Under the patronage of Princess Lara Faisal, "Stitching Palestine," (Khoyoot Sard) a moving documentary that weaves together the stories of twelve inspiring Palestinian women, will be screened on Friday, the May 12 in Rainbow Theater, Amman.
The film is directed by Lebanese director Carol Mansour and produced and researched by Muna Khalidi.
It connects the women's narratives through themes that include life before the diaspora, memory, identity and personal connection with Palestinian embroidery.
The documentary features women from all walks of life who live in Palestine and abroad.
They are architects, lawyers, housewives, activists, politicians and artists who tell us the story of "their homeland, their dispossession and their unwavering determination that justice will prevail."
The screening is set to begin at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a Q&A discussion session with the documentary's director, producer, in addition to Mary Nazzal-Batayneh and Dina Nasser, who both feature in the documentary.
Speaking to Stepfeed, Mary Nazzal-Batayneh says, “I am so honored to be in this masterpiece of a film that weaves together stories of so many unique women. We are all from different generations and walks of life but the common thread between all of us is our love of and commitment to Palestine.”
The documentary had previously screened at the Sofil cinema in Beirut on March 29, as part of a fundraising event for a music program in the Rashidiyyah Palestinian refugee camp, in southern Lebanon.
Leila Atshan, a psychotherapist who lives in Ramallah and who is also featured in "Stitching Palestine" had travelled to Beirut to attend the screening.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, she says "I hope this movie will bring the issue of Palestine in a different way, through powerful women," adding that “women are easy to undermine, [but] they are the ones preserving the heritage, through embroideries for example, and society."
Watch the documentary trailer here:
The twelve inspiring women featured in the film
1. Leila Khaled
Khaled, is an icon of revolution in Palestine. She is also a member of the Palestine National Council and the Political Bureau of the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine).
In the documentary, she is quoted as saying, "I remember that moment .. those are not yours .. yours are in Palestine, in Haifa."
2. Malak Husseini AbdelRahim
Husseini is a founding Member of the INAASH, a Lebanese association for the Development of Palestinian Camps.
In the documentary she is quoted as saying, "this is my country. Yet I have to scurry along like a mouse!!"
3.Mary Nazzal Batayneh
Mary Nazzal is a lawyer and political activist, specialized in international human rights law. Her particular emphasis is on Palestinian legal rights. She is the co-founder and chair of the Palestine Legal Aid Fund (PLAF).
In the documentary she is quoted as saying, "the point is, the Palestinian struggle is so firmly based in law... we must use the law."
4. Sima Tuqan Ghandour
Ghandour is a founding member of the INAASH, an association for the Development of Palestinian Camps.
"My mother never stopped crying ... never," she says in the documentary, speaking of the moment her family left Palestine.
5. Salma el-Yasir
El-Yasir is the Director General at the Institute for Palestine Studies.
6. Nazmiyyeh Salem
Salem is an embroiderer.
"A word here, a stitch there, and life goes on," she says as she tells her story in the documentary.
7. Amal Ziad Kaawash
In the documentary Kawaash, an artist, singer and songwriter says, “I feel that I have achieved a virtual liberation of Meiroun." (Meiroun is her hometown/village in Palestine).
8. Raeda Taha
Taha is a writer and actor. She is also the director of the Khalil Sakakini Foundation, a non- governmental, non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of arts and culture in Palestine.
“The most important people in my life have become photographs," she says in the documentary.
9. Laila Atshan
Atshan is a consultant Psychotherapist based in Ramallah.
In the documentary she tells the story of her mother, saying that she "was able to stand up proudly in her thobe when the [Israeli] army came to the house to beat up my father."
10. Suad Al-Amiry
Al-Amiry is a novelist and Founder/Director of RIWAQ, a center for the preservation of architectural heritage on the West Bank of Palestine. She is currently based in Ramallah.
Al-Amiry grew up between Damascus, Amman and Cairo, but later moved back to Ramallah, Palestine.
"I thought I would be there for only six months ... I fell in love with Palestine and with a man in Palestine..." she says in the documentary.
11. Huda al-Imam
Al-Imam is the Founder and Director of the Center for Jerusalem Studies Al-Quds University.
"I'm a resolute Jerusalemite," she says, as she tells her story.
12. Dina Nasser
Nasser is a registered nurse and health adviser.
In the documentary she's quoted as saying "every single day, as I return home, I slow the car down and I look at Jerusalem. I then take a deep breath and tell myself... this is why I am here!"