Farha (film)

Last updated

Farha
Farha (film) poster.jpg
Directed by Darin J. Sallam [1]
Screenplay byDarin J. Sallam [1]
Produced by
  • Deema Azar
  • Ayah Jardaneh
  • William Johansson Kalen
Starring
CinematographyRachelle Aoun [3]
Edited byPierre Laurent [2]
Production
companies
  • TaleBox
  • Laika Film & Television
  • Chimney
Distributed byPicture Tree International
Release dates
Running time
92 minutes [2]
Countries
  • Jordan
  • Sweden
  • Saudi Arabia [2]
Languages

Farha (Arabic : فرحة, romanized: Farḥa) is a 2021 internationally co-produced historical drama film about a Palestinian girl's coming-of-age experience during the Nakba, the 1948 displacement of Palestinians from their homeland. The film is directed by Darin J. Sallam, [1] who also wrote it based on a true story that she was told as a child about a girl named Radieh. [5] [7] It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on 14 September 2021 and began streaming on Netflix on 1 December 2022.

Contents

Plot

While other girls are excited about their friend's marriage, 14-year-old Palestinian girl Farha dreams about pursuing education in the city like her best friend Farida. Farha demands this from her father Abu Farha, but he wants her to get married instead. Her uncle Abu Walid asks Abu Farha to consider Farha's request. One night in 1948, a group of local militias visit Abu Farha, who is the village chief and mayor, requesting that he join their fight against the Nakba. He refuses since his main purpose is to take care of his village.

During the wedding of Farha's friend, Abu Farha tells her that he had accepted her request to pursue education. While celebrating the news with Farida, Zionist militias attack the village; military speakers order the villagers to evacuate. Abu Farida takes Farha and Farida into his car to evacuate. Abu Farha decides to stay behind and entrusting Abu Farida to look after Farha, although she decides to join her father. Abu Farha takes her back home, arms himself with a rifle, and locks Farha in a store room, telling her to stay hidden and promising to take her when it is safe. For days, while awaiting news from her father, she continues to hear sounds of warfare and is only able to peer through a hole facing the courtyard.

A Palestinian family, Abu Mohammad and Um Mohammad and their two young children, enter the courtyard, where the mother gives birth to a baby boy. Farha asks Abu Muhammad to let her out but, before he can, Haganah militias [8] demand the family come out and surrender. Abu Mohammad goes outside. A hooded Palestinian informant working for the Haganah appears to know the villager and tells the commander that Abu Mohammad is from a different village. The commander searches the house for guns and finds Mohammad's family hiding. The family, except the newborn baby, are executed at gunpoint, causing a moral crisis for the informant, who was promised that women and children would not be hurt in exchange for his collaboration. The informant goes to Farha and whispers her name. Farha can see his face briefly through the door, and realizes the collaborator is her uncle. He does not reveal her whereabouts to the militias. The commander asks a young soldier to execute the newborn baby without wasting a bullet. The soldier cannot bring himself to stomp on him and covers the infant in a towel, leaving him to die on the courtyard floor.

Farha struggles to open the door to get to the baby. After ransacking the pantry she finds a hidden pistol, which she uses to shoot the door lock and escape the village. Farha (whose real name is Raddiyah) never found her father, whose fate remained unknown but was probably killed during the Nakba. Farha eventually made her way to Syria and told her story which has been passed down through generations.

Cast

Production

Darin J. Sallam speaks about Farha in a 2021 interview for The Royal Film Commission - Jordan. Darin J. Sallam on FilmJordan.jpg
Darin J. Sallam speaks about Farha in a 2021 interview for The Royal Film Commission – Jordan.

Development

Farha was written and directed by Darin J. Sallam [1] —her first feature-length film. [9] Sallam's own family also fled from Palestine to Jordan in 1948. [10] The film is based on a true story recounted to Sallam's mother by a friend, living as a refugee in Syria, about her experience during the Nakba in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their homeland. [5] Sallam began working on the script for the film in 2016 and had a rough outline of the major scenes by 2019. [11]

The film was produced by TaleBox, based in Jordan, and co-produced by Laika Film & Television and Chimney, both based in Sweden. [1] Deema Azar and Ayah Jardaneh are credited as producers along with William Johansson Kalén as co-producer. [6]

