Introduced by Rabih El-Khoury, SAFAR Film Festival curator

Soraida, A Woman of Palestine (2004) captures the reflections, concerns and imagination of a Palestinian woman, her family and her neighbourhood: the soul of a nation that is doing its best to survive the war and occupation. Produced exactly twenty years ago for Canadian television, it challenged Western depictions of the region and compelled audiences at the time to ask fundamental questions about what life is like in the Middle East. Today, it offers a rarely seen portrait of life in Ramallah at the turn of the century and an insight into the daily realities of Palestinians over the decades.

Born in Egypt, Tahani Rached settled in Quebec in 1966. After attending École des beaux-arts de Montréal, she was involved in community action until she made her first film, Pour faire changement (1972), a documentary produced by Le Vidéographe, which set the tone for all her future work. In 1979, her first feature film, Les voleurs de jobs, revealed her distinctive view of the world. A documentary on immigration, it demonstrated her ability to capture reality. After joining the NFB as a staff filmmaker in 1980, she tackled many sensitive topics through film: war in Beirut! Not Enough Death to Go Round (1983); the resourcefulness of the disadvantaged, through the songs in Au Chic Resto Pop (1990); a doctor’s battle against AIDS in Doctors with Heart (1993); Four Women of Egypt (1997) women’s search for meaning and tolerance through 50 years of contemporary Egyptian history in Four Women of Egypt (1997), and many more.