81 min
Mais Darwazah
Documentary
2013 - Jordan/Palestine/Qatar/Germany

Featuring Hasan Hourani, Nael Kanj, Mohammad Reda Al-Haj Ahmad,

Making its debut at TIFF 2013, My Love Awaits Me by the Sea is a poetic documentary of director Mais Darwazah’s first journey back to her homeland, Palestine. Darwazah instantly fell in love with the late Palestinian artist Hasan Hourani, when she saw his enchanting drawings and poems. Hourani tragically drowned on a visit to Jaffa trying to save his cousin in 2003. His childrens book ‘Hasan is Everywhere’ is a magical story of a boy who transcends occupation and lives in the sea and sleeps in the clouds. Inspired by Hourani and his story, Darwazah leaves her reality in Jordan and follows her ‘lover’, who she never met, to the seafront city of Jaffa. Her fairytale and reality are woven together to question the elusiveness of place and the need to believe in dreams. The film beautifully chronicles the director’s visit to occupied and historic Palestine guided by Hourani’s drawings and the Palestinians she meets along the way who defy their everyday realities by holding onto their dreams.

Co-presented by Hot Docs.

Screened with Dear Hassan