Synopsis

Restored by the Royal Belgium Film Archive in recent years, Fertile Memory is Khleifi’s feature debut written in 1978, which has been considered as founder of contemporary Palestinian cinema and the first film directed by a Palestinian inside the borders of Israel before 1967. Romia, a widow, fights an unending legal battle with the Zionist authorities who confiscated her ancestral land soon after the Israeli occupation in 1947, while Sahar, a divorced novelist and young mother, struggles to follow her dreams and career within her increasingly intolerant society after the Six-Day War. Lyrically blending both documentary and narrative elements, Khleifi skillfully and lovingly recounts the lives of two Palestinian women in the wake of the historical moments that have torn their homes and families apart.

Critics’ Week, Cannes Film Festival