Casting

This film is the first on-screen appearance for the lead actor Karam Taher. [1] Sallam said that, when casting the titular role, she was "looking for a girl that [she] could stay with for 52 minutes inside a room". Taher's initial audition did not go well. Sallam said, "[Taher] was shy [...] But what really stayed with me was her face: she had a very specific face and very expressive eyes. From one side, her face was like a child, and from the other, she was a young woman—it's a coming-of-age story." [9]

Filming

Farha was filmed in Jordan [1] with cinematography by Rachelle Aoun. [3] Sallam stated in an interview that "[s]ome of the crew members were crying behind the monitor while shooting, remembering their families and their stories, and the stories they heard from their grandparents". [7]

Release

Farha premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on 14 September 2021. [1] [4] [12] It was subsequently screened to critical acclaim in Rome, Busan, Gothenburg and Lyon. [10] [2] The film also received post-production funding from the Red Sea International Film Festival and was shown at the inaugural edition of festival in Jeddah in December 2021. [11] [13] On 7 November 2022, the film was screened at the Palestine Cinema Days festival in Ramallah, Palestine. [14] The successful film festival tour also led to a deal with Netflix through Picture Tree International. [10] The film began streaming on Netflix on 1 December 2022. [5]

Political reaction

"We are overwhelmed by the amount of support the film is receiving globally and are grateful to everyone who is doing their part to stand up against this attack and ensure the film is spoken about and seen … The film exists, we exist, and we will not be silenced."

—From a statement by the filmmakers [15]

Following the 1 December release on Netflix, the streaming platform and film were criticised by Israeli politicians. [5] [16] Israel's finance minister Avigdor Lieberman criticised Netflix for streaming the production and ordered the treasury to revoke state funding to Al Saraya Theater, which scheduled screenings of the film, [17] with the "goal of preventing the screening of this shocking film or other similar ones in the future". [5] Culture minister Hili Tropper called a screening by an Israeli theatre "a disgrace". [18] The reaction to the film has focused on a scene that depicts the killing of a Palestinian family by Israeli soldiers. [10] In the days following its release, Farha became the target of a coordinated downvoting campaign on IMDb, [10] [19] while the filmmakers were subjected to harassment on social media. [5] [19] The campaign "appears to have backfired", according to The Hollywood Reporter, with the film's ratings on IMDb quickly rebounding. [10] Sallam responded to the criticism in an interview with Time magazine, noting that she had been subjected to "hateful, racist messages": [20]

The reason I'm so shocked by the backlash is because I didn't show anything. Compared to what happened during the massacres, this was a small event. I don't know why some Israeli officials are very upset about this scene. It's blurry and out of focus because I always said it's about this girl's journey... I feel it is intended to harm the Oscars campaign so I really hope it doesn't affect this negatively... Denying the Nakba is like denying who I am and that I exist. It's very offensive to deny a tragedy that my grandparents and my father went through and witnessed, and to make fun of it in the attacks that I'm receiving.

Reception

A review in The New York Times described the film as "a brutal kind of coming-of-age story" and that while it "primarily unfolds in a tiny storage room, [the film] speaks volumes". [21] CNN said that the film offers "a perspective on the events that led to Israel's founding that is rarely seen or heard on a global mainstream platform". [22] In a review for The Hindu , Farha is praised for "succinctly put[ting] forth its messaging, conveying the brutality of violence through a barebones narrative". [23] Reviewing the film for the Institute for Palestine Studies, Umayyah Cable, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, wrote that "the script is often didactic, the editing is at times rushed, and performances by the film's biggest name actors are sometimes surprisingly awkward". Cable summarised: "Farha is not a very good film, but it is spectacular nonetheless." [24]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% (based on 10 reviews), with an average rating of 7.5 out of 10. [25]

Awards

Farha was the winner of the Best Youth Feature Film category at the 2022 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. [20] The film was Jordan's submission in the Best International Feature Film category at the 95th Academy Awards. [10] [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestine</span> Country in West Asia

Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia recognized by 146 out of 193 UN member states. It encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as the occupied Palestinian territories, within the broader geographic and historical Palestine region. Palestine shares most of its borders with Israel, and it borders Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. It has a total land area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million people. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, while Ramallah serves as its administrative center. Gaza City was its largest city prior to evacuations in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Palestine</span>

