The Trace of the Butterfly

Imagine that your father is a Palestinian Arab, and he had fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Imagine that you have siblings, and you cannot talk to them because you do not speak the same language. Imagine that you have a family, but you were raised without parents... The film reveals the extraordinary story of a Palestinian family.

Amal Ramsis captures the essence of a society under a dictatorship where political rights are severely restricted, but a strong social and political movement persists. Unbeknownst to the crew, the revolution begins on the last day of shooting, transforming the film’s narrative and direction.

Egyptian filmmaker Yasmina El Kamaly reflects on her family’s matrilineal history by examining her relationship with her mother, as well as the complicated bond between her mother and grandmother. Using journals, home videos and letters, she locates their longing for affection and the dysfunctional ways they go about getting it—offering and rebuffing attention, smothering and straining love—as the root.

The film tells a story of an Egyptian mother who lives far from her hometown, Upper Egypt. Masrya tries to find happiness in these memories while living with her family in her small home in the city.