Palestinian film to be screened

The Embassy of the State of Palestine organises a film night on April 27 in Nicosia, screening the distinguished and multi-award-winning film Farha. The screening will be held at Pantheon Cinema at 8pm and dives into the early days of 1948, narrating the ongoing tragedy of the Palestinian people through the experiences of the Palestinian teenager Farha.

The movie is inspired by true events and depicts the real story of a family friend of director Darin Salam. The film revolves around the story of a young girl, Farha, who, hidden in a small warehouse by her father for her protection, witnesses the atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers in her village. Farha, whose name means ‘joy’ in Arabic, symbolically referring to her happy life before the events, sees her dreams and life shatter as a result of the catastrophic 1948 war that led to the displacement of 700,000 Palestinians and remains in history as the Nakba/Catastrophe.

As Salam herself has said, there are not many films about this period, even though the Nakba is an integral part of the Palestinian identity. In Salam’s effort to document the drama of her people through art, she faced strong protests from the state of Israel, especially when, after exceptional reviews and great success, the film was selected to be screened by Netflix. Despite the protests, the film continued to be successfully screened, with viewers expressing on social media that those who were moved by Anne Frank’s story should definitely watch Farha.

The film participated in a series of international festivals, winning the Critics Award for Best Film for 2022 at the Malmö Arab Film Festival and the Best Youth Feature Film Award for 2022 at the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards, while it was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2023.

Farha

Palestinian film screening. April 27. Pantheon Cinema, Nicosia. 8pm. Free. Tel: 22-675787