Rhode Island International Film Festival 2009

Noor, a spoiled sixteen-year-old Palestinian American girl, is visiting Palestine for the first time with her mother, Lina. En route to her sixteenth birthday party, she and her mother get caught in an Israeli Defense Forces imposed curfew. The curfew alters their plans, and to Noor's discontent, they can no longer make Noor's birthday party in Amman. The pair end up staying at Lina's sister-in-laws house. The house is old, traditional, and anything but what Noor is used to. Noor meets Nawal and her four-year-old son, Jaydaan, for the first time. Over the many coffees Noor sits through at the kitchen table, she learns a snippet of her family's history. She discovers that her mother once lived in a Palestinian refugee camp and that an Israeli soldier shot her own grandfather over "stolen" oranges. Oranges he took from the land he and his family lived on before moving to the refugee camp. Noor is shocked not only by the news of her grandfather's death, but also at how much her mother went through to give Noor the life that she has now. Noor hears her phone ring and when checking on it she notices that Jaydaan, who was sleeping peacefully on the couch, is now gone. She hears laughter outside and goes to investigate. Jaydaan is outside after curfew hours. Noor sees that Jaydaan is running near a young soldier who hasn't spotted him yet. Noor tries to get Jaydaan's attention in order to bring him back into the house, but the soldier hears her motion and gets scared. He raises his gun looking for the source of noise. Noor finds a way to get to Jaydaan, but in the process makes herself known to the young soldier. They make eye contact. Noor and the Soldier face one another; a sixteen-year-old girl looking in to the eyes of an eighteen-year-old boy. Lina and Nawal watch in fear from the door as the scene plays out.