SAMI

Brief synopsis
Once upon a time there was a Palestinian from Nazareth who came to Switzerland forty-two years ago for love. Sami always carries the stories from his old homeland in his heart, even when he bakes pitta rolls in Solothurn. Now he tells his personal story about home and sense of belonging.

Extended synopsis
The Palestinian Sami Daher processes his migration in the short story "Der Reisebericht eines Liebesflüchtlings" ("The Travelogue of a Love Refugee"). In the story, he follows his lover to Switzerland as if in a dream. His restaurant "Pittaria" soon became one of the best in Solothurn. The most important recipes came from his mother. Palestinian women were once the guardians of the recipes, but also of the tales in which they passed on their life strategies. Sami carries these within himself and sees himself as a cultural mediator between East and West. In Switzerland, he experiences a sense of belonging that he missed in Israel as part of the Palestinian minority. Over the years, he finds himself confronted with an inner conflict. He looks at the conflicts in his country of origin and feels powerless. During his last visit to Nazareth, Sami realises that his memory of the Orient of his youth no longer corresponds to reality. Sami embarks on a journey into the past, questioning the balance of power in which he grew up and confronting his historically formed anger. The confrontation with his own history is full of longing and pain. Is Sami able to let go of his nostalgic image of the Orient and find peace with the reality in Israel? This short documentary tells of Sami's moving journey through two homelands to find himself.