Documentary sews Palestinian narrative through women’s eyes
BEIRUT — The Sofil cinema in Beirut hosted a fundraising event March 29 featuring a screening of “Stitching Palestine,” a documentary directed by Carol Mansour and produced and researched by Muna Khalidi. The occasion was to raise funds for a music program in the Rashidiyyah Palestinian refugee camp, in southern Lebanon.
In “Stitching Palestine,” 12 high-profile Palestinian women living in Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine tell the stories of their exile and their current lives, with the stitching of a piece of embroidery progressing as they tell their stories, linking one to another.
Mansour, founder of Forward Film Production, told Al-Monitor, “Four years ago, Muna and I started helping Inaash [Association for the Development of Palestinian Camps] for a project, which was about making 12 embroidery pieces to represent the 12 Palestinian regions [camps in Lebanon].” The project Mansour referred to is Twelve Windows of Palestine, conceived by embroidery collector Malak al-Hussaini Abdul-Rahim and carried out by embroiderers from Inaash.
Mansour further explained, “Inaash came to us to exhibit the 12 embroideries, but we ended up developing the idea slowly. We ended up recording the making of one piece that would connect 12 stories of women on Palestine.”
