Aida Returns

Aida had one last wish in life: To return to Jaffa, the city she was expelled from. After her death, her daughter wants to fulfill the wish. With warm humor, AIDA RETURNS beautifully tells about living in exile.

Carol's mother, Aida, struggled for many years with Alzheimer's. What gave her peace was constantly talking about returning to Jaffa, the city she grew up in and was expelled from. Several years after Aida's passing, her daughter decides to fulfill her mother's wish, but since she is a Lebanese citizen, she cannot travel to Israel, so she devises a plan to have her mother's ashes returned to Jaffa.

Aida Returns explores the director's family history with humor and melancholy and is an attempt to reconnect with a long-forgotten past. At the same time, it tells the story of the many Palestinians living in exile, forbidden from returning to their childhood homes, even after death.

Red.

Director

Carol Mansour (b. 1961) is a Lebanese-Palestinian documentary filmmaker and editor. Among her most-known films are the short film I Come from a Beautiful Place (2010) and the documentary Stitching Palestine (2017). Her most recent film is Aida Returns (2023).

This film is part of