An immigrant ceases to be a traveller when they decide to be buried in their host land. In the south of Brussels, on a patch of virgin ground that used to be a military airport, a new story is being written—that of our ancestors.
By completing the cycle of life, by choosing or being forced, because of Covid, to complete it here in Belgium, many immigrants of Arab and African origin have anchored us, their children and families, in their host land. These traces tell us stories that are extended or reinvented when we, the living, find ourselves confronted with our dead, our rituals, and our imaginations in our search to maintain a bond with them. How do we communicate with our dead? What do they tell us?
How do they protect us? How do they watch over us? And how do we watch over them? The film speaks of these private encounters. From a standpoint that is at once intimate and polyphonic, I seek to put these stories into dialogue.
In , she created 'Murmurs' and '10 Voices,' a series of sound portraits of Moroccan immigrants in Brussels. In , she paused her activities to care for her mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. This experience inspired her first feature-length documentary, 'A Way Home,' in Selected at IDFA for its world premiere, the film won several awards and is considered a turning point in the visibility of first-generation Arab immigrant women.
Questions regarding this project?
