Cherien Dabis and her team were in pre-production on All That’s Left Of You, when they were caught up with the ongoing conflict in Palestine and Israel.
“We were supposed to film in Palestine,” says Dabis. “We spent months in Jaffa and Ramallah prepping the film, and were two weeks away from the start of principal photography when we were forced to evacuate last October [2023].”
While she describes the ordeal as “utterly devastating”, Dabis and her team, which includes Lebanese-German DoP Christoper Aoun, known for Capernaum and The Man Who Sold His Skin persevered. They went on to shoot the film in Cyprus, Greece and in the Gaza and Souf refugee camps in the north of Jordan.
“We had to entirely re-prep the film,” says Dabis. “It’s unheard of to have to re-prep a move as many times as we had to on this one.”
Now the film is post-production and the Palestinian-American actress, director, screenwriter and producer is participating in this year’s Atlas Workshops with is her third feature, and her first fully Arabic language project.
The historical drama starts with a Palestinian teenager confronting Israeli soldiers at a West Bank process. His mother then recounts all the historical moments which have brought her son to this moment in time, starting with his grandfather’s displacement from Jaffa in 1948.
Dabis stars in the film alongside Saleh Bakri and Adam Bakri. The producers are Germany’s Pallas Films, with AMC Filmworks in Cyprus, and the funding has come from international sources including the Doha Film Fund, Eurimages, Filmclinic, Medienboard and Red Sea Fund. The project is now in search of additional funding to finish post-production, with international sales handled by The Match Factory.
In writing All That’s Left Of You, Dabis, who previously made 2009 Cannes Fipresci-prizewinner Amreeka and 2013 Venice title May In The Summer, looked inwards for inspiration.
“It is inspired by my own reflections on intergenerational trauma and a deep desire to heal, both myself and my community,” she reveals. “ The film gives much needed historical context to political events we’re currently witnessing. It tells the story of how we ended up where we are today. When I wrote it back in 2020, I had no way of knowing how incredibly relevant it would become.”
She says it was an easy decision to star in All That’s Left Of You, as well as write and direct it. “My acting makes me a better director, and my directing makes me a better actor,” she explains. “It’s all storytelling and I love every part of it. It gives me a shift in perspective that keeps me on my toes. When things get too easy, I get bored.”
All That’s Left Of You marks Dabis’ return to cinema after spending several years in TV production in the US, writing for series including Fallout, Empire and Only Murders In The Building. Although it is tumultuous time for Palestinian filmmakers, Dabis is undaunted.
“The biggest challenges for any Palestinian film right now are suppression, backlash and fear,” she says. “But if I had focused on those things, I never would have made the movie to begin with. I choose to focus on my larger mission and break through any challenges, real or perceived.
“It was a massive relief to return to cinema,” she continues, “I am a storyteller with my own voice and vision, and I have a lot to say.”
But she does not flinch from describing how difficult it has been.
“The challenges we endured were by far the greatest artistic, and in some ways personal, challenges of my life,” says Dabis of making All That’s Left Of You. “From the financial difficulties that befell us after we were forced to evacuate Palestine and start all over again, to the emotional challenges of making a movie about what’s happening, as it’s happening.”
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