Wardi, an eleven-year-old Palestinian girl, lives with her whole family in the refugee camp where she was born. Her beloved great-grandfather Sidi was one of the first people to settle in the camp after being chased from his home back in 1948. The day Sidi gives her the key to his old house back in Galilea, she fears he may have lost hope of someday going home. As she searches for Sidi’s lost hope around the camp, she will collect her family’s testimonies, from one generation to the next.
Festivals and Awards
Liv Ullmann Peace Prize and Best Animated Feature, Chicago International Children's Film Festival, USA 2018
Special Jury Prize, MONSTRA Lisbon Animated Film Festival, Portugal, 2018
Cairo International Film Festival, Egypt, 2018
About the filmmaker
Mats Grorud is a Norwegian director and animator who studied animation at Volda University College. He complemented his animation career with studies in Denmark, Beirut, and Beijing. Grorud runs his own company called Nubbsjangs Productions, where he develops his own projects, does commissioned work, and teaches animation. He has also worked on several documentary projects. In 2007 Grorud started working on an animated documentary called The Tower, along with producer Frank Søbstad at Tenk.tv. The film documents the situation of the Palestine refugees in Lebanon from 1948 until today, and is based on interviews and conversations with the people living in the refugee camps. The documentary uses a mix of drawn animation and stop-motion.
- Year2018
- Runtime77 minutes
- LanguageArabic, English, French
- CountryPalestine, Norway, France, Sweden
- DirectorMats Grorud
- ScreenwriterMats Grorud, Trygve Allister Diesen, Ståle Stein Berg
- CastMouna Hawa, Aïssa Maïga, Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri
- CinematographerSara Sponga, Nadine Buss
- EditorSilje Nordseth, Carsten Meinich, Anders Bergland, Margrete Vinnem
Wardi, an eleven-year-old Palestinian girl, lives with her whole family in the refugee camp where she was born. Her beloved great-grandfather Sidi was one of the first people to settle in the camp after being chased from his home back in 1948. The day Sidi gives her the key to his old house back in Galilea, she fears he may have lost hope of someday going home. As she searches for Sidi’s lost hope around the camp, she will collect her family’s testimonies, from one generation to the next.
Festivals and Awards
Liv Ullmann Peace Prize and Best Animated Feature, Chicago International Children's Film Festival, USA 2018
Special Jury Prize, MONSTRA Lisbon Animated Film Festival, Portugal, 2018
Cairo International Film Festival, Egypt, 2018
About the filmmaker
Mats Grorud is a Norwegian director and animator who studied animation at Volda University College. He complemented his animation career with studies in Denmark, Beirut, and Beijing. Grorud runs his own company called Nubbsjangs Productions, where he develops his own projects, does commissioned work, and teaches animation. He has also worked on several documentary projects. In 2007 Grorud started working on an animated documentary called The Tower, along with producer Frank Søbstad at Tenk.tv. The film documents the situation of the Palestine refugees in Lebanon from 1948 until today, and is based on interviews and conversations with the people living in the refugee camps. The documentary uses a mix of drawn animation and stop-motion.
- Year2018
- Runtime77 minutes
- LanguageArabic, English, French
- CountryPalestine, Norway, France, Sweden
- DirectorMats Grorud
- ScreenwriterMats Grorud, Trygve Allister Diesen, Ståle Stein Berg
- CastMouna Hawa, Aïssa Maïga, Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri
- CinematographerSara Sponga, Nadine Buss
- EditorSilje Nordseth, Carsten Meinich, Anders Bergland, Margrete Vinnem