Cinema of Palestine refers to films made in Palestine and/or by Palestinian filmmakers. Palestinian films are not exclusively produced in Arabic and some are produced in English and French.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annemarie Jacir</span> Palestinian filmmaker and poet

Annemarie Jacir is a Palestinian filmmaker, writer, and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salman Abu Sitta</span> Palestinian researcher and writer (born 1937)

Salman Abu Sitta is a Palestinian researcher. Abu Sitta, who was expelled from Palestine as a child in 1948, has dedicated his life to the Palestinian cause and is engaged in public debates with Israeli peace activists. Abu Sitta is the founder and President of Palestine Land Society in London, dedicated to the documentation of Palestine’s land and People.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Abulhawa</span> Palestinian-American writer and political activist

Susan Abulhawa is a Palestinian-American scientist, writer and activist. Her first novel, Mornings in Jenin, was translated into 32 languages and sold more than a million copies. The sales and reach of her debut novel made Abulhawa the most widely read Palestinian author of all time. Her second novel, The Blue Between Sky and Water (2015), was translated in 19 languages. Against the Loveless World, her third novel, was released in August 2020, also to critical acclaim. She is a human rights activist and animal rights advocate and founded the children’s organization Playgrounds for Palestine.

Jordan has, in recent decades, established itself as an attractive destination for filmmaking for a number of reasons: its variety of locations, infrastructure, sunny weather, governmental support for the film industry, straightforward administrative procedures and financial incentives. A cash rebate is available, which varies between 10% and 25%, depending on spend, and productions are exempt from Jordanian taxes. Combined with the cash rebate, this means that productions may recoup up to 56%.

In the 1948 Palestine war, more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs – about half of Mandatory Palestine's predominantly Arab population – were expelled or fled from their homes, at first by Zionist paramilitaries, and after the establishment of Israel, by its military. The expulsion and flight was a central component of the fracturing, dispossession, and displacement of Palestinian society, known as the Nakba. Dozens of massacres targeting Arabs were conducted by Israeli military forces and between 400 and 600 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Village wells were poisoned in a biological warfare programme and properties were looted to prevent Palestinian refugees from returning. Other sites were subject to Hebraization of Palestinian place names.

The Beitunia killings refers to the consecutive killings of two Palestinian teenagers which took place on the occasion of the annual Nakba Day protests on May 15, 2014, near the Israeli Ofer Prison outside Beitunia in the occupied West Bank. Israel described the protest as a riot in which a crowd refused to disperse, and initially denied responsibility, saying the cause of the deaths was unknown, the deaths were faked, that video clips of the killings either failed to capture the violence of the scene shortly before or might have been manipulated, that soldiers had been provoked, and that only rubber bullets had been fired.

Nakba Day is the day of commemoration for the Nakba, also known as the Palestinian Catastrophe, which comprised the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948, and the permanent displacement of a majority of the Palestinian people. It is generally commemorated on 15 May, the Gregorian calendar date of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. For Palestinians, it is an annual day of commemoration of the displacement that preceded and followed Israel's establishment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 Palestine war</span> First war of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the State of Israel, and over 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled. It was the first war of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the broader Arab–Israeli conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Arab-Hebrew Theater</span> Arab and Hebrew theatre in Tel Aviv

The Arab-Hebrew Theater or Al Saraya Theater is a multilingual theater located in the Old Saraya House in the Old City of Jaffa. It serves as a stage for two theater companies working independently and together in two languages: Hebrew and Arabic. The Hebrew company is "Teatron Mekomi ", which was established in 1990 by Yigal Ezrati and Gabi Eldor, and the Arab company is "Al-Saraya", which was established in 1998. The theater is partially funded by the Ministry of Culture and the Tel Aviv Municipality. The theater has three arts directors: Mohammad Bakri, Yigal Ezrati, and Gabi Eldor.

Farah Nabulsi is a British-Palestinian filmmaker and human rights activist. For her short film The Present, she was nominated for an Academy Award and won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Sea International Film Festival</span> Film festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

The Red Sea International Film Festival is a film festival launched in 2019 and held in Jeddah, western Saudi Arabia. The festival mainly focuses on new storytelling trends, as well as emerging talents from Saudi Arabia, the Arab world and the rest of the Global South. The festival looks at establishing a solid foundation for the film industry in Saudi Arabia that may contribute to diversifying the income of the country. The first edition of the festival was held in the old town of Jeddah from 6 December to 15 December 2021. The second edition of the festival was held between 1 and 10 December 2022, and featured the best films from Saudi Arabia, the region and a curated selection of titles from around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nakba</span> Displacement of Palestinians since 1948

The Nakba is the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs through their violent displacement and dispossession of land, property, and belongings, along with the destruction of their society and the suppression of their culture, identity, political rights, and national aspirations. The term is used to describe the events of the 1948 Palestine war in Mandatory Palestine as well as the ongoing persecution and displacement of Palestinians by Israel. As a whole, it covers the fracturing of Palestinian society and the long-running rejection of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

Noor Taher is a Jordanian actress and model. She is best known for her role as Layan Murad Fathi on the Netflix miniseries AIRawabi School for Girls.

<i>Amira</i> (film) 2021 Egyptian film

Amira is a 2021 drama film co-written and directed by Mohamed Diab. The film is produced by Mohamed Hefzy for Film Clinic, Mona Abdelwahab for Agora Audiovisuals, Moez Masoud for Acamedia Pictures in co-production with Youssef El Taher for Taher Media Production and Rula Nasser for The Imaginarium Films. The film stars Tara Abboud in the title role and Saba Mubarak and Ali Suliman in supporting roles. The film revolves around Amira, a 17-year-old Palestinian, who is told that she was conceived with the smuggled sperm of her imprisoned father, Nawar.

Refqa Abu-Remaileh is a university teacher and author with a focus on Modern Arabic literature and film studies. Since 2020, she is associate professor in the department for Semitic and Arabic Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. She is mainly known for her publications on the literature and films created by Palestinian people who often live as refugees and exiles, both in the Middle East and the world-wide Palestinian diaspora.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darin J. Sallam</span> Jordanian Palestinian filmmaker

Darin J. Sallam is a Jordanian film director and writer of Palestinian roots. She has five award-winning short films to her name, including Still Alive, The Dark Outside and “The Parrot”. Farha (2021) is her debut narrative feature film as director.

<i>A House in Jerusalem</i> 2023 Dutch film

A House in Jerusalem is a 2023 Palestinian fantasy thriller film directed by Muayad Alayan. It premiered in February 2023 at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. The film tells the story of a Jewish-British girl Rebecca and her father who move to Israel into a West Jerusalem home, where she encounters the ghost of a Palestinian girl named Rasha whom only she can see. Rasha's family was expelled from that home during the 1948 Palestine war known as the Nakba. Eventually, Rebecca makes a visit to Bethlehem's Aida Camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to repay a past debt after her father had thrown out Rasha's doll, and in search of the house's historical owners. The film's screenplay was written by Muayad and Rami Musa Alayan, two Palestinian brothers. It was released by Netflix in early 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nagham Abu Samra</span> Palestinian karate champion killed in Israeli air strike

Nagham Abu Samra was a Palestinian karate champion who opened a sports training club for girls in Gaza. She was expected to represent Palestine in the 2024 Summer Olympics but was killed by an Israeli airstrike during the Israel–Hamas war.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Barraclough, Leo (3 September 2021). "Picture Tree International Boards Toronto-Bound Farha, Debuts Trailer". Variety. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Ide, Wendy (9 December 2021). "Farha: Red Sea Review". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 Abbatescianni, Davide (15 November 2021). "Farha: Growing old through the brutality of the Nakba". The New Arab . Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  4. 1 2 Saito, Stephen (14 September 2021). "TIFF 2021 Review: Farha Sheds Light on the Burden of Bearing Witness". The Moveable Fest. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hussain, Murtaza (3 December 2022). "Netflix's Farha and the Palestinian Right to Process Pain Through Art". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022. The pivotal scene in Farha showing the murder of a Palestinian family depicts the wartime Israeli military in a poor light. Yet far from being unthinkable, such incidents have been documented by Israeli historians as common during the Nakba. "The Jewish soldiers who took part in the massacre also reported horrific scenes: babies whose skulls were cracked open, women raped or burned alive in houses, and men stabbed to death," the historian Ilan Pappe wrote in his book, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine," describing accounts of a massacre that took place in the Palestinian village of Dawaymeh. The massacre in Dawaymeh was just one of countless incidents of ethnic cleansing during this period, many of which have survived in the memory of Palestinians but are only now being recognized by others.
  6. 1 2 "Farha". Palestine Cinema Days. 10 October 2022. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  7. 1 2 Akerman, Iain (24 December 2021). "'I'm not afraid to tell the truth:' Jordanian filmmaker Darin Sallam discusses Farha". Arab News. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022. Inspired by the story that Sallam was told as a child (although Radieh has become Farha — played by newcomer Karam Taher), it addresses the horror of the Nakba (the violent removal of Palestinians from their homeland), which is harrowingly depicted from the unique perspective of a young girl trapped inside a single room.
  8. ↑ Quilty, Jim (8 June 2022). "Ayyam Beirut al-Cinema'iyya: Stories of love and displacement". L'Orient Today . Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  9. 1 2 Wise, Damon (3 December 2022). "Filmmaker Darin J. Sallam On The Personal Story At Heart Of Jordan's Oscar Entry Farha – Contenders International". Deadline. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Roxborough, Scott (8 December 2022). "Farha Filmmakers on Social Media Backlash to Jordan's Oscar Contender: 'It Felt Very Much Like an Organized Thing'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  11. 1 2 Bedirian, Razmig (14 December 2021). "Claustrophobic film Farha retells the horrors of 1948's Nakba in Palestine". The National. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  12. ↑ Mobarak, Jared (11 September 2021). "TIFF Review: Farha Vividly Depicts Palestinian History Through the Eyes of a Teenager". The Film Stage. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  13. ↑ Bedirian, Razmig (14 December 2021). "Red Sea Film Festival closes on a celebratory note: 'The future is bright for Saudi film'". The National. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  14. ↑ "Palestinian stories of trauma, resilience spotlighted". The Express Tribune. Reuters. 12 November 2022. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  15. ↑ Roxborough, Scott (8 December 2022). "'Farha' Filmmakers on Social Media Backlash to Jordan's Oscar Contender: "It Felt Very Much Like an Organized Thing"". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  16. ↑ Berman, Nora (2 December 2022). "In Israel, a scandal over Netflix's choice to stream a film depicting the 1948 murder of a Palestinian family". The Forward. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022. While the exact events in the film may not have happened, it is not a lie, nor libelous, to say that Palestinian civilians, including women and children, were killed during the creation of the state. Efforts by Jewish Israelis to suppress this narrative only further entrench existing hostility and calcify any efforts toward coexistence."No reasonable person still believes there were no acts of expulsion and massacre by the Jewish side in the 1948 war," Israeli historian Benny Morris has written of his country's earlier attempts to hide this history... Still, the painful reality is that some Israeli soldiers did kill men, women and children on the path to creating a Jewish state.
  17. ↑ Arria, Michael (6 December 2022). "Netflix faces Israeli backlash over Nakba film". Mondoweiss. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  18. ↑ McKernan, Bethan (1 December 2022). "Israel condemns Netflix film showing murder of Palestinian family in 1948 war". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  19. 1 2 Osman, Nadda (2 December 2022). "Farha: 'Smear campaign' targets Netflix film depicting Nakba". Middle East Eye . Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  20. 1 2 Syed, Armani (7 December 2022). "Why This Director Portrayed the Nakba in Netflix's 'Farha'". Time. Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  21. ↑ Loayza, Beatrice (1 December 2022). "'Farha' Review: A Most Brutal Coming-of-Age Story" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  22. ↑ Elassar, Alaa (12 December 2022). "Palestinians relive the raw and painful history of al-Nakba in Netflix's new film 'Farha'". CNN . Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
  23. ↑ Keswani, Pallavi (5 December 2022). "'Farha' movie review: A simple but affecting film on civilian casualties of war" . The Hindu . Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  24. ↑ Cable, Umayyah (12 January 2023). "'Farha' and the Claustrophobic State of Palestinian Cinema". Institute for Palestine Studies . Archived from the original on 12 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  25. ↑ "Farha". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  26. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie (5 December 2022). "Farha Filmmakers Accuse Israel Of Attempting To Discredit Jordanian Oscar Entry, Condemn Moves To Get It Taken Off Netflix". Deadline. Archived from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.