Emerging Filmmakers مخرجين صاعدين

A collection of our favourite submissions by emerging Levantine filmmakers from Turtle Island (Canada) to Palestine, passing through Scotland, these films carry the longing, weight and power of diasporic experiences.

From Where to Where من وين لوين

dir. Nada El-Omari
2021
Original Language: Arabic, English, French (English subtitles)

In the pieces I store and carry along my many different roads, my dialects may be signs of bruises but reclaimed they form the skin and voice I live in. Experiences of the where, from where, to where; a narrative amongst others. And as the words finally trickle through the needles, fingers seeping with tints trace the outline of whirling fields where I hang a jasmine branch on suspended necks and in the in-betweens, language soothes, swans mend, and the daily brings calm. We are the comfort of our multiples.

Content Notes: Mention of animal bleeding.

Where The Olives Are قصصنا والزيتون

dir. Kay Ayash
2025
Original Language: Arabic, English (English subtitles)

Four young Arab women, living in Portugal, spend a day in their friends’ land to help during the olive season. A getaway from their everyday lives which is rich in memories and stories from their lands back home.

Content Notes: Mentions of displacement, the Nakba, genocide, settler attacks and detainment.

Best Regards مع أطيب التمنيات

dir. Reem Al Mohtar
2024
Original Language: Arabic (English subtitles)

A modest neighbourhood in Lebanon’s Beddawi refugee camp serves as a metaphor for a large portion of the Palestinian reality. Omar finds himself in a hazy future where two uncertain options are thrust upon him by the unpredictable circumstances in Lebanon and the seclusion of this location where the horizon narrows. Either stay and wait, or make your way out in quest of a fresh start… and between them, stands a long journey.

Content Notes: Mentions of displacement, murder, aerial bombardment and deaths at sea.

Ya Maha يا مها

dir. Ahmad Alkhalil
2023
Original Language: Arabic (English subtitles)

Saleh lives in one of the Palestinian camps in southern Lebanon. In 2021, as Lebanon experiences an unparalleled economic crisis, residents are subjected to fuel days, priority is allocated according to profession: doctors, nurses, delivery men and taxi drivers. With only 3 hours a day of government-provided electricity, Saleh is in desperate need of fuel. He comically persists to ensure his home’s generator can be supplied.

Content Notes: Depiction of illness.

Unleash الغضب الساطع

dir. Joude Bazzoun
2025
Original Language: English

Three Palestinian and Lebanese women living in the diaspora come together to share their profound sense of rage, when faced with the apathy of Western societies toward the colonial violence inflicted upon their homelands. Through personal stories, they confront the emotional toll of a world that remains unmoved by their suffering.

Content Notes: Mentions of misogyny, Zionist occupation and colonialism, trauma and PTSD, genocide, grief, loss. Themes of racism, islamophobia, Zionism. Descriptions of a racist attack and hate crime.