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An Excerpt from a film installation, 4K, Color, Sound, Berlin, Camera: Avi Levi.
The film installation The First Moments of Marwa El-Sherbini relates to a hate crime which took place in a German courtroom in 2009: The killing of a young woman, Marwa El-Sherbini, who was stabbed eighteen times during a trial in which she testified about racist insults directed at her in 2008 by her eventual killer. During the sudden attack, her husband pushed himself between the attacker and El-Sherbini to protect her, and as a result, suffered sixteen wounds. He eventually collapsed when a policeman shot him in his knee, having mistaken him for the killer. These disturbing occurrences posed urgent questions: How did a knife get into the courtroom? How was it possible for the attacker to stab his victims repeatedly and without interruption? Furthermore, what means and imagery did the media and the press use in response to the fatal incident? Throughout meticulous research involving alleged testimonies, the dancers reenact the different interpretations of police files and cross-evidence in order to retrace the sequence of events before and during the murder. They construct a timeline, that will be played backwards, starting with death and arrive at the beginning of the trial, to be presented as a public monument for 10 year memorial. This piece includes the process of preparation. In addition to the detailed reconstruction of the court scene in collaboration with performers and eyewitnesses, Gur has gathered with Showcase (2022, see image below) archive and press material, in which the specific representations of “guilt” and “innocence” ultimately also serve to shirk political co-responsibility.
