#farha

Salt of this Sea (2008). Dir. Annemarie Jacir. Heist film set in Palestine about 2 Palestinians who help a Palestinian American woman rob a British bank who refused to give her the money her grandfather left her.

Netflix original series, Mo, created by Mo Amer. Dramedy about Mo, a Palestinian American without papers, trying to stay out of trouble until his US citizenship is approved (he's already been waiting for 12 years). This just got renewed for a second season!!!!

Farha (2021). Dir. Darin J. Sallam. Coming of age story about a 14 year old girl trying to survive the Nakba in 1948. Tw: settler colonial violence.

In Between (2016). Dir. Maysaloun Hamoud. A film about 3 Palestinian women, one of whom is queer, in their 20s living under occupation. Heart-warming story about friendship, solidarity and revenge. Tw: sexual assault.

In Vitro (2019). Dir. Larissa Sansour. Breathtaking short scifi film set in a future where Bethlehem has been destroyed by an ecological disaster and two scientists from different generations are trying to remember what happened. This film is pure poetry and I think about it constantly.

It Must Be Heaven (2019). Dir. Elia Sulieman. A charmingly absurdist film about Elia Sulieman seeing parallels to Palestine everywhere he goes as he tries to make a film about his homeland.

The Crossing (2017). Dir. Ameen Nayfeh. Short film about Palestinian siblings trying to cross an Israeli checkpoint to visit their grandparents.

Ramy. Episode 3 of season 3: 'American Cigarettes'. Far and away the best episode of TV of 2022, and also directed by Annemarie Jacir. Ramy goes to occupied Palestine to make a diamond deal with some Israeli brokers, but his horniness takes him to The Other Side. I think about this episode almost everyday, it's unlike anything I've ever seen.

Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis. A book of interviews and essays conducted by Angela Davis on how systems of racism and colonial violence are all connected, and how solidarity between communities of colour are vital, using the long-standing allyship between Palestinians, Aboriginal peoples and Black Americans as case studies.

FARHA (2021) dir. Darin J. Sallam

Basically, Farha is a fourteen year old Palestinian girl living in a village in Palestine. The setup is like a traditional coming of age movie (obvs with cultural details, like Farha not wanting to be married orr young and to pursue education) but it COMPLETELY flips when the Nakba happens and Farha's village gets invaded.

The movie stops. Entirely. The whole setup is thrown away, and we spend most of the movie hiding with Farha in her father's storage space/hidey hole is SO fucking tragically clever, because it symbolises how so many Palestinian peoples' lives stopped after the Nakba.

There's a scene when Farha's friend says "when i grow up i want to be-" and shes LITERALLY CUT OFF BY THE SOUND OF AN EXPLOSION. SYMBOLISING HOW SO MANY PEOPLES' DREAMS WERE SHATTERED BY THE NAKBA.

It's not a satisfying story. You breathe a sigh of relief when it's over, but you don't feel like it's a good, happy, complete ending. Because it's not supposed to be. It's supposed to feel like being punched in the throat when you watch it. It's supposed to have you terrified, and heartbroken, and a little bored at times.

In other words, it perfectly reflects reality in a way dramatised, glamorised movies never do.