The Prison Remains the Same is an intimate rumination of a Palestinian anthropologist who shares his journey of indoctrination under a Zionist colonial occupation and a lifelong quest to reclaim his cultural history and identity.

Mixing current and archival footage, the film weaves a tale of expulsion and return, through the origins of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict to the resistance and political acquiescence of an entire people. Filmed across various locations in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Israel, the film is a thoughtful, yet searing look at physical and psychological oppression.

THE SUBJECT
Dr. Khalil Nakhleh is a Palestinian anthropologist from the Galilee, Israel/Palestine. His academic and applied occupations focus on how to transform Palestinian society and people from an occupied, colonized, and fragmented society to a liberated, productive, free, and self-generating society, not dependent on external financial aid.

Dr. Nakhleh has authored a number of academic books and articles on Palestinian society, development, NGOs, and education, including The Myth of Palestinian Development: Political Aid and Sustainable Deceit and Globalized Palestine: The National Sell-out of a Homeland.

THE FILMMAKER
Sharif Nakhleh is an independent filmmaker living and working in San Francisco with over 20 years of experience as a director, writer and editor. His body of work includes documentary and narrative films, music videos and commercials. The Prison Remains The Same is an homage to his father’s legacy and nod to his own identity as a Palestinian American.