Kingdom of Women

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Dahna Abourahme is a Palestinian filmmaker who grew up in Abu Dhabi and Amman. She received her MA in Media Studies at the New School for Social Research in New York where she worked as a filmmaker and youth media educator. She is currently living in Beirut teaching at the Lebanese American University and involved in community media. In 2004, she completed her first feature documentary, until when…, a personal portrait of four Palestinian families living in Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank. Her current documentary, The Kingdom of Women, grew out of an oral history project initiated by the Arab Resource Center for Popular Arts (Al-Jana) with the women of Ein El Hilweh Camp in south Lebanon.

Region of Origin

Year of Release

2010

Duration

54 minutes

Format

DV, Color

Directors

Dahna Abourahme Thumbnail

Dahna Abourahme

The story of the women of Ein El Hilweh refugee camp between 1982-1984 is an important chapter in the history of Palestinian refugee women in Lebanon. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, the camp was destroyed and its men imprisoned. “The Kingdom of Women” documents the community and organizing spirit of the women during this period, how they were able to rebuild the camp, protect and provide for their families while their men were held captive. Weaving between past and present, animation and daily life, the documentary focuses on seven of these women and honors how women continue to contribute to the survival of the Palestinian community in exile.