Ibrahim: A Fate to Define (2019)

• 75%
• 2019
• Documentary
• Lina Al Abed

Ibrahim, my father, left the house one day in 1987, and never came back. I was 6 years old. Ibrahim Al Abed was a secret agent for the "Revolutionary Council" (popularly know as the "Abu Nidal Group"), a Palestinian militant faction that opposed PLO attempts to adopt more peaceful solutions to the conflict with Israel. They grew notorious for intelligence collaborations with Western powers, and were best known for the unbelievable operations it carried out around the world, hunting Palestinian leaders and intellectuals who opposed their vision. Uncertain of Ibrahim's destiny, I grew up in a house where silence was the norm. My mother Najat, a proud Egyptian lady, had to continue her life normally, raising Ibrahim's five children in Damascus, and blaming only her misfortune. Partially investigative, partially emotional, the film draws a character of a man missing, by connecting locations, faces, and thoughts that shaped my father's world. Through interaction with the family members and spaces we once shared, I step into Ibrahim's light, drawing me fears and traumas out of the shadows. Today, I'm aware of how much his absence affected my life and personality. It shaped my vision of family, friendship and love.