Children of IBDAA: To Create Something Out of Nothing

• Directed by: S. Smith Patrick
• Produced by: S. Smith Patrick

CHILDREN OF IBDAA: To Create Something Out of Nothing is about the lives of several adolescents in a Palestinian children's dance troupe from Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank. They use their performance to express the history, struggle, and aspirations of the Palestinian people, specifically the fight to return to their homeland. Through interviews and documentation of the children, the film offers insight into their families' displacement from their villages in historical Palestine, the physically and emotionally stressful aspects of life in a refugee camp, and the unique experience of participating in the politically motivated dance troupe. The story culminates in a visit by the children for the first time to demolished villages from which their grandparents were expelled in 1948.

The name of the dance troupe, ‘Ibdaa,’ translates from Arabic as ‘to create something out of nothing.’ It is a sentiment the troupe founder feels captures the vibrancy and strength of the dance troupe against the oppressive backdrop of its members’ origins and life in Dheisheh refugee camp.

AWARDS
SF International Film Festival Best Documentary Short - Winner