During the summer of 2023, my dear friend Lara invited me to her house in Jordan to have my favorite meal maqloubeh made by her grandma. Before I left her house, her grandma took out a tatreez wallet and took out everything in there to give it to me as a gift.

Two of my closest friends, and "comrades" in BU Students for Justice in Palestine, Leena and Noora have been practicing Tatreez for the past few years and are amazing at their crafts.

Then fast forward to the fall of 2024, I was enrolled in a documentary production class at college. The opportunity to create my own short documentary arose and I knew exactly what to do it on -- Tatreez, Palestinian embroidery.

If I learned anything from my friendship with Palestinians, involvement in the Palestine movement, and the neverending process of learning Arabic, Dabke, culinary practices, arts, and all of Palestine's beauty, it has to be "Sumud" -- resilience.

I hope this short and humble film offers you some insights into how Leena & Noora, their family, Palestinians in the diaspora, and Palestinians on the ground in 48/67 homeland practice Sumud through tatreez.

I hope to also turn this into an even bigger project when I do get the chance. Also a big thank you to my wonderful groupmates Sydney and Elaine for helping out on this passion project.

"It teaches something that you can't really learn in another way, like it teaches a different aspect of Palestinian resistance that you can only learn through Tatreez."

- - - - - - - - - - - - CREDITS - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DIRECTED BY
Ruofei Shang
FILMED BY
Ruofei Shang, Elaine Chen, Sydney Roth
EDITED BY
Ruofei Shang, Sydney Roth, Elaine Chen

SPECIAL THANKS TO
Leena Sarhan & Noora Lahoud
BU Students for Justice in Palestine
How to Outlive A Colonizer, A Poem By Bayan Fares
Boston University COM FT544 Documentary Production
Professor Geoffrey Poister
Lara Yousef & her grandma

Stills and Stock Footage Courtesy of
Leena Sarhan
Leena & Noora’s family
The Guardian
@anas_fteiha from Gaza

Music Credits
Night Flight by Ajwaa
Where the Butterflies Go at Night by Isabella Rose
Fumblin' by 2%
Projects a place of fleeting dreams by Sulohland
Stritcher by Ajwaa
1997 by C4C
Dammi Falastini by Mohammed Assaf