The film is certainly personal," she adds, "but I wanted it to be universal, I didn't want to be the centre of it or make my mother the centre of the story. It was first about the disease (Alzheimer's, editor's note) that affects one in two households, and then about the injustice that has uprooted thousands of Palestinians. Moreover, when a Canadian friend viewed my rushes and confirmed the universality of my message, I was comforted and confident about the scope of my testimony. It was about illness, Palestine, uprootedness, belonging and injustice. I didn't know I would go this far." - Carol Mansour, interview for L'Orient-le-Jour.
The director's latest film chronicles her journey to bring her mother's ashes back to Jaffa, Palestine. The documentary film documents Carol Mansour's conversations with her mother during the last years of her life, as she struggled with Alzheimer's disease. Born in Jaffa, Palestine in 1928 and driven from her homeland during the mass exodus of Palestinians in 1948, Aida Abboud Mansour spent the rest of her life in exile in Beirut, Cairo and Montreal. These intimate exchanges recount memories of Aida and her life in Jaffa. After her death in 2015, Carol sets out to bring her mother's ashes back to Jaffa.
The documentary has not yet been screened in cinemas, but was the subject of a screening for the Palestine Museum, as well as on 20 December at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.