Fadia’s Tree review – moving documentary of Palestinian displacement

The story behind this thoughtful and compassionate documentary dates back to a chance encounter between two women, 15 years before. One was the film-maker, Sarah Beddington; the other was Fadia, a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon. A friendship developed, and Beddington agreed to make the journey that Fadia was prevented from taking – to the home village she has never seen, to find the mulberry tree that has taken on a totemic significance for generations of Fadia’s displaced family. Following directions from a blind man, and weaving in studies of migratory birds, Beddington’s journey carries a potent symbolic weight.