$12 General Admission, $9 Member
Doors Open for admissions 30 min. prior to screening - buy at center or online
Flying Paper tells the uplifting story of resilient Palestinian youth in the Gaza Strip on a quest to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown.
Presented in collaboration with Festival Sponsor KinderUSA, hosted by Dalell Mohmed, Executive Director
The film opens in the small village of Seifa in the northern border area of the Gaza Strip with Israel. Two young girls fly a handmade paper kite down the road leading to their village. Musa a 14 year old boy and unofficial leader of the village youth calls for one of his cousins to run off and gather the paper and flour paste needed to construct a kite. Musa and his wise-cracking sister Widad begin the construction of a newspaper kite while the children of the village sing and watch eagerly. Upon construction the kite is launched, but crashes hard on a nearby pole above a cactus plant. The kite is ruined, but Musa and Widad are undeterred, Widad challenges Musa to a build-off to determine who is the best kite maker in the family, the stakes of the sibling rivalry are set. Tomorrow they will split into teams, build kites, and challenge each other at Waha Beach at sunset to determine whose kite reigns supreme. Throughout the film Musa and his sister Widad remain at the heart of the story as we follow their developments in life through the rich Palestinian tradition and cultural expression of kite making.
“A cinematic journey into the kite culture among Palestinian youth in the Gaza Strip, and their quest to shatter the Guinness World Record for the most kites ever flown.”
– Alessandra Bajec, Progressive.org