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This program highlights narratives from the Arab diaspora in the United States, exploring questions of belonging, culture, family, and generational identity.
Together Nawal, a young Palestinian woman, and Tanya, an older Indigenous woman, start a guerrilla garden on the lawn of their apartment building and battle middle management to make it to harvest.
Director Biography - Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller
Fateema is a Queer Palestinian/Canadian filmmaker whose work explores themes of fragmented identity, isolation and connection through "oh no, should I laugh?" comedy. She is passionate about creating nuanced representation of Arabs and Muslims for the screen and prioritizes making space for marginalized voices both in front of and behind the camera. Her short film EITR was one of 8 world-wide recipients of the InsideOut RE:Focus Fund and the film had its world premier at OutFest LA. Fateema is a Women in the Director’s Chair alumni and former resident of the Canadian Film Centre Norman Jewison Directors’ Lab. She believes deeply in resistance and resilience through laughter.
Director Statement
This film began as a reckoning with the question “What does it mean to be from stolen land living on stolen land?” as a Palestinian displaced and unable to return to my ancestral homeland living on stolen Indigenous land in Canada. Inspired by the generosity and solidarity I feel between my community as a Palestinian and the community of Indigenous artists and activists I have been lucky to surround myself with, Mawtini (My Homeland) explores the different ways we can embody resistance under capitalist and colonial structures and the healing that can be found in connection to the land and each other.
This program highlights narratives from the Arab diaspora in the United States, exploring questions of belonging, culture, family, and generational identity.
Together Nawal, a young Palestinian woman, and Tanya, an older Indigenous woman, start a guerrilla garden on the lawn of their apartment building and battle middle management to make it to harvest.
Director Biography - Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller
Fateema is a Queer Palestinian/Canadian filmmaker whose work explores themes of fragmented identity, isolation and connection through "oh no, should I laugh?" comedy. She is passionate about creating nuanced representation of Arabs and Muslims for the screen and prioritizes making space for marginalized voices both in front of and behind the camera. Her short film EITR was one of 8 world-wide recipients of the InsideOut RE:Focus Fund and the film had its world premier at OutFest LA. Fateema is a Women in the Director’s Chair alumni and former resident of the Canadian Film Centre Norman Jewison Directors’ Lab. She believes deeply in resistance and resilience through laughter.
Director Statement
This film began as a reckoning with the question “What does it mean to be from stolen land living on stolen land?” as a Palestinian displaced and unable to return to my ancestral homeland living on stolen Indigenous land in Canada. Inspired by the generosity and solidarity I feel between my community as a Palestinian and the community of Indigenous artists and activists I have been lucky to surround myself with, Mawtini (My Homeland) explores the different ways we can embody resistance under capitalist and colonial structures and the healing that can be found in connection to the land and each other.