Al Awda (2021)

Overview

Due to the impact of the global Coronavirus pandemic, the author of the film comes back to her birthplace after having spent the last 10 years abroad. She goes about her daily routine under lockdown along with her parents: her father teeming with good humour who takes government restrictions with reservations, and her mother who voluntarily locks herself in her room because of fears she could infect other flatmates with the virus she may not even have. Sara Shazli observes city bustle outside the windows and domestic life through the camera lens in her own perspective, treating familiar situations with both tragic and comic distance. Being locked down with her parents helps her in rediscovering family ties and her relationship to home.