‘Three Promises’, Scored by Ghiya Rushidat, Wins Harrell Award at 2023 Camden International Film Fest

Held in Maine, the Camden International Film Festival is one of the leading all-documentary film festivals in the world. At this year’s 19th annual series, we are pleased to see that Three Promises, directed by Yousef Srouji and scored by Ghiya Rushidat (she/her), has won the Harrell Award for Best Documentary Feature.

The Harrell competition jury stated, “For the main prize, we decided to award a film in which the director manages to draw the audience in and share the feeling like they are trapped with the family on screen, not knowing what is to come. A film that is a testament to a mother’s love for her family and her land, and the impossible decisions she has to make. A film about remembering.”

Three Promises had its world premiere earlier this year at the 2023 Visions du Reél International Film Festival back in April. Yousef Srouji’s directorial debut blends present-day narration with family footage recorded by his mother during the 2000s military upheaval in the West Bank. Looking back at the footage, Yousef asks why his mother chose to record their daily lives during such a period of suffering and fear, all the while rediscovering his mother's love, a stolen childhood, and the indomitable will to survive as a family.

Three Promises will be screening again for its Canadian premiere at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival Friday September 29th. For tickets and more information you can visit the film festival’s site here and watch a trailer for the film below: