The Director
Amal is fascinated by the everyday intricacies of interpersonal relationships and what it means to grow. She seeks to explore these as a writer and director through quiet, grounding stories focusing on the tenderness that exists between people and the world around them. When not filming, you can find her knitting, tending to her plants, or taking a nice, long nap. She is currently earning a BFA in film production at Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts. |
Director Statement
We need poetry . . . We deserve poetry
We owe it to ourselves to re-create ourselves
and find a different if not better way to live.
Nikki Giovanni
I am not Indigenous to the land I live on. And yet, it is unescapable that I shape it, and it shapes me. Nikki Giovanni here speaks about poetry, but this excerpt reminds me intensely of humankind’s relationship to land. Our relationship to the land we walk on, the air we breathe, the living, moving world around us — is that not a form of poetry? I think to live is poetry. And living encapsulates the unescapable way we interact with land.
When speaking to my interviewees, I was amazed by the poetic way they spoke about their relationship and love for their land, the deep, intimate knowledge care they had about the small pieces of earth they tread every day. While of course these interviewees occupy positions that require them to relate to land (farmers, herbal healers, activists), Indigenous worldviews are undoubtedly different to colonial ones.
There is nothing for me to say that has not been said, time and time again, by Indigenous people fighting for the rights of land and water. My own deep frustrations, at climate nihilism and the idea that humans are inherently damaging to the earth, are ones that Indigenous people have confronted over and over. My only hope is to accurately portray the words of those I interviewed, and through doing so our shared convictions — that it is vital that we refuse to forget that people can live in mutual benefit with land, that we are the ones who depend on everything else, that this is our natural way of being.
Humans have lived on the earth for millenia, and Indigenous peoples throughout history developed and continue to develop lifeways that have to be sustainable. These are what the world should be looking towards to lead us in our quest for a different way of living. By highlighting the perspective of Indigenous people from different places on Turtle Island, my interviewees and I hope to help the audience with the infinite work of finding not only a different, but a better, way to live.
We owe it to ourselves to re-create ourselves
and find a different if not better way to live.
Nikki Giovanni
I am not Indigenous to the land I live on. And yet, it is unescapable that I shape it, and it shapes me. Nikki Giovanni here speaks about poetry, but this excerpt reminds me intensely of humankind’s relationship to land. Our relationship to the land we walk on, the air we breathe, the living, moving world around us — is that not a form of poetry? I think to live is poetry. And living encapsulates the unescapable way we interact with land.
When speaking to my interviewees, I was amazed by the poetic way they spoke about their relationship and love for their land, the deep, intimate knowledge care they had about the small pieces of earth they tread every day. While of course these interviewees occupy positions that require them to relate to land (farmers, herbal healers, activists), Indigenous worldviews are undoubtedly different to colonial ones.
There is nothing for me to say that has not been said, time and time again, by Indigenous people fighting for the rights of land and water. My own deep frustrations, at climate nihilism and the idea that humans are inherently damaging to the earth, are ones that Indigenous people have confronted over and over. My only hope is to accurately portray the words of those I interviewed, and through doing so our shared convictions — that it is vital that we refuse to forget that people can live in mutual benefit with land, that we are the ones who depend on everything else, that this is our natural way of being.
Humans have lived on the earth for millenia, and Indigenous peoples throughout history developed and continue to develop lifeways that have to be sustainable. These are what the world should be looking towards to lead us in our quest for a different way of living. By highlighting the perspective of Indigenous people from different places on Turtle Island, my interviewees and I hope to help the audience with the infinite work of finding not only a different, but a better, way to live.