The following article is a transcription of a Q&A with Youssef Srouji held at Falastin Film Festival, a collective that, as stated in their official website, is “using cinema, primarily, as a tool of resistance, [they] strive to decolonize the narrative and equip audiences with historical context” as well as “[building] community while celebrating Palestinian art and culture through cinema, music, cuisine, and other storytelling mediums.”
From the early 2000s to 2005, the Israeli Army pursued a campaign of retaliation for Palestinian uprisings in the West Bank. During this period and the five years that followed, more than 6,300 Palestinians were killed, including 1,317 minors. In the face of events, many families had to make existential choices.
As Ramzi and Suha try to raise Dima and Yousef, they are confronted with difficult decisions and existential dilemmas. Through real footage recorded by Suha in the early 2000s and a voice-over by her and her son, Yousef, Three Promises allows us to discover the family’s daily life as they navigate the second intifada, until they ultimately make the life-defining decision of leaving.
How did you discover the tapes? Did seeing them change your memory? Or validate early memories you had kept from that period?
“I was at dinner with my dad, and I had questions for him about how he felt during this period. I was curious as a young man what it was like to be a father at that time, and he, as most guys, didn’t really talk about it. He just said, “Oh, you know, there’s footage about that time period.” My mom was not happy that he mentioned it, that the footage existed… As soon as we got home, my dad had already digitised the footage into DVDs. I collected all of the footage and spent 3-4 months watching it.
It definitely reinforced some memories of that stage of my life. I was already 27 at the time, or 26, starting to question whether the memories I had as a child were real or not.
The next steps were recording my mom, I sent her a rough version of an hour and a half and told her to record herself with 3 or 4 main questions.
She sent two hours of memories and reflection, which created a much larger layer.
The whole process was a series of painful and healing moments.”
Why 3 Promises? What led you to choose this common thread throughout the film?
“I sat with the recording of my mom for 2-3 months, and there were 1 h 15 of scenes that were powerful and linked with the conversation my mom had sent me.
However, I was struggling because there was no intrinsic narrative structure to the footage itself; it was pretty random.
The 3 Promises idea was a way to create a narrative structure that gives chronological order and an emotional perspective of what it’s like to be a mom in this scenario.
It’s not only my mom describing, it’s an insight about her as a Palestinian woman who wants to stay and not leave her land, who wants to resist, but is also a mother and has her children to care for, creating a dilemma and a struggle which became the main theme.”
What was she filming for?
“She was filming because she wanted to record what was happening as she was really frustrated that none of the news was talking about what Palestinians in the West Bank were going through during the second intifada.
She felt like no one cared. My mom has always been part of the Palestinian movement in one way or another, from a young age, politically active. Then she became a mother, and once you become a mother, your priorities change and in that moment she was holding onto any type of resistance she could do.”
Why did she keep these videos hidden?
“She kept these videos hidden because she felt extremely guilty that she was so adamant about filming when it was clear we needed her as a mother. She felt like she was a bad mom, like she took too long to leave. She had a lot of regrets during that period. It took a lot of reassurance that she was a good mom, but I don’t know how much I convinced her.”
What was the reception of the film, and how did you feel abt it?
“The movie came out in March 2023, so 6 months before October 7th. We had world premieres, it was very exciting. The main feedback was how humanising it was. Anyone can relate to the footage, it has some universal late 90s, early 2000s vibes. Palestinians from the diaspora connecting with the film was heartwarming. When you make a documentary about war, it feels like another world, but the goal is for you to feel like this is a family you know and could be you. I think we succeeded in that way.
The initial reaction was much more than we anticipated. But after Oct 7th happened, it made a lot more demand, people were even more interested.
What’s happening in Gaza right now is a million times worse than what we went through. And I understand it still has an impact that people can humanise Palestinian families, at the same time, it feels so far from the reality of what’s happening in Gaza that it’s a shame. This shouldn’t be a representation of what is happening in Gaza. We were relatively safe, you know? We had food.”
How was it to come back to Palestine 13 years after fleeing?
“I ditched a job in New York for a hedge fund to go back to Palestine. I worked for an NGO that works on solar panels and drinkable water in Gaza.
In the last year, it has been increasingly difficult to stay. All the projects we have worked on in the last 5 to 6 years have been destroyed.
I think it’s interesting how I am now in the same position my mother was. There’s a voice telling me to leave, there’s no future here, it’s over, right? I mean, it would take 15 to 20 years to get back to where we were 2 years ago.
Do I waste my 30s in a hopeless hope? I feel like I’m given the decision my mom had to take on my behalf.”
“File:Israeli West Bank Barrier.jpg” by Justin McIntosh is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Image by Matteo Crawford (@matteoquerinicrawford) provided by Falastin Film Festival