PARIS, France - The fate of a Palestinian girl forced into exile during the 1948 war of Israel's creation remains unknown. But her story took on new life in a film about her experience that captured the big screen at this year's Palestine Cinema Days festival.
Hundreds of viewers flocked to the closing ceremony in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday to watch ''Farha'', a coming-of-age feature inspired by true events from the conflict more than 70 years ago.
In a mass event known to Palestinians as the ''Nakba'', or ''catastrophe'', hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during that war, leaving scars that remain raw generations later.
''This is a very special moment for all of us, to have the film screened in Palestine to a Palestinian audience'', said Deema Azar, one of the film's producers told Reuters.
The Jordanian director and screenwriter, Darin J. Sallam, based the plot on a woman her mother encountered decades ago at the Palestinian Yarmoul refugee camp in Syria, Azar said. Her mother later lost touch with the woman and it is unclear where she is now or if she is still alive.
The team sensed that building their film around the Nakba would be challenging, Azar said, but they carried on ''because we knew it was an important story to tell''.
The festival, now in its ninth year, was organised by Film Lab: Palestine, which cultivates cinema culture and supports Palestinian filmmakers. It launched on Nov.1, with the 2023 Oscar-nominated ''Mediterranean Fever'', a drama by Maha Haj from Nazareth exploring mental health and masculinity.
The week-long program drew thousands of guests and showcased 58 films across the Israeli-occupied West Bank, blockaded Gaza as well as Israel in cities that are separated by checkpoints and travel restrictions hindering many from leaving their own areas.
