All That’s Left of You
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Inherited Histories: Cherien Dabis on All That’s Left of You
Few films arrive with the urgency and necessity of Cherien Dabis’s All That’s Left of You, a work that positions itself as both historical epic and intimate confession. Emerging from the long shadow of displacement and erasure, it stands as one of the most vital contributions to Palestinian cinema in recent memory. Told through the voice of Hanan (played with piercing restraint by Dabis herself), the story begins with her son Noor, a teenager shot during a protest in the occupied West Bank, before spiraling outward to a multigenerational saga of exile, endurance and return. While Dabis’s Amreeka (2009) examined […]
by Ruun Nuur on Sep 17, 2025 -
“I’ve Never Prepped a Movie So Many Times.”: DP Christopher Aoun, All That’s Left of You
Taking place in 1948, 1978, 1988 and 2022, All That’s Left of You traces the history of a fictional Palestinian family in flashback after a confrontation at a West Bank protest. All That’s Left of You is the third feature of director Cherien Dabris, whose Amreeka and May in the Summer played Sundance in 2009 and 2013, respectively. Christopher Aoun (Capernaum) served as the film’s cinematographer. Below, he talks about how he distinguished the film’s four timelines and the difficulties of prepping the film from scratch after the crew was forced out of the West Bank in the aftermath of October 7, 2023. See all responses to our […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2025 -
“We Were Forced to Evacuate Palestine” | Cherien Dabis, All That’s Left of You
Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? The day that I’ll never forget as long as I live is the day we were forced to evacuate Palestine. I had already spent nearly five months prepping with my local and key film crew on the ground. And many members of my foreign crew had just flown in from Germany. We had just […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 25, 2025
