Synopsis:

A diasporic Palestinian filmmaker struggles to make a contemporary portrait of Jenin, the city her parents fled following the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Seeing Palestine for the first time in 2016, she’s unable to reconcile the nostalgic memories of the exiled with the daily realities of life under military rule. When she returns to Jenin in 2023, she finds a place transformed by the hostile architecture of military occupation and surveillance. She seeks the guidance of local residents — farmers, street vendors, taxi drivers, teachers, and elders — who help her read the besieged landscapes of Jenin. Travelling in time through personal histories and collective memories, she tries to capture this elusive place, unaware that in the wake of October 7th her footage would become a haunting record of another Palestinian city on the eve of unspeakable destruction and violent erasure.

Director’s profile:

Serene Husni Alahmad is a filmmaker, writer, and educator. Her directorial debut, ZINCO (2013), won the “Audience Award for Best Short Documentary” at the Franco-Arab Film Festival, and her short documentary BROWN BREAD & APRICOTS (2021) won the Qayqub Award for “Best Canadian Short Film” from the Toronto Arab Film Festival. She is co-writer and co-editor of the feature documentary EULOGY FOR THE DEAD SEA (2022), directed by Polina Teif. She holds an MFA in Documentary Media awarded with distinction from Toronto Metropolitan University, where she teaches as a sessional instructor.

Producer’s profile:

Rula Nasser began her career with BBC and Discovery Channel before dedicating five years to supporting filmmakers at the Royal Film Commission. In 2011, she launched The Imaginarium Films, spotlighting local tales with global allure. Her recent endeavours, like HAJJAN by Abu Baker Shawqi (TIFF 2023) and THE ALLEYS by Basel Ghandour (Locarno 2021), underscore her commitment to showcasing regional and Jordanian narratives. Her latest triumph, INSHALAH WALLAD by Amjad AlRasheed, premiered at Festival De Cannes 2023 and earned a nomination for the 96th Academy Awards in 2024.

Marc Serpa Francoeur is an Azorean-Canadian documentarian whose work includes THE WORLD IN TEN BLOCKS (Hot Docs 2016, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2017), THE HEAD & THE HAND (Hot Docs 2018 and DOC NYC 2019, where it was listed as a top contender for the Oscars’ Documentary Short category), and the CBC Docs Original NO VISIBLE TRAUMA (VIFF 2020, DOK.fest München 2021). Co-produced with ITVS and with the support of the Sundance Institute, LOVE IN THE TIME OF FENTANYL premiered at Vancouver’s DOXA, where it won the main juried prize. The film had its broadcast premiere on PBS’s Independent Lens and was nominated for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary at the 2024 News & Doc Emmys.