Still of the film Lyd , a story of a city that once connected Palestine to the world – what it once was, what it is now, and what it could have become .
However, it was clear that it was not my story to tell, and so a friend put me in touch with Rami , who is from Lyd, and we hit it off and started working on this together. And the second need was humanising the space. As Palestinians, we are used to humanising ourselves in the eyes of the world - especially the Western world. By giving Lyd a voice and having her tell her own story, we took it further by humanising the space, not the person.
That being said, it is a vision of Pan-Arab solidarity, a liberated Palestine, and religious coexistence. Because it existed in the past, we do believe it can exist in the future, even if how we get there feels like a mystery. That is where the fantastical animation style comes in. This is a fantasy and we want people to understand it as such, but it is necessary to imagine it in order to make it real.
Many Jewish people simply do not know this history. It is not something we are taught. In fact it is purposefully hidden from us, because if it were not, it would be much harder for Jewish people to continue supporting Zionism.