A State of Passion

A poignant, sometimes sad, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous, often absurd story of a multiple journey: the journey of loss as the director’s mother Aida struggled with losing herself to Alzheimer’s disease, but finding solace in her repeated “returning” to the Yafa and Palestine of her youth; the journey of the loss of a parent; and the ultimate return journey back to Yafa where Aida would finally find rest and be herself once more.

The story of Palestinian refugees that have been living in Syria since they had been forced to flee Palestine in 1948. As the Syrian crisis intensifies, they alongside the Syrians have been affected by the war. Their story, however, is more complex. By fleeing Syria and seeking refuge in Lebanon they are becoming a special category of refugees: they are refugees twice over. As Palestinians they are not entirely welcome in Lebanon. As refugees, their travel documents are not recognized. As Palestinians, this is the second time they lose everything and find themselves once more homeless and stateless. "We Cannot Go There Now, My Dear" tells part of the story of those twice-over refugees. A story where memories were awakened between one exodus and the other, and where loss invades all things - striking the very self. A story where the causes and consequences are known, but not the closure. A story where lives are continuously being improvised and rebuilt awaiting the return.