Leila and the Wolves is a film that reveals a nearly forgotten past of women’s struggle in Palestine and Lebanon attempting to retell these regional narratives from a feminist perspective. As John Akomfrah has written, Leila and the Wolves “weaves a rich tableau of history, folklore, myth and archival material.”

The female protagonist (Nabila Zeitoni) is a Lebanese student living in London in the 1980s, where she is staging a photography exhibition in which women are the unsung heroines of political conflict. Through time-travelling sequences spanning from the 1900s to the 1980s, she traverses both real and imaginary landscapes of Lebanon and Palestine.

In an interview from 2020, the filmmaker says: “Nowadays, Leila and the Wolves is travelling the world again, more relevant than ever; my unconscious and the collective unconscious of the women of the Middle East spoke together throughout the extreme conditions of making this film.”

CREDIT: restored by CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée. Selected for Venice Classics 2021.

Original language title Leila wa al ziap
Duration 1hr 33mins
Director Heiny Srour
Distributor Cinenova
Featuring Nabila Zetouni • Rafic Ali Ahmed
Year 1984
Country of origin UK • France • Belgium • Netherlands • Lebanon • Sweden
Language Arabic with English Subtitles