The Story of Milk and Honey

The Story of Milk and Honey was part of IDFA program in 2023, and withdrawn by the filmmaker. Upon the request of the filmmaker, we publish the following text as received:

"This film was one of 12 to withdraw from participation at IDFA 2023, amongst 28 total withdrawals that included moderators, jury, and others in protest at the festival's damaging denunciation of an action in solidarity with Palestine that took place on the opening night of the festival. At the time, the festival erased all information relating to the films withdrawn in protest from the website. In response to the publication of the Palestine Film Institute's 'Industry Protocol in Times of Genocide' in August 2024, and as a gesture towards transparency, IDFA reinstated the information relating to the withdrawn films in September 2024. No further accountability has been taken.”  - The Palestine Film Institute on behalf of the filmmakers, for the full statement click here

This short experimental video is part of a larger project that also comprises photographs, drawings and the written word. Basma al-Sharif uses it to describe in detail how an unnamed character is simply unable to write a love story without political context. “Every time I am asked about my project, I lie,” the person says.

This could have resulted in a film about defeat, but instead it unfolds into an exploration of the ways we collect and perceive information. How do we attribute meaning to facts, history, images and sound, and where is the individual to be found among all that material?

In voice-over, al-Sharif, who for a long period was unable to travel to Palestine, coalesces images, letters and Arabic love songs to create a meandering film about a failed love, families without faces, agricultural books missing certain plants, and anonymous people on Beirut’s seaside promenade.