Edward Said: Between Worlds Heads to New York Film Festival for U.S. Premiere

A new documentary lets Palestinian writer Edward Said tell his own story, entirely in his own words.

Edward Said: Between Worlds, directed by documentarian Maiken Baird, has been selected as a U.S. Premiere in the Spotlight section of the 64th New York Film Festival, according to the festival programme FilmLinc. The festival runs from September 25 to October 12.

The film is built only from archival footage of Said discussing his life, ideas and reflections, according to Variety. It was edited by Jay Arthur Sterrenberg, Plummy Tucker and R.A. Fedde.

Said was a Palestinian literary and cultural critic and academic. He was also an activist, as noted by IndieWire.

He was born in 1935 in Jerusalem, when the city was part of the British Mandate of Palestine. He lived in the United States for most of his life and spent many years in Egypt and Lebanon. He studied and worked at Harvard, Princeton and Columbia.

His book Orientalism, published in 1978, examined Western writing about the East. The documentary focuses in particular on his pro-Palestinian activism, according to POV Magazine.

That history includes Al-Naksa. The term translates to “the Setback” and refers to the aftermath of Israel’s 1967 victory over Arab states in the Six-Day War.

What makes this stand out is the method. No new interviews. No narrator. Baird stays with tape of Said speaking, arguing and remembering across decades.

For audiences new to the name, the festival slot offers a plain entry point. One life. One voice from the archive. A New York premiere.