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Lyd

Lyd

Dir. Rami Younis, Sarah Ema Friedland
78 min

Wednesday, July 31 at 7pm

One Night Only Screening

Presented in collaboration with Mizna’s 18th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival (TCAFF), coming September 25-29.

About the film

The film Lyd (the Arabic name of Lod, a city now in Israel) is about a 5,000-year-old bustling Palestinian town that was conquered when the State of Israel was established in 1948, and the film Lyd is the story of that city’s rise and fall. An exploration of what it once was, and what it is now, in the context of the continuing conflicts and the war in Gaza, Lyd’s excavation of one community’s complex history offers us not only lessons but possible futures.

As the film unfolds, a chorus of characters creates a tapestry of the Palestinian experience of this city and the trauma left by the massacre and expulsion, while vivid animations envision an alternate reality where the same characters live free from the trauma of the past and the violence of the present. Using never-before-seen archival footage of the Israeli soldiers who carried out the massacre and expulsion, the personified city explains that these events were so devastating that they fractured reality, and now there are two Lyds — one occupied and one free. As the film cuts between fantastical and documentary realities, it ultimately leaves the viewer questioning what future should prevail.

Made by a Palestinian from Lyd and a Jewish American, Lyd provides much-needed context for this moment, as it goes deep into the history of the Nakba from the perspective of Palestinians who survived. The film imagines an alternate reality where Palestine was never occupied and Palestinians of all religions (Muslims, Christians, and Jews) live in a liberated Palestine. Narrated by Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi who personifies the city, the viewer is guided through the lifespan of a five-thousand-year-old city and its residents.

Film Details

Program: Special Screenings
Release Year: 2023
Runtime: 78 min
Country/Region: Palestine, United Kingdom, USA
Language: Arabic, Hebrew
Print Source: Icarus Films
Tags: Documentary, History

Cast/Crew

Director: Rami Younis, Sarah Ema Friedland
Executive Producer: Roger Waters
Producer: Sawsan Asfar, Sarah Ema Friedland, Fivel Rothberg, Rami Younis
Cinematographer: Sarah Ema Friedland
Screenwriter: Rami Younis, Sarah Ema Friedland, Eyas Salman
Editor: Eyas Salman
Composer: Haitham Bishara
Principal Cast: Maisa Abd Elhadi