This set of experimental short films explores the connections between language, memory, and home. While inseparable elements for some, for others they pose the very obstacles preventing them from connecting to their identities. With this in mind, the filmmakers question how language shapes our memories of home and––inversely––how our recollections of the past are sculpted by the mother tongue we did (or did not) learn to speak. The films are poetic in form and content and take us on a journey from the coasts of Egypt to the water wheels of Hama, Syria to an abandoned family home in Baghdad. They beautifully weave images of texts, nature, cityscapes, and personal archives to convey a perpetual longing for a life that could have been.
This program is curated by Nanor Vosgueritchian
The rain in Oakland, my grandmother's home in Baghdad, my aunts' voices in What's App, my daughter learning to count to 10, my brother playing the darbuka, the cicadas in Texas, the walls of my studio, the search for new forms.
About the filmmaker:
Nadia Shihab is an artist and filmmaker whose work explores the personal, the relational, and the diasporic. Her debut feature-length film JADDOLAND was the winner of five festival jury awards, including the Independent Spirit "Truer than Fiction" Award in 2020. Her work has shown in exhibitions and festivals internationally, including at the Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Berkeley Art Museum, Cairo International Film Festival, DOXA, Kasseler Dokfest, CAAMFest, BlackStar, Camdenand New Orleans Film Festival. She was raised in Texas by immigrant parents from Iraq & Yemen, and works between Oakland, California and Vancouver, Canada.
- Year2021
- Runtime8 minutes
- LanguageEnglish, Turkish
- CountryUnited States
- DirectorNadia Shihab
- CastLahib Jaddo, Parine Jaddo, Falah Jaddo, Yanar Mohammed, Uza Najiba Ashworth, Nadia Shihab
- CinematographerNadia Shihab
- Sound DesignNadia Shihab
- MusicNadia Shihab, Kareem Shihab
This set of experimental short films explores the connections between language, memory, and home. While inseparable elements for some, for others they pose the very obstacles preventing them from connecting to their identities. With this in mind, the filmmakers question how language shapes our memories of home and––inversely––how our recollections of the past are sculpted by the mother tongue we did (or did not) learn to speak. The films are poetic in form and content and take us on a journey from the coasts of Egypt to the water wheels of Hama, Syria to an abandoned family home in Baghdad. They beautifully weave images of texts, nature, cityscapes, and personal archives to convey a perpetual longing for a life that could have been.
This program is curated by Nanor Vosgueritchian
The rain in Oakland, my grandmother's home in Baghdad, my aunts' voices in What's App, my daughter learning to count to 10, my brother playing the darbuka, the cicadas in Texas, the walls of my studio, the search for new forms.
About the filmmaker:
Nadia Shihab is an artist and filmmaker whose work explores the personal, the relational, and the diasporic. Her debut feature-length film JADDOLAND was the winner of five festival jury awards, including the Independent Spirit "Truer than Fiction" Award in 2020. Her work has shown in exhibitions and festivals internationally, including at the Centre Pompidou, Walker Art Center, Berkeley Art Museum, Cairo International Film Festival, DOXA, Kasseler Dokfest, CAAMFest, BlackStar, Camdenand New Orleans Film Festival. She was raised in Texas by immigrant parents from Iraq & Yemen, and works between Oakland, California and Vancouver, Canada.
- Year2021
- Runtime8 minutes
- LanguageEnglish, Turkish
- CountryUnited States
- DirectorNadia Shihab
- CastLahib Jaddo, Parine Jaddo, Falah Jaddo, Yanar Mohammed, Uza Najiba Ashworth, Nadia Shihab
- CinematographerNadia Shihab
- Sound DesignNadia Shihab
- MusicNadia Shihab, Kareem Shihab