A filmic meditation on landscape, memory and female resistance
Between Jericho in Palestine and Amorgos in Greece, a poetic dialogue unfolds through movement, terrain and collective memory. The Body I Once Climbed is an experimental short film by artist Sofia Lambrou, co-directed with Dana Durr and Alex Brack, and produced in collaboration with the cultural initiative Wonder Cabinet Jerusalem.
The body as a boundary, the landscape as a mirror
Parallel Filmed simultaneously in two geographically distant locations, the film works with mirrored imagery: dancers Aseel Qupty and Maria Isidora move in synchrony along rock faces – a physical and symbolic gesture that raises questions of limitation, belonging and connection. The landscape becomes a counterpart, the body a response. Barriers appear not only as obstacles, but also as places of refuge and encounter.
A myth that crosses the sea
The film’s title is inspired by a poetry collection by Palestinian poet Asma Azaizeh. It evokes something that was once near, once climbed – a body, a border, a memory. The locations Jericho and Amorgos are linked by a shared Byzantine Marian legend. This myth becomes a space of resonance, turning separation into a shared narrative.
Female presence as poetic resistance
In the choreography of the two dancers, collective experiences come to life: resistance, belonging, remembrance. Movement becomes language. The rocks speak, the body listens – and answers. The Body I Once Climbed is a quiet yet compelling reflection on the act of overcoming borders – geographic, cultural, political – through physicality, synchronicity, and memory.
The film is less about separation than resonance. A visual and performative meditation on what connects us – on continuities that run deeper than borders. And on what remains when words fall short: gesture, gaze, and shared emotion.
Ein Film by NOWNESS