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Frontiers of Dreams and Fears
(Hlam al-manfa)

Directed by Mai Masri.
Lebanon, 2001, video, color, 56 min.
Arabic with English subtitles.

Award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri’s most recent work follows the relationship that develops across several months between two young Palestinian girls: Mona, who lives in a Beirut refugee camp marked by the economic marginalization of Lebanon, and Manar, who resides in Bethlehem’s Al-Dheisha camp, under Israeli military and economic control. The two girls begin their relationship via e-mail and are eventually given the opportunity to meet at the border upon the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon. As in Masri’s earlier films focusing on children, Children of Shatila (1998) and Children of Fire (1990), Frontiers of Dreams and Fears exhibits an optimism that defies the circumstances of its subjects. 

Part of film series

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Children of the Arab World

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The Reincarnations of Delphine Seyrig

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Rosine Mbakam, 2025 McMillan-Stewart Fellow