They Were Promised the Sea

Kathy Wazana / Documentary / Canada / 2012 / 72 mins

They Were Promised the Sea is the story of the complexity of Arab Jewish identity. The film is a stunning visual, lyrical and musical meditation on loss and longing, hope and the possibilities of coexistence. Informed by the director's family history, the film investigates the circumstances surrounding the mass migration of Jews from Morocco, an exodus inextricably linked to the dispossession and exile of the Palestinian people.

The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni

Rania Stephan / Documentary / Lebanon / 2011 / 70 mins

The Three Disappearances of Soad Hosni is a rapturous elegy to a rich and versatile era of film production in Egypt which has lapsed today, through the work of one of its most revered actress and star: Soad Hosni, who from the early 1960 into the 90s, embodied the modern Arab woman in her complexity and paradoxes.

Turtles Do Not Die of Old Age

Hind Benchekroun and Sami Mermer / Documentary / Canada, Morocco / 2010 / 92 mins

Turtles Do Not Die of Old Age is a documentary about three men--Chehma, Radi and Laroussi--who still work to earn a living at about 80 years of age. It is anchored in the mens' daily rituals, enveloped with a compassionate humanity.

The Turtle’s Rage

Pary El-Qalqili / Documentary / Germany / 2012 / 70 mins

The Turtle´s Rage tells the story of a mysterious man, whose life has been molded by flight, expulsion, life in exile and the failed return to Palestine.

A World Not Ours

Mahdi Fleifel / Documentary / Denmark, Lebanon, UAE, UK / 2012 / 93 mins

Mahdi Fleifel's dazzling first-person documentary takes us inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh, where the approaching World Cup championship has become a means for the residents to articulate their own ideas of home, community, victory and hope.