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On the Fay to forgive I Forgot Myself

Driven by a lost dream, Rï searches through her ancestral memory, reconciling with her primal self.

synopsis

Past, present, dreams, and visions collide in Brussels as Rï, a young Syrian woman tries to remember a forgotten dream that takes her back between the volcanic rocks of her hometown, believing it holds the key to her lost self. She is drawn back into her family’s orbit when she recognises her own struggle for liberation and healing mirrored in her younger sister, Taima. As Rï begins to uncover memories – both her own and those of her ancestors—that reveal the history of political, societal, and familial oppression, the family dynamics, marked by the trauma of displacement and war, slowly unravel. Yet Rï is convinced her family is crucial to unlock her forgotten dream and a past she cannot access alone. She embarks on a journey of confrontation with her ancestors, reconnections, and forgiveness. But in tending her wounds, Rï neglects her sister’s urgent needs. A passive attempt to help backfires, and Taima runs away, leaving Rï to face the blame of an unforgiving family. Confronting the harsh reality of her own repetition of a generational cycle, Rï slips the last bonds of oppression to find her primal self – wild and nurturing.

Director’statement

In this life of mine, I am privileged to have survived enriching pains, crises, loss, and farewells that ignited in me an irresistible desire to make films. Memory as a past that lingers, that I carry and it also carries me, has always been my source of inspiration. My previous films explored memory as it reveals itself. In this story, I am exploring the memory that demonstrates against itself, that hides and exists beyond one’s experience. I made a choice to work with the medium of dreams and visions, to make the “unconscious” one of the main characters of the film. Through this approach I aim to tell a political story without politicising the characters nor the audience. Instead, I invite the viewer to engage through empathy; by letting them feel the shivers of fear of desiders, the weight of estrangement, the itch of knowing there is something just out of reach, and the warm embrace of relief after pain intensifies; the warmth of rebirth.

TFL PROGRAMME:
ScriptLab 2024

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