If you are unable to attend the screening, but would like to make a donation, you can contribute via our fundraising page.

East End Acts and Toronto Palestinian Families are proud to co-present a special screening of FARHA (2021), written and directed by Darin J. Sallam, and inspired by true events.

Synopsis:

Farha is a 14-year-old girl who lives in a small village in Palestine, 1948. Girls her age are traditionally married off or spoken for, yet Farha wants to continue her education at a school in the city. Life in the village is threatened and aggressively changed by looming danger. Just when Farha’s father is finally convinced and her dream is at last coming true, the violence escalates. Fearing for his daughter's life, her father locks her up in a concealed, small food storage space by the house, promising to return. But he never does, and Farha's life is forever changed by what she witnesses from her hiding place.

Language: In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. Film run time: 90 minutes.

Rating: Ages 14 and up; violence and some distressing scenes.

Joining us will be two very special guest speakers:

Dr. Raed Hawa is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He is a specialist in medical psychiatry, sleep medicine and obesity medicine. He is Palestinian Lebanese and has been a settler on this land for 35 years. Dr. Hawa is a member of Health Workers Alliance for Palestine (HAP).

Wafaa Hasan is an Assistant Professor in the Women and Gender Studies Institute at the University of Toronto. She has published on Palestinian childhood in Canadian literature; Islamophobia; anti-Palestinian racism; imperial and anticolonial feminisms; as well as global practices of resilience in displacement. She is a proud Palestinian from TulKarem, and arrived on Turtle Island as a Refugee.

Net proceeds from tickets, baked goods and merchandise will be donated to the Toronto Community Justice Fund, and mutual aid for the families of Nour and Abeer in Gaza.

Date and time: Saturday, January 18. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., film starts at 7:00 p.m.

Location: The Redwood Theatre, 1300 Gerrard Street East

Email us at eastendacts@gmail.com if there a financial barrier.

About the filmmaker:

Darin J. Sallam's critically acclaimed debut feature film FARHA (2021) had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, was Jordan's entry to the 2023 Academy Awards, and received the Best Youth Film award at the 15th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA). More recently, Sallam was named among Variety’s Impactful International Women of 2023 and received the IMEU (Institute of Middle East Understanding) Storyteller Award 2023.