About the Event
Three Promises
Directed by Yousef Srouji
(Palestine, 2023, 61 min.)
Saturday, May 18 12:00 PM
Preceded by the short film Zoo
Three Promises is the story of a Palestinian mother and her camera, of a son and his suppressed memories, and of an entire country. At the start of the 2000s, while the Israeli army is retaliating against the second intifada in the West Bank, Suha films her daily family life, punctuated by frequent trips underground and overwhelmed by the anguish of her two young children. At every moment of intense danger, she promises God that she will leave if they survive. In 2017, her son, the director of this film, discovers this archive and reconnects with this suppressed past, wondering with his mother what drove her to record a daily life of suffering, a stolen childhood, and why she delayed fleeing, paralyzed by the hope for change and burdened by the impossible choice between physical safety and emotional upheaval. “Yousef Srouji’s “Three Promises” is a harrowing labor of recollection: It takes place over the course of a year, from 2000 through 2001, with Israeli forces retaliating due to the second intifada (“uprising”) in the West Bank. Srouji and his sister were just kids when the bombing began. Before long, his parents gathered up some belongings and ventured down to the basement for a modicum of protection. During that time, Srouji’s mother, Suha Srouji, filmed everything from her children’s distress to the ways their life were turned upside down by the conflict. Through each brush with death, which appears to approach nearer and nearer, Srouji’s mom makes three separate promises to God that if the family survives the next surge, the family will depart from Palestine. But the love for her homeland is too strong, and each time she goes back on those deals with Gods until there is no turning back” — Robert Daniels, Rogerebert.com
Tickets can be purchased at: hpff.org/2024-tickets
To view the complete list of films visit: cinema.rice.edu/HPPF2024
Discounted parking is available at Founder’s Court, a $6 flat rate, and a credit card is required.
Open to the public.
