2019- 2020
Dr. Samah Sabawi was first inspired to write this lyrical script in 2019 during the Canadian premiere of her award-winning play Tales of a City by the Sea in Toronto. She recounts:
"I met with a relative from Gaza after the show, her name is Um Khadher (mother of Khadher). Her son Khadher had recently been released from Israeli prison after years of captivity as a political prisoner. With a trembling voice she recounted Khadher’s story, how his fiancé waited for him, the difficult years, the prison visits, and his devastating homecoming. In the end, she held my hand and looked me in the eyes and said ‘you have to write a story about the Palestinian prisoners. You must. Promise me you will.’ I gave her my word.
In this tale, the traditional Hakawati (storyteller) is taken out of the male dominated space and placed in the hands of a Hakawatieh, a female storyteller. Hakawatieh's How We Fall in Love shines a spotlight on the resilience of generations of women, placing them at the centre of the stories we must dare celebrate. ."
2021
June 2021: Samah's poems were published in the World Literature Today Summer Edition.
July 2021: Script draft developed and explored in the Paprika Digital-Theatre Festival in Toronto
July 2021: Script draft developed and explored in the Paprika Digital-Theatre Festival in Toronto
The script is based on and inspired by Samah's critically-acclaimed poems about Palestinian Prisoners and their loved ones. Published in the 2021 Summer Edition of World Literature Today Magazine.
July 2021: Script draft developed and explored in the Paprika Digital-Theatre Festival in Toronto
July 2021: Script draft developed and explored in the Paprika Digital-Theatre Festival in Toronto
July 2021: Script draft developed and explored in the Paprika Digital-Theatre Festival in Toronto
Current production manager Rahaf Fasheh workshopped the first script by exploring intersections of film, theatre, dance, and music as part of Paprika Theatres Directors Lab Program in Toronto, Canada. A Digital-Theatre exploration of Act 1 premiered at the Annual Paprika Festival (2021).
February 2021: Egypt Exploration
July 2021: Script draft developed and explored in the Paprika Digital-Theatre Festival in Toronto
February 2021: Egypt Exploration
TBD
2022
February 2022: Hakawatieh Productions was founded with its first International borderless project.
February 2022: Hakawatieh Productions was founded with its first International borderless project.
February 2022: Hakawatieh Productions was founded with its first International borderless project.
The explorations, the pandemic, and Palestinian Visual Artists inspired Samah Sabawi to adapt the script into an Animation film. Thus Hakawatieh Productions ltd. was founded in early 2022, based in Victoria, Australia.
May 2022: The first voice-over draft for the Animation was recorded in Haifa, Palestine.
February 2022: Hakawatieh Productions was founded with its first International borderless project.
February 2022: Hakawatieh Productions was founded with its first International borderless project.
Director Amer Hlehel invited the acclaimed Palestinian artists Reem Talhami, Saleh Bakri, and Shaden Kanboura, to be the Voice-Actors for the Animation. The first draft recording was completed in May 2022 in Haifa, Palestine.
June 2022: An in-person Visual Development Workshop was hosted in Cairo, Egypt
February 2022: Hakawatieh Productions was founded with its first International borderless project.
June 2022: An in-person Visual Development Workshop was hosted in Cairo, Egypt
The key creatives were brought together in-person for the first time in Egypt, June 2022 for a 2-week visual-development workshop. They finalised the Vision and Concept for the Storyboard.
Contact us!
Production Manager: Rahaf Fasheh
Hakawatieh Productions Inc.
