Film Screening Presented by CinPAL Switzerland in Collaboration with Forward Film Production

Sunday, 1 March 2026 I 11:30, Filmpodium, Zürich
Screening + coffee, intro, Q&A with director Carol Mansour, reception & apéro. Proceeds support cultural & humanitarian projects in Palestine.

About The Film - www.aidareturns.com

Aida Returns is a deeply moving documentary that follows director Carol Mansour as she accompanies her mother Aida through Alzheimer’s disease, the pain of losing a parent, and an extraordinary final journey back to Yafa, the city where Aida was born and raised. Determined to offer her mother Peace and Dignity, Mansour engineers a return that should have been simple, yet becomes profoundly complex, made possible only through the unexpected Solidarity of Friends and Strangers. At its heart, Aida Returns is a tribute to a Family’s Lost Past and an intimate attempt to restore fragments of Individual and Collective Memory. The film stands as a poetic affirmation of Palestinians forced into Exile and denied the Right to Return to their hometowns, even after death.

About The Filmmaker
Carol Mansour is an Independent Documentary Filmmaker with over 25 years of experience. Her films have screened at more than fifty International Festivals and Official Selections worldwide. Her work reflects a strong commitment to Human Rights and Social Justice. She is Lebanese of Palestinian origin and lives and works in Beirut, Lebanon.

About The program 
In the northern West Bank, in Jenin, Tulkarem and Nablus, childhood has been interrupted. More than 31,000 refugees have been displaced from the camps, many of them children.Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed, and thousands now live in temporary shelters and overcrowded displacement centers. Since October 2023, at least 229 children have been killed in the West Bank, and many more live daily with fear, loss and trauma.

At Al Kasaba Theatre in Palestine, we work directly with these children through drama therapy, theatre workshops and performances, creating safe spaces where they can speak, play, imagine and begin to heal. Al Kasaba’s works hard to stand with traumatized children in Palestine.
Your donation help restore moments of childhood. You help a child laugh again

Buy your ticket now. For those who wish to go further in supporting our mission, please donate over our website.

Online Screening of award-winning movie «Where Olive Trees Weep” and exclusive Q&A with Director Ashira Darwish 

In March 30, 2025, online screening of "Where Olive Trees Weep," a compelling documentary that offers a poignant glimpse into the lives of Palestinians under occupation. This film explores themes of resilience, trauma, and the enduring quest for justice through the eyes of remarkable individuals like journalist Ashira Darwish, activist Ahed Tamimi, and Israeli journalist Amira Hass. We witness Dr. Gabor Maté offering trauma-healing work for women who have been tortured in Israeli prisons.

Exclusive Q&A: Following the screening, engage in a thought-provoking discussion with the film's visionary director, Ashira Darwish, and the two co-founders of Cinema Palestine, Tahani Salim and Samer Makhlouf.

Cinema Palestine Kickoff: A Successful Launch in Switzerland

In January 2025, Cinema Palestine launched with three successful fundraising events in Geneva, Zurich, and Basel, Switzerland. We screened "Janin, Jenin," the latest work by renowned Palestinian filmmaker Mohammad Bakri, a powerful sequel to his documentary "Jenin, Jenin." The film offers a moving narrative of survival and hope in the face of ongoing hardship. 

The co-founders Tahani Salim and Samer Makhlouf spoke about the significance of Palestinian cinema and our motivation for launching Cinema Palestine. 

We are profoundly grateful for the overwhelming support, trust, and encouragement we received. Thanks to our event attendees and generous online donors, we raised over $14,000 USD, a substantial contribution towards developing our streaming platform. This outpouring of support has deeply touched us and reinforces our commitment to our mission.