A Dangerous Film is a film based on the re-editing of 16mm archival film materials from 1948 that was recently discovered in Tel Aviv containing several scenes depicting the activities of the Lehi paramilitary underground organisation. The Lehi - a Jewish militant paramilitary group operating in Palestine from 1940 until the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948 (also known as “The Stern Gang”), was a violent and active contributor to the bloodshed that swept the region. Lehi’s main aim was the expulsion of the British Mandate from Palestine and the creation of a nationalistic Jewish state. 

The footage suffers from severe cellulose nitrate decomposition which make it brittle, discoloured and even turned parts into a brownish powder. As a result, images contain multiple deep scratches, breaking up, dislocations, and even gas bubbles. These damages mark the passage of 70 years since the images were made and cast a poetic point of view on the violent images. Nitrate based celluloid is an extremely dangerous and unstable medium which can burst into flames unexpectedly, since its emulsion is a chemical variation of nitroglycerine, a major component in gun powder. Edited in 5 episodes, the film presents Lehi members engaging in training, sabotage, covert operations and poster hanging in and surrounding Tel Aviv. These anonymous film materials were never shown in public and no other copies are known to exist. 

The soundtrack, originally meant to be played live, was commissioned to the Israeli composer and producer Guy Sternberg and it reflects, responds and elaborates on the screened images. The music takes the form a modern classical composition and is based on the tension between story and noise, description and chaos and follows the development of the images in 5 separate movements, one for each episode. The score was performed by a string quintet and flute from AKOM classical ensemble (Rotterdam).