Notes on Displacement

Documentary, director: Khaled Jarrar, Palestine/Germany/Qatar, 2022, 74 min., Arab., Ger., with En. ST

Double Feature with Sokrania 59

Followed by a Film Talk with Producer Thomas Kaske.

Pictures of overcrowded camps and sinking boats are often to be seen in western media – but what do we really know about what people experience on the run? Khaled Jarrar accompanies a Palestinian family from Damascus, via Lesbos, to Munich, shedding light on the ways uncertainty, fear, as well as administrative and human despotism transform human beings into pawns of migration policy decisions.

The film follows Nadira, whose childhood was shaped by displacement from Palestine, and her daughter Mona as they make their way through Eastern Europe towards an uncertain future. Jarrar’s camera brings forth the dignity with which the two endure racism, hostile weather and shelter life, making the audience reflect on the West’s great indignity in dealing with migrants. Notes on Displacement premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and won the Feature Documentary Award at the Doxa Documentary Film Festival.