Aida Returns
أمي العائدة إلى يافا

In the framework of our 11-days-long programme LET'S SIT DOWN TOGETHER AND TALK ABOUT A LITTLE CULTURE,  we cordially invite you to the European premiere of Carol Mansour's documentary Aida Returns, presented by United Screens for Palestine.

Aida Returns is a poignant, sometimes sad, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous, often absurd story of a multiple journey: the journey of loss as the director’s mother Aida struggled with losing herself to Alzheimer’s disease, but finding solace in her repeated “returning” to the Yafa and Palestine of her youth; the journey of the loss of a parent; and the ultimate return journey back to Yafa where Aida would finally find rest and be herself once more.

Close to four years after Aida’s passing away, the director’s friend and colleague Tanya who lives in Jerusalem came to visit Beirut. When she heard about Aida’s wishes and yearning for Yafa, Tanya suggested that she herself carries the ashes back. The film accompanies director Carol Mansour as she engineers a way to return her mother to Yafa in search of eternal rest and peace for her. A return that is aided by an unlikely set of friends and strangers all coming together to facilitate what should have been a simple journey. This journey is at the same time very private and personal, while resonating with hundreds of thousands of Alzheimer’s sufferers and their families as well as hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees awaiting their return home.

This film is a tribute to the lost past of the director’s family, an attempt to restore part of both an individual and a collective memory, and a poetic nod and affirmation to all those exiled Palestinians forbidden from returning to their hometowns, even after death.

Carol Mansour is an independent documentary film maker. She founded Forward Film Production in 2000 in Beirut, Lebanon. With over 25 years in documentary production, Mansour achieved international recognition and honor for her films, with over fifty film festival screenings and official selections worldwide. Her films have been screened at several festivals in Europe and North America, winning numerous prestigious awards. Carol is Lebanese/ Canadian of Palestinian origin. She studied in Montreal, Canada, and is currently living and working from Beirut, Lebanon.

United Screens for Palestine is an open collective of cinema programmers responding to global film initiatives which serve as platforms for substantive discussions and an earnest exploration of the historical narrative of Palestine.

باللغة العربية

يسرد هذا الفيلم قصة مؤثرة حيناً، حزينة حيناً،  ومؤلمة أحياناً.  كما و أنها مضحكة-مبكية في عبثيتها  التي ترافق رحلة مزدوجة: رحلة الخسارة حيث تتصارع "عائدة" (والدة المخرجة) مع  مرض الألزهايمر محاربة فقدان الذاكرة و الذات وواجدة العزاء في "عودتها" المتكررة إلى يافا وفلسطين أيام شبابها ؛ ورحلة العودة النهائية إلى يافا وفلسطين حيث ستستريح "عائدة" أخيرًا  و تسترجع كيانها.

يرافق الفيلم كارول (المخرجة) وهي تبحث عن طريقة لإعادة والدتها إلى يافا بحثًا عن الراحة الأبدية لها. الفيلم هو تكريم للماضي الضائع لأسرة المخرجة ، ومحاولة لاستعادة جزء من ذاكرة فردية وجماعية ، وإيماءة شعرية وتأكيد لكل أولئك الفلسطينيين المنفيين ممنوعين من العودة إلى موطنهم ، حتى بعد الموت.

كلتا الرحلتين هي في الوقت ذاته شخصية للغاية ، كما ويتردد صداها مع مئات آلاف مرضى الزهايمر وعائلاتهم وكذلك مع مئات آلاف اللاجئين الفلسطينيين الذين ينتظرون العودة إلى ديارهم.