“Film offers a way of looking at the past, the present and the future simultaneously. That’s its wonder”: Sarah Beddington on Fadia’s Tree

In Sarah Beddinton’s Fadia’s Tree, visual storytelling is interlaced with journalistic details to explore the predicament of Palestinian refugees who remain in camps in Lebanon 74 years after their families were forced to flee their home.

The documentary captures the unlikely friendship that formed and grew over a decade and a half between the filmmaker and her subject, and the mission Beddington embarked on to find the ancient mulberry tree Fadia remembers from her childhood and forms a metaphor for her yearning for home. The brutal arbitrariness of borders drawn carelessly with blunt crayons during World War I are brought into stark contrast with the migratory paths of birds who fly above them, oblivious to how they confine and oppress the people who live on the ground.

It’s a beautifully and thoughtfully made documentary that, rather than taking an overtly political or overly observational approach, rather takes an emotive and almost folktale-like one to understanding the plight of those displaced by conflict, with two-headed dragons and blind men providing the clues along the way to finding Fadia’s beloved tree and symbol of her true but unreachable home.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking with Beddington about how the visual artist came to make a documentary about a Palestinian refugee stranded in Lebanon, the 15-year journey and friendship that went into making it and the poetic sensibility of the film which draws parallels with the migratory instincts of birds. We also discussed how she hopes the human story behind such refugee stories can reignite interest in seeking justice for those unable to return to their rightful home or receive compensation and the importance of it being a female-led story both in front and behind the camera.

You can also catch more of Beddington’s insights into the making of the film at a Q and A at the ICA.

Sarah Bradbury

Fadia’s Tree is released in select cinemas on 5^th August 2022.

Watch the trailer for Fadia’s Tree here: