Israa is 11 when her family emigrates to Cologne. Directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes shot this documentary over ten years, following Israa and her family as they flee Syria’s civil war and try to adjust as best they can in a land both welcoming and hostile. Israa wants to be a typical teen and then a young woman, still attempting to maintain traditions, but often Germany takes a great deal of navigation, and together, she and her family face all the challenges of a strange new world, both good and bad. Sundance Audience Award Winner for World Cinema Documentary.

Curated & presented in partnership with Mizna, SWANA Stories at MSPIFF presents bold and striking new films from North Africa, Southwest Asia, and the diaspora.