In 1980, Syrian filmmaker Mohammad Malas traveled to Lebanon to film a documentary about the country's Palestinian refugee camps, during which time he kept a diary of his impressions. The Dream: A Diary of a Film is Malas's haunting chronicle of his immersion in the life of the camps, including Shatila, Burj al-Barajneh, Nahr al-Bared, and Ein al-Helweh. It also describes the filmmaking process, from the research stage to the film's unofficial release, in Shatila Camp, before it reached a global audience.
In vivid and poetic detail, Malas provides a snapshot of Palestinian...