in Washington, DC. This film offers a searing window into the struggles and resilience of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. It explores themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice.

We will then have a short Q&A with Ashira Darwish, the film's executive producer, who will guide us on a somatic journey of Ashira Active Meditation to acknowledge our emotions, hold space for grief, and build Sumud and resilience in the mind and body. 

Ashira Ali Darwish is the founder of Catharsis Holistic Healing, a trauma therapy project in Palestine. She is known for pioneering Sufi active meditation to help people suffering from continuous trauma. This type of active meditation draws its roots from ancestral and Indigenous knowledge. Her personal journey of healing from full-body paralysis with a severed spinal cord in 2012 has given her a deep insight into the process of recovery and healing. This unique perspective allows her to offer a highly specialized and culturally sensitive approach to trauma healing.

Ed Hasan

Where Olive Trees Weep

Maral Quttieneh

Zaya Benazzo

Maurizio Benazzo

Ashira Darwish

Finley MacNeil

Caroline Campbell

Nickoloz Kachibaia

Yasen Stoev

Where Olive Trees Weep offers a searing window into the struggles and resilience of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. It explores themes of loss, trauma, and the quest for justice. We follow, among others, Palestinian journalist and therapist Ashira Darwish, grassroots activist Ahed Tamimi, and Israeli journalist Amira Hass. We witness Dr. Gabor Maté offering trauma-healing work for a group of women who have been tortured in Israeli prisons. Ancient landscapes bear deep scars, having witnessed the brutal reality of ancestral land confiscation, expulsions, imprisonment, home demolitions, water deprivation, and denial of basic human rights. Yet, through the veil of oppression, we catch a glimpse of resilience—deep roots that have carried the Palestinian people through decades of darkness and shattered lives. This emotional journey bares the humanity of the oppressed while grappling with the question: what makes the oppressor so ruthlessly blind to its own cruelty?

Documentary

Ashira Ali Darwish

Busboys and Poets is a restaurant, bar, bookstore and community gathering place. First established in 2005, Busboys and Poets was founded by owner Andy Shallal 

, an artist, activist, and restaurateur. After opening the flagship location at 14th and V Streets, NW DC, the neighboring residents, and the progressive community embraced Busboys and Poets, particularly activists opposed to the Iraq War.  Busboys and Poets is now located in nine distinctive neighborhoods in the Washington D.C Metropolitan and Baltimore areas.   Busboys and Poets is a cultural hub for artists, activists, writers, thinkers, and dreamers.


The name Busboys and Poets refers to American poet Langston Hughes, who worked as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1920s, prior to gaining recognition as a poet.