extract from the video will be on display at the Arab World Institute in Paris, as part of the exhibition “Byblos, cité millénaire du Liban", which runs from March 24 to August 23, 2026.

Best modern silent 2025

Palestine, a revised narrative was voted Best Modern Silent of 2025 in the annual Silent London Poll. The Poll is an annual audience-voted survey celebrating achievements in silent cinema, including modern silent films, restorations, festivals, and screenings. It gathers votes from silent film fans, film critics and scholars around the world and announces winners each year in various categories such as Best Modern Silent, Best Silent Film Screening and Silent Film Discovery.

To know more about the winners in the different categories, please click here

Beirut Art Film Festival Golden Fireflies Award

I am deeply honored to have received the Golden Fireflies Award 2025, which celebrates women who have made significant contributions to the fields of cinema and the arts.

To know more about the festival and award, please click here

My Armenian Phantoms, Armenia’s Oscar submission

Tamara Stepanyan’s My Armenian Phantoms has been selected as Armenia’s Oscar submission in both Best International Feature Film and Best documentary categories for the 2026 Academy Awards.

I am happy to have composed the original soundtrack that features Tamara’s mother, Nariné Harutyunyan, on cello.

The documentary premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival before touring festivals around the world. My Armenian Phantoms is a tender posthumous letter to the director’s father, Vigen Stepanyan, through archival footage of Soviet Armenian cinema.

Armenia has never been nominated in the Best International Documentary category.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences will announce shortlists on December 16, followed by nominations on January 22.

The Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 15 at the Dolby Theatre.

Le Giornate del Cinema Muto

Next date for the Palestine, a revised narative performance will be at the world’s leading international silent-film festival, Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, in Pordenone, Italy. The performance will take place at the Teatro Verdi on October 8, 2025.

For more info about the festival and the performance, please click here

Cine concert at the Barbican cinema and Contact theater

As part of the 8th edition of the Safar Film Festival, I will be performing Palestine, a revised narrative at the Barbican (London) on June 22, and at Contact (Manchester) on June 24th.

For more information on the event, please click here

To enlarge the video, click the square icon in the bottom right

Photo by Jim Mangles

Live performance at Metropolis cinema

I’ll be performing in Beirut on Monday 20th, as part of the Ecrans du Réel festival, in the refurbished Metropolis cinema in its new location in Beirut.

For more info, please click here

Jerusalem, film still, 1917

Metropolis Cinema

cine concert at Silent Green Berlin

Rehearsals and sound check (video by Rabih el Khoury)

Post-performance discussion (photo by Nour Sokhon)

Rehearsals (photo by Rana Eid)

photo by Rabih el Khoury

Live performance at Alfilm (Berlin)

I'm looking forward to performing live at this year's edition of Alfilm festival in Berlin, Palestine - A Revised Narrative, a 30 min film I edited from 77 silent short clips shot on 35mm by British Forces in Palestine between 1914 and 1917. A collaboration with Rana Eid (sound design), this visual and sonic essay is a reflection on the British imperial narrative following the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of nation-states in the Middle East.

For more info on schedule and location, please click here

The Watchman at the International Rotterdam Film Festival

One of my favorite films in recent years that I had the pleasure to compose the music for, will be competing at the Rotterdam Film Festival (IRFF) next month. The Watchman by Ali Cherri, or the poetics of beauty, distance and dreams vs the politics of chauvinism, insanity and wars.

To know more about the screenings at the International Rotterdam Film Festival, please click here

 

© 2014 - 2026 Cynthia Zaven