For who does not know Edward Said, he is an intellectual and literary critic. He is one of those who changed the shape of the world by his deep influence and diverse activities in politics, literature, intellect, art, and culture. He was born in Jerusalem, Palestine in 1935 into an affluent Christian family. In 2003, he passed away in the US following a 12-year long battle with leukemia.

He specialized in English literature, and obtained the doctoral and master’s degree from Harvard University. When he was awarded the prize of the best critic, attention was drawn to him. He started his career as a lecturer among American leading universities. He joined Columbia University and became a professor of English language and literature, and comparative literature.

Orientalism might be the most important work of his, and it has been almost inseparable from Edward’s name. At any time the concept of the East–West dichotomy is mentioned, Edward Said is referenced to as a founder of the field of orientalism critical studies. He traced the political products orientalism caused, and fought against its institutions, and co-founded postcolonial studies. He was an advocate of freedoms, human rights, and the right of Palestinian people, and he was described as the “most powerful voice” for Palestine by the press.

It all started after the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War in June 1967, he devoted himself energetically to explain the question of Palestine in the US. He was an independent member of the Palestinian National Council before he quit his membership in 1991 due to his firm opposition to Yasser Arafat’s Israel-leaning policies. When Arafat signed the Oslo Accords, Said considered him a traitor to Palestine question and disowner of the Palestinian history. He continued his intellectual and political activism on a larger scale, and was strongly against the so-called Peace Process and saw it as a play. He seemed a lonesome voice of resistance in an atmosphere of despair.

His autobiography Out of Place (1999) was bestowed many awards. Edward stayed the same; a beacon of light in the fields of his interests to the very end.

That is for those who do not know Edward Said. For those who know him, this documentary is a new window or an attempt of a new reading of Edward Said as a son, husband, and father and as an artist and man of letters. It is about his story of coming to the US, Palestine visit, unknown reaction to Orientalism, daily routine, relation with the Palestine Liberation Organization, from Mahmoud Darwish to Yasser arafat, and the “Edward Said: A Contrapuntal Reading” poem . It is about New York, Jerusalem, Nasserism, Cairo, music, British look, the Six-Day War, and the Oslo Accords.

This documentary is about the alive and deceased Edward Said in the eyes of his household; his wife Mariam C. Said and daughter Najla Said.

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