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DocuClub Chi

DocuClub Chi: Traces of Home

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 CT

915 E 60th St, Chicago IL 60637
  • Headshot of a person with curly, shoulder length blonde hair holding a camera and smiling. They wear a blue blazer.
    Colette Ghunim, Director
  • Headshot of an Indigenous and Middle Eastern Two-Spirit person with medium-light skin tone, curly black hair covered in a yellow head-scarf; They are wearing crimson lipstick and 3 layered semi-precious stone necklaces over a black shirt with sunflowers.
    Kim Chayeb, Moderator
A mom and her daughter embrace in a close up of their faces, the little girl wearing a black and white polka dot dress.

About the Screening

Join the International Documentary Association and Sisters in Cinema on Wednesday, June 28, for the DocuClub work-in-progress screening of the film Traces of Home. We will be joined by director Colette Ghunim in a conversation moderated by Kim Chayeb.

About the Work-in-Progress Film: Traces of Home

Flipping through family photo albums, I ask my parents what made them come to the United States from Mexico and Palestine. My mother slowly responds, “We didn’t move to the United States as immigrants looking for a better life. We were running away from something.” For me, this statement is pivotal. Growing up detached from my roots, I hadn't thought much about my parents’ migration stories before. What were they running away from?

Over grainy VHS footage of our seemingly typical American family, my brother shares his definition of home. Troubled memories begin to unravel. On Christmas Day, 1997, I open presents, and a letter from “Santa” asks me to promise my mother not to cry anymore. Ramsey recounts that, although our parents loved us, he always felt something was missing.

Filmed over five years, Traces of Home is a personal story about my relationship with my family through the lens of intergenerational trauma. Interweaving two international trips to find my parents’ ancestral homes in Mexico and Palestine, extensive family video archives, and intimate conversations with my family, what begins as a desire to connect to my cultural origins turns into an internal quest to heal myself and my family.

About DocuClub

DocuClub is a work-in-progress screening series offering the public and members of the documentary film community a first look of new projects. Filmmakers and creators have the opportunity to showcase their rough cut and consult feedback from their peers and audience. To apply to participate in DocuClub with your own work-in-progress project, click here.

The screening will be held at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637)

Doors open at 5:30 pm. Screening, followed by a moderated feedback discussion with the filmmakers from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm. 

Space is limited. All RSVPs are first-come, first-served. Admission not guaranteed.

ASL and/or live captioning can be requested for the feedback discussion. Please email your request to docuclub@documentary.org by June 14, 2023.

 About Our Partner Organizations

Logo for Sisters in Cinema

Sister in Cinema

Sisters in Cinema was founded in 1997 as an online resource for and about African American women media makers. Today we are a Chicago based 501(c)3 non-profit with an inclusive mission to center and celebrate Black girls, women, and gender nonconforming media makers, providing programs designed to educate, raise visibility, and support and serve our communities.

We envision a world where all Black girls, women and gender nonconforming media makers and storytellers have equal opportunities to create and thrive.
Logo for Video Consortium

 

Video Consortium


The Video Consortium is a global nonprofit media organization that connects and supports today's nonfiction filmmakers and video journalists to tell bold stories that change the world.

By and for filmmakers, our programs help democratize the media landscape by fostering compassionate storytelling, supporting professional and artistic growth, and inspiring audiences everywhere.

Chicago officially launched in October 2021 and became the Video Consortium's thirteenth local chapter worldwide. We've been hosting regular screening events and happy hours around the city ever since.

Event Participants

    Headshot of a person with curly, shoulder length blonde hair holding a camera and smiling. They wear a blue blazer.

    Colette Ghunim

    As a documentary filmmaker and nonprofit co-founder, Colette Ghunim’s passion lies in the cross-section of social impact and visual storytelling. Her first documentary, The People’s Girls (2016), received over 2 million views and won Best Short Documentary at the Arab Film Festival for its bold spotlight on street harