Maha, 12, is part of the last generation of Palestinian refugees from the Balata camp. Following a fainting by her blind grandfather, she imagines a crazy project: to make him believe that the wall of separation has fallen and that a return to his native land is possible. With the help of her friends from the camp, the young girl imagines a fun trip for him... <a href="http://www.manifest.pictures/film/palestine-islands/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn More</a>

English

Palestine Islands

The film Lyd (the Arabic name of Lod, a city now in Israel) is about a 5,000-year-old bustling Palestinian town that was conquered when the State of Israel was established in 1948, and the film Lyd is the story of that city’s rise and fall. An exploration of what it once was, and what it is now, in the context of the continuing conflicts and the war in Gaza, Lyd’s excavation of one community’s complex history offers us not only lessons but possible futures. As the film unfolds, a chorus of characters creates a tapestry of the Palestinian experience of this city and the trauma left by the massacre and expulsion, while vivid animations envision an alternate reality where the same characters live free from the trauma of the past and the violence of the present. Using never-before-seen archival footage of the Israeli soldiers who carried out the massacre and expulsion, the personified city explains that these events were so devastating that they fractured reality, and now there are two Lyds — one occupied and one free. As the film cuts between fantastical and documentary realities, it ultimately leaves the viewer questioning what future should prevail. <a href="https://icarusfilms.com/if-lyd" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Learn More</a>

Toronto Palestine Film Festival

Lyd w/ Palestine Islands