This free, community screening of "Where the Olive Trees Weep" is part of Read Palestine Week (Nov. 29-Dec. 3), which the Alfredo F. Tadiar Library is participating in by featuring fiction and poetry by Palestinian and Palestinian diaspora authors and nonfiction books about Palestine available for borrowing. The screening event will be followed by community discussion, along with snacks.

Alfredo F. Tadiar Library

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

The Alfredo F. Tadiar Library is an independent community reading and research library dedicated to the knowledges and cultures of communities of the Northern Philippines. Among its objectives are the stimulation of curiosity, life-learning, civic engagement, social equality and justice, collective self-determination, and the improvement and enjoyment of life. The Library includes a bookshop, Puón, which carries broad variety of local and international books from the global South, including books by Palestinian authors.

1 F. Ortega Hwy