Let My Body Speak

This personal and intimate short film by Madonna Adib centers on her own body. It is a body which was attracted to girls when she was growing up in Damascus, which grew unwanted breasts, and which was punished for not complying with the government regime. Adib was beaten every day at school; she refused to be on time for the morning roll call when students had to chant slogans to the glory of the Ba’ath Party. In voice-over, Adib describes the trauma that damaged her, not only physically but also mentally.

She includes gentle home movie footage of her childhood, in which we see her grow from a short-haired tomboy into an awkward adolescent, alternated with intimate closeups of her naked adult body. While shrill voices and noises in the soundtrack evoke the repression of her youth, the camera scans her body as a tender landscape of shape and texture, light and shadow.