Céline Roustan
In Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York City, there’s a collective of Palestinian-American performers, who connect with their culture and folklore through a Levantine dance. Known as the Freedom Dabka Group, its members are looking to strengthening their ties with their local communities, and with their homeland, through this shared tradition. In this powerful short documentary, Coming Home, directing duo Margot Bowman and Naim Naif join forces to profile the group, honoring both Palestinian identity and the art form of Dabka.
“An exploration of what it means to place your roots in a new place and create a sense of home”
Developed between 2020 and 2021, Naif credits Covid as a catalyst for the film, explaining “that chaos created a desire to contribute to the historical records of our time with a story that celebrated the Palestinian-American community and the city of NY”. Like for many, the lockdowns also “instigated a reckoning with their own relationship to home” for the filmmakers, with Naif unable to travel to Palestine and Bowman left on the wrong side of the Atlantic. The essence of the film quickly evolved into “belonging as an active state, an exploration of what it means to place your roots in a new place and create a sense of home”.
Coming Home opens on a basketball court in Brooklyn and as 47Soul’s Intro To Shamstep begins to play, we are introduced to Freedom Dabka Group and their passion for this specific folk dance. By choosing to start their story here, and kicking it off with shamstep, Bowman and Naif immediately set the tone of the film, simultaneously highlighting Palestinian cultural heritage and connecting it to the present (and the future), while also confirming this is very much an NYC story.
Coming Home looks to introduce the world to Introducing the Freedom Dabka Group
Those two inextricably linked sides of the Freedom Dabka Group story are captured in different ways throughout the film, as we alternate between archival photography/footage and shots of the performers dancing or being with their family and community. With its gorgeous visual aesthetic, Coming Home has a celebratory dimension that is undeniably emotionally charged. Choosing to present the archive photographs, provided by The Palestinian Museum, and the footage of the protests in Bay Ridge in color give the short an energy that makes both the Palestinian culture and community feel vibrant, welcoming and hopeful.
On the other hand, the more intimate moments with the group, as they practice, perform or spend time with leader Amer and his family, are presented in stylish black & white. Reminiscent of those NYC films that capture the magic of the city in monochrome, the confidential aesthetic approach immerses us in the family feel of this collective. As we’re invited into their households as they discuss their relationship to the homeland and how Dabka allows them to feel closer to their identity, we get a true sense of what motivates them to do what they do.
Coming Home had its World Premiere at the 2022 edition of SXSW, before being selected at the Palm Springs ShortFest and awarded the Best Short Film award at Palestine Cinema Days. The film was acquired by POV and made its online debut as a Vimeo Staff Pick Premiere. Bowman is currently working on a feature documentary and a narrative short, while Naif is writing a short comedy about the struggles of filmmaking, while also developing a short documentary about a hotel in Jerusalem, another narrative short and a feature documentary.