Private Project

She's Swimming

Following a plane crash that took the life of her cousin, the filmmaker undertakes a personal odyssey in search of closure. The tragedy is revisited through the mourning mother who takes us through her stages of grief. With impressionist visuals portraying nature’s cycles, the film is an invitation to contemplate the human response when faced with loss and disappearance.

  • Liliane Rahal
    Director
  • Liliane Rahal
    Writer
  • Liliane Rahal
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Poetic
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 24, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Lebanon
  • Country of Filming:
    Sweden
  • Language:
    Arabic
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Liliane Rahal

Liliane Rahal is a Lebanese film producer and co-founder of Karaaj Films, an award winning production company focusing on topics on identity and social injustice. She began her producing career in 2005 where she freelanced on commercial content and web-series. Her drive to focus on original films started in 2016 when she produced and co-directed Bread and Tea and won Best Short Documentary at Cinéma Vérité along with a distribution deal with Yahoo! Japan.
In 2018, Liliane released the feature documentary Underdown and premiered at IDFA. It won 2 awards at FLIGHT/Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Genova, the Special Jury Award at Malmö Arab Film Festival, the Grand Prix Award at the Mediteran Film Festival and Best Documentary at Jerusalem Arab Film Festival. Underdown also received nominations at prestigious international film festivals including Edinburgh and Sao Paulo.
Since 2015, Liliane has participated in film programs and was awarded grants from a number of platforms including The Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung, The Impact Lab, Doc Society, Qumra, Doha Film Institute, Global Media Makers, Film Independent, Fondation Liban Cinema, Rosa-Luxemburg and Heinrich-Böel.
in 2022, Liliane produced and release a short fiction “The Window” by Sarah Kaskas which screened at prestigious festival like, Aspen, Hollyshorts and Odense. She is currently based between Barcelona and Beirut, and has finished her first personal film "She's Swimming" which she filmed and produced.

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Director Statement

Films have been transformative in my life, shaping my appreciation for poetic cinema—a medium that lays bare emotions, confronts traumas, and unravels human complexities.
As a producer, I have worked on several films, which developed my storytelling skills. This deeply personal story demands my singular vision behind the camera. Cinema, to me, is capable of fostering connection and shifts in perspective.
"She’s Swimming" is a healing tool integral to my closure process. It's not merely an outlet for sorrow but an opportunity to share a tragedy, believing that communicating my experience can resonate with those navigating grief stages and, in turn, aid my own processing.
This is the chance for me to talk about a traumatic event, a plane crash that marked many people differently. The Air France crashed into the Atlantic and killed all 228 people on board. The film is a cinematic tribute to the victims and their families, sharing a collective trauma in a poetic yet accessible language.