Aida Returns

syno

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This film is a poignant, painful, and often absurd journey of loss. It follows Aida, the director’s mother, as she gradually loses herself to Alzheimer’s disease, finding solace in her repeated “returning” to the Yafa and Palestine of her youth. Interwoven with this is the director’s own journey through the loss of a parent, culminating in a final return to Yafa, where Aida would ultimately find rest and become herself once more. The film stands as a tribute to the lost past of the director’s family, an attempt to restore fragments of both individual and collective memory, and a poetic affirmation of all exiled Palestinians who are forbidden from returning to their hometowns, even after death.

Director's

bio

Carol Mansour, Lebanese of Palestinian origin, is an independent documentary film maker with over 28 years in documentary production who has achieved international recognition and honor for her films, with over seventy worldwide film festival screenings and official selections worldwide. The filmmaker’s work reflects her concern for human rights and social justice, covering issues such as migrant workers, refugees, environmental issues, mental health, rights of the disabled, war and memory, right to health, and child labor.

Among her films: Invisible Children (2006), We cannot go there now, my Dear (2014), It’s Just Another Place (2016), Stitching Palestine (2017), Men on Hold (2018) Thank you Soma (2018), Shattered Beirut 6.07 (2020), State of Passion (2024).