We are thrilled to announce that Aida Returns – the new film by acclaimed director Carol Mansour – will screen at the 28th Arab Film Festival. Arab Film Festival fans will remember Carol Mansour joining us in the Bay Area in 2017, more about it below.
Aida Returns will screen on Nov. 2nd in Oakland and will also stream online. Browse the full festival’s schedule here.
A sometimes painful, sometimes humorous, often absurd story of multiple journeys, Aida Returns documents the director’s journey of loss as her mother Aida struggled with Alzheimer’s disease finding solace in her repeated “returning” to the Yafa of her youth, the journey of losing a parent, and the ultimate return journey to Yafa where Aida would finally find rest.
After her mother’s passing, director Carol Mansour, met friends in Beirut willing to carry Aida back with them to Palestine. The film accompanies Carol as she engineers a way to return her mother aided by an unlikely set of friends and strangers coming together to facilitate what should have been a simple journey.
This journey is at the same time very private and yet universal. It 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.
Aida Returns
Directed by CAROL MANSOUR
Run Time: 77 minutes
Year: 2023
Country: Lebanon, Palestine, Canada
Language: Arabic, English, French
The full festival schedule will be announced soon. In the meantime, you can already buy a festival pass or tickets to Opening Night (Thu Oct. 24th).
While this year director Carol Mansour won’t join us in person, you might remember the wonderful and moving moments we shared with her in 2017, when we screened Stitching Palestine at the 21st Arab Film Festival. Here’s what we wrote at the time on the blog:
“Another super powerful and near sold-out experience was watching STITCHING PALESTINE, followed by a Q&A with director Carol Mansour and producer Muna Khalidi. The most amazing moment was when one woman in the audience revealed that her mother was shown in one of the many archival images displayed in the film. Here’s how our festival programmer, Alexander Farrow, described the moment: ‘The entire room gasped. Tears happened… And. Just. Wow. Speechless. You could feel the power in the room and looking around I saw that people were having emotional responses including myself. Another person in attendance has family who live near the filmmakers in Beirut, and both Carol and Muna know this particular person’s family! It was very cool and you felt the radiance of the community glowing with deep energy and spirit. Dozens of folks lingered afterwards wanting to talk.’ ”
About the Director, Carol Mansour
Carol Mansour is an independent documentary film maker with over 25 years in documentary production who has achieved international recognition and honor for her films, with over seventy worldwide film festival screenings and official selections, including in past editions of our very own Arab Film Festival. Her films have won numerous prestigious awards.
Carol’s work reflects her concern for human rights and social justice, covering issues such as migrant workers, refugees, environmental issues, mental health, rights of the disabled, war and memory, right to health, and child labor.
Carol is Lebanese/ Canadian of Palestinian origin.
Aida Returns will screen on Nov. 2nd in Oakland and will also stream online. For more information about the 28th Arab Film Festival, visit arabfilmfestival.org
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