Four Works

Film screenings
in partnership with
Toronto Palestine Film Festival

September 23 - October 4 2020

Leila Almawy, Kalil Haddad, Serene Husni, Rana Nazzal

the plumb presents four works by emerging Toronto-based Palestinian filmmakers. Produced by the 2020 Local Pals Residency of Toronto Palestine Film Festival, in partnership with Trinity Square Video and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto.

Rumaan follows the story of a pomegranate tree that was planted in Canada, grown from seeds that were transported from Haifa, Palestine by Mamdouh El-Kassem when he and his young family were forced to flee the Nakba in 1948. Mamdouh's son Zaki El-Kassem speaks about his decades-long attempts to preserve the tree and its seeds.

Lelia Almawy, Rumaan, 2020, film still

Kalil Haddad, This Beautiful Room is Empty, 2020, film still

As her childhood home is emptied for sale, Marie wanders through spaces both concrete and virtual as she attempts to navigate the ghosts of her past.

When he was 13, Hammoudeh was presented with a crucial test of character. Instead of being punished for skipping school, he was entrusted with managing the family allowance for two weeks. To feed his three siblings, he resorted to something he always knew: in a Palestinian house, the pantry is never bare. Borrowing from classic elements of Palestinian storytelling—namely repetition, trickery, and an obsession with food—Brown Bread & Apricots is a story about a family in exile and an unruly teenage boy

Serene Husni,  Brown Bread & Apricots, 2020, film still

Rana Nazzal, Something from there, 2020, film still

Something from there is a reflection on the substance of our original lands. How does connection to land change after uprooting and in diaspora? How does matter come to embody our memories and defy official histories? This film is a personal reflection on the complicated implications of wanting a piece of land after displacement.