From Abdul to Leila

After an accident makes her lose her memory, and having lived abroad for many years, Leila reconnects with her family, trying to understand who she is. At her parents’ home in the south of France, she is confronted by her father, Abdul, his own past, and the war in Iraq. The unbelievable personal story of director Leila Albayaty becomes a wonderful documentary on memory, cultural continuity, the ancestral home, and the way art functions as an ark. Like a perpetual battle between memory and oblivion, the human soul is always in a state of wandering, From Abdul to Leila tells us. And through the fascinating – and unexpected – evolution of a relationship between a father and a daughter, the old adage confirms its timeless validity: the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself first.