Movie: Lyd

Lyd is a feature-length, speculative documentary that follows the rise and fall of Lyd (alternatively Lod, as it is now called), a 5,000-year-old metropolis that was a bustling Palestinian town, until it was taken over by the state of Israel. As the film unfolds, residents create a tapestry of the Palestinian experience of this city and exemplify the trauma left by the 1948 massacre and expulsion. Vivid animations envision an alternate reality where the same people live free from the trauma of the past and the violence of the present. Using never-before-seen archival footage of Israeli soldiers who carried out the massacre and expulsion, the personified city explains that these events were so devastating that they fractured reality, and now there are two Lyds — one occupied and one free. As the film cuts between fantastical and documentary realities, it ultimately leaves the viewer questioning which future should prevail.

Lyd dares to ask the question: what would the city be like had the Israeli occupation of Lyd never happened?