Lyd Film Screening and Director Q&A with Arielle Angel

Lyd is a documentary made by Rami Younis, a Palestinian from Lyd (also known by its Hebrew name, Lod), and Sarah Ema Friedland, a Jewish American, that tells the story of a city that once connected Palestine to the world. By going deep into the history of the Nakba—the dispossession of Palestinians from their land in 1948—and using never before seen archival footage of Israeli soldiers who committed the massacre and expulsion of Palestinians from Lyd, this movie provides much needed context for this moment. Through vivid animations, it imagines an alternate reality where Palestine was never occupied and Palestinians of all religions (Muslims, Christians, and Jews) live in a liberated Palestine.

Lyd premiered at the 2023 Amman International Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary, and was also awarded the FIPRESCI prize from the International Critics Association. Join us at the DCTV Firehouse Cinema on Saturday, April 27th at 7pm ET for a screening of the film, followed by an extended Q&A with the film directors Rami Younis and Sarah Ema Friedland, moderated by Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel.

Sarah Ema Friedland (Director/cinematographer) is a documentary filmmaker and media artist based in New York. Friedland’s works have screened widely in the US and abroad and have been broadcast nationally on PBS. Her work has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, the Paul Newman Foundation„ the Ford Foundation, NYSCA, the LABA House of Study, The Palestinian American Research Center, and the MacDowell Colony. She is a recipient of the 2014 Paul Robeson award from the Newark Museum and was nominated for a New York Emmy. Friedland is the Director of the MDOCS Storyteller’s Institute at Skidmore College and an active member of the Meerkat Media Collective.

Rami Younis (Director/Producer) is a Palestinian filmmaker, writer, journalist and activist from Lyd. He was a 2019-20 Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School. As a journalist, he mainly wrote for the online magazine +972 and served as both writer and editor of its Hebrew sister site, “local call”, a journalistic project he co-founded, designed to challenge Israeli mainstream journalism outlets. Rami served as a parliamentary consultant and media spokesperson for Palestinian member of Knesset (Israeli parliament) Haneen Zoabi. Rami is also co-founder and manager of the first ever “Palestine Music Expo”: an event that connects local Palestinian music scene to the world wide industry. Younis was the host of the Arabic-language daily news show, “On the Other Hand.”

Arielle Angel is the editor-in-chief of Jewish Currents.