THE SECRET GARDEN

Nour Ouayda, Canada/Lebanon, 16mm > digital, 27 min, 2023

The inhabitants of a city awake one morning to find that never-before-seen trees, plants, and flowers have suddenly erupted throughout the streets and in the squares. Strange and mysterious events start taking place as Camelia and Nahla investigate the origins of these new and peculiar organisms.

Nour Ouayda (1991). Five films since 2019; screenings at venues including CPH:DOX Dokumentar Filmfestival, Cinéma du réel, Viennale, Shasha Movies, FIDMarseille, Beirut Art Center, Austrian Film Museum, Cinémathèque québécois, Toronto Arab Film Festival, and Documenta Madrid. Deputy Director of Metropolis Cinema Association (Beirut); co-editor of the Montréal-based online film journal Hors Champ. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Montréal, Québec.