In his poem Atharu Al Farasha (The Trace of the Butterfly), Mahmoud Darwish writes: “The trace of the butterfly is like a song that is trying to say yet is instead satisfied with citing the shadows, and so it does not say.” It is in such subtlety and strength that memory is embodied in Palestinian film. Memory seeps into the cracks of our imaginations, creating the images and sounds we need to see not just one bigger picture, but many bigger pictures. The stories told in our films contain many narratives, traveling in different directions, times, and spaces. They come from different Palestinian cities, shedding a light on the complexities of physical and mental borders and the tenacity of the people in confronting and rejecting the injustices (of the Occupation). They also capture the daily, or as Darwish writes in the same poem: “the eternal in the daily,” as Darwish writes in the poem, challenging any trite narratives that reduce Palestine to a faint romanticized idea. 

Reel Palestine comes back within its seventh edition, excited and ready to share these films with our community of supporters. We are a social enterprisenot-for-profit film festival run by volunteers with and passion for cinema, in collaboration with our long- term partner Cinema Akil. We have been building a community in the United Arab Emirates and around the world by bringing the best of cinema from Palestine and its diaspora. We are certain that this artistic expression has the ability to touch, transform and inspire. It is no wonder that Rim Banna sang The Trace of the Butterfly. This passing on, we believe, is the subtle power which lies in works of art, guiding us towards meaning and inspiring us to create more. This is why Reel Palestine exists: to keep bringing and inspiring Palestinian film and artistic expression.