Info:

Screening format: DCP
Original title: فرحة
Director: Darin J. Sallam
Writer: Darin J. Sallam
Cast: Karam Taher, Ashraf Barhom, Ali Suliman
Countries of origin: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sweden
Languages: Arabic, Hebrew
Subtitles: English
Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes

About the film:

Farha, a spirited and bright young Palestinian girl, lives in a remote village and dreams of attending school in the city with her best friend, Farida. Because of her feisty determination, she finally convinces her father to let her go. Farha’s happiness is, however, cut short by the Nakba. The term Nakba, which means 'catastrophe', specifically refers to the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948 and the permanent displacement of a majority of the Palestinians in order to establish the state of Israel. This is an important historical drama depicting an event which is rarely portrayed in film.

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

Darin J. Sallam (born 1987, Kuwait)

Darin J. Sallam is a Jordanian film director and writer. She graduated from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts (RSICA) with an MFA in Cinematic Arts. She has five award-winning short films to her name, including The Dark Outside (2012) and The Parrot (2016). Sallam was selected to the 2017 La Cité Internationale des Arts residency and to the 2018 Global Media Makers fellowship by Film Independent. Farha (2021) is Darin J. Sallam’s debut feature film.