Nadia Shihab

Moving between the playful and the contemplative, explores the meaning of identity and home across three generations of an Iraqi family in Texas.

The word Echolocation implies reverberance, reflection, reaction, and blindness — or, in the cinematic sense, the lack of visuals. Yet, there is a lot to see and hear: the rain in Oakland, the grandmother’s home in Baghdad, the aunts’ voices in Whatsapp, a little girl learning to count to 10. The story is told through scattered photographs, as well as random voice notes. The film redefines the notion of “home” and expands the meaning beyond a physical structure by accessing it through the words that, aided by the abstract collages, paint an image of a territory that can be dubbed as homeland, even after the visual recollection is lost. A heart-aching testimony on diaspora and homesickness.

In Danville, California, Lee Gorewitz wanders on a soul-searching odyssey through her Alzheimer’s & Dementia care unit. Confined by the limits of her physical boundaries, she scavenges for reminders of her life in the outside world. Yet her search is for more than a word, or a memory, or a familiar face. It is a quest for understanding.