Join us for a pre-recorded virtual conversation with Fadia Loubani, the subject of Fadia's Tree, moderated by dancer and filmmaker Leila Awadallah.
Fadia Loubani is the subject of the film Fadia’s Tree. Fadia’s grandparents fled from historic Palestine in 1948 after the two massacres in their village Sa‘sa‘, which is now a kibbutz. Fadia was born in 1968 in Bourj el Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. Fadia’s husband was killed in the Lebanese civil war. Fadia raised her children in Beirut while establishing the first kindergarten, Al Qassam, inside the Bourj el Barajneh camp. Despite multiple bombings and incursions during the following years, Fadia worked tirelessly to develop the school, which has been a haven for scores of refugee children. As head teacher of Al Qassam, she has worked to protect the school grounds from the development pressures of an overcrowded camp. She has also created a public library and adult learning center at the school. Fadia is also a writer, having written a number of darkly comic plays about life in the camp, which been staged by The Women of the Camp theater company, which she also created with a group of like-minded women in the community. Last year, they toured around Denmark to much acclaim and this year, some of Fadia’s short stories have been published in an anthology of female writers. Her work has been honored with awards from local and international organizations.
Leila Awadallah (she/her) is a Palestinian American dancer, choreographer, and film wanderer based between Minneapolis and Beirut. She is the founder of the Body Watani Dance project in collaboration with Noelle Awadallah. Leila is a McKnight Dancer Fellow (2022), a Jerome Hill Fellow (2021-2023), and previously a Springboard 20/20 (2019) and Daring Dances Fellow (2019). Her work has been supported through research residencies and performances at the Hammana Artist House, Amalgam, and Lebanese National Theatre (Lebanon), Camargo Foundation (France), Arab American National Museum (Michigan), and most widely across spaces and places in and around her home in the Twin Cities. She is a collaborator of the Theatre of the Women of the Camp in Borj el Barajneh (Lebanon). Leila has a BFA in Dance and minor in Arabic Language and Literature from the University of Minnesota.
Join us for a pre-recorded virtual conversation with Fadia Loubani, the subject of Fadia's Tree, moderated by dancer and filmmaker Leila Awadallah.
Fadia Loubani is the subject of the film Fadia’s Tree. Fadia’s grandparents fled from historic Palestine in 1948 after the two massacres in their village Sa‘sa‘, which is now a kibbutz. Fadia was born in 1968 in Bourj el Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. Fadia’s husband was killed in the Lebanese civil war. Fadia raised her children in Beirut while establishing the first kindergarten, Al Qassam, inside the Bourj el Barajneh camp. Despite multiple bombings and incursions during the following years, Fadia worked tirelessly to develop the school, which has been a haven for scores of refugee children. As head teacher of Al Qassam, she has worked to protect the school grounds from the development pressures of an overcrowded camp. She has also created a public library and adult learning center at the school. Fadia is also a writer, having written a number of darkly comic plays about life in the camp, which been staged by The Women of the Camp theater company, which she also created with a group of like-minded women in the community. Last year, they toured around Denmark to much acclaim and this year, some of Fadia’s short stories have been published in an anthology of female writers. Her work has been honored with awards from local and international organizations.
Leila Awadallah (she/her) is a Palestinian American dancer, choreographer, and film wanderer based between Minneapolis and Beirut. She is the founder of the Body Watani Dance project in collaboration with Noelle Awadallah. Leila is a McKnight Dancer Fellow (2022), a Jerome Hill Fellow (2021-2023), and previously a Springboard 20/20 (2019) and Daring Dances Fellow (2019). Her work has been supported through research residencies and performances at the Hammana Artist House, Amalgam, and Lebanese National Theatre (Lebanon), Camargo Foundation (France), Arab American National Museum (Michigan), and most widely across spaces and places in and around her home in the Twin Cities. She is a collaborator of the Theatre of the Women of the Camp in Borj el Barajneh (Lebanon). Leila has a BFA in Dance and minor in Arabic Language and Literature from the University of Minnesota.