The Tower 

Wardi

Dir. Mats Grorud, 2017, Norway, France, Sweden. 80 min.

In Arabic and French with English subtitles

Ages 13 & up

Annecy Internation Animation Film Festival 2018

Wardi, an eleven-year-old Palestinian girl, lives with her whole family in a refugee camp in Lebanon. There, she learns about her family’s history through stories told by three generations of refugees. Her beloved great-grandfather Sidi was one of the first people to settle in the camp after being chased from his home in Galilee in 1948. Sidi gives her the key to his old house back home, and she fears that he may have lost hope of someday going back. As she searches for Sidi’s lost home, she collects her family’s testimonies, from one generation to the next.

Using puppets for daily life in the camps and 2-D animation for flashbacks, director Mats Grorud offers a vivid portrait of occupation and displacement rarely represented in animation.

Voiced by Aïssa Maïga as aunt Hannan.