It's Complicated

This shorts program includes non-fiction films exploring the relationship between the MENA/SWANA community and their homelands. Affected by exile, genocide, censorship, and government neglect, each subject voices their complex bond with home. MENA staff says these stories are nostalgic and full of wisdom, as many feature the experience of community elders.

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Co-presented with:

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In-Person Exclusive

Fragmented

Balolas Carvalho

Tanya Marar

Palestine

United Kingdom

Portugal

2025

Documentary

mins

Language:

English

After being forced to flee Gaza, former political prisoner and pioneering journalist Qassem grapples with exile, torn between survival and the life he left behind.

In-Person Exclusive

Is It War?

Timeea Mohamed Ahmed

Sudan

2025

Drama

mins

Language:

Arabic

When Jafar is detached from his soul in a surreal journey through a forest, he must mentally escape the brutal truths of the conflict in Sudan and the horrors of war and displacement.

In-Person Exclusive

Like a Spiral

Lamia Chraibi

Canada

2024

Documentary

mins

Language:

Arabic, English, French

Like a Spiral is a dialogue between Beirut and five women, migrant domestic workers, under the Kafala system.

In-Person Exclusive

Redacted Dreams

Fariba Farjam

Canada

Iran

2024

Documentary

mins

Language:

Farsi

A prominent Iranian author oppressed by censorship immigrates to Canada in search of creative freedom only to face new struggles.

In-Person Exclusive

already dead

Ghada Sayegh

Lebanon

2024

Poetic Nonfiction

mins

Language:

English, French

In the aftermath of Beirut’s port explosion, words from the poetry collection The End of the World Has Already Occurred resurface in the ruins of a building.