Aflamnah

Saris was a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem area that was ethnically cleansed in 1948 during the creation of the state of Israel. Today, it is inhabited by Israelis.

Shifting between the stories of Saris refugees (young and old) in Qalandiya Refugee Camp in the West Bank, stories of displaced families in present-day Jerusalem, and fragments of a car journey by three Saris refugees as they return to their village of origin, Searching for Saris is a film in search of the connections between past and present, Nakba* and occupation, and a testimony to ongoing dispossession and to the persistent dream of return.

Part metaphor, part physical journey, the search for Saris that gives the film its title, is in fact a search for a disappearing Palestine. Saris is, at once, a physical place that was lost, and a metaphor for an entire country. With images of the ongoing occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and using rare archival footage from 1948, the film explores the legacy of the Nakba and the link between past and present dispossession. The archive footage also offers a rare glimpse of Palestinian life before catastrophe. With a rich soundtrack of contemporary electronic music, as well as an original score, the film relies only on the voice-over narration of refugees: younger refugees who reflect on their present condition, as they struggle in the face of new and ongoing hardships, and elder refugees who reflect on the events of the Nakba that uprooted them from their lives. Their voices are also used to narrate the story of the present dispossession faced by a newer generation of Palestinians in Jerusalem.

The common view of the Nakba is of a historical event and tragedy that is etched in the memories of an older and now disappearing generation, that cannot forget. The film reveals how, for many, the line between the trauma of the Nakba and the subsequent trauma of occupation, cannot be clearly drawn. For others still, the experience of dispossession and oppression, spanning 6 decades, is one long and unending Nakba.

Searching for Saris reveals Palestinian voices for whom past and present collapse into a singular, ongoing experience. 

* Nakba is the Arabic word for "catastrophe", and refers to the events of 1948 in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were violently expelled from their homes in cities, towns and villages across Palestine, as part of the process of establishing the Jewish state of Israel.

This film explores the different experiences of Palestinian dispossession, from Nakba to occupation, that are often treated seperately, and allows us, instead, to see their connectedness. It explores its impact, not only on the older generation that was originally displaced, but also on the younger generation living with the present and ongoing consequences -  voices that we don't often hear in relation to the Nakba.

It also reveals how the Nakba did not end in 1948, but continues actively in the present day, in places like Jerusalem. As a result, we are able to see the Palestinian condition in its totality.

The refugees, young and old, tell their own story, in an intimate narrative of loss, fears, hopes and dreams.

This film is in the editing stage and still requires remaining finance for me to work with an editor to finish the final cut, to source new archival material from 1948, and to cover the cost of having an original score composed for the film, along with crucial technical work needed like color correction and sound, all of which will make the film festival-ready. This film is Co-Produced by Enjaaz, a Dubai Film Market Initiative.

This added budget will go towards: - Covering the cost of more days in the edit suite with an experienced editor - A higher standard of color correction, sound work and motion stabilization - Paying for licensed archive material, as opposed to relying on the public domain - Promotion, publicity & distribution (including submissions to festivals worldwide)

I'm a Palestinian documentary filmmaker, born in the United States and currently based in Dubai.I was raised in the Palestinian Diaspora, and grew up hearing stories about what had happened to my grandparents' generation in 1948. From a young age I had an awareness that there was something that we had collectively lost, but it was only when I moved to Jerusalem with my mom in 1995, that I developed a sense of my own Palestinian identity, as well as a deeper understanding of the Palestinian situation.

I’ve always had a passion for cinema and a love of the moving image, and a few years after I did my BA in Drama and Theatre Arts in London in 2000, I went on to do an MA in Documentary Film by Practice at Royal Holloway. In between, I worked in the arts and in film production in London. Searching for Saris is my first feature film, though I’ve also made a few short films as well. After this film is completed, I will be finishing a short film on a Bedouin school in Palestine that is facing the threat of demolition "(see Vimeo link below). After that, I plan to continue making documentaries and to expand my practice as a filmmaker.

Useful Links

• http://vimeo.com/54447701
• http://www.facebook.com/SearchingForSaris
• http://twitter.com/Jinan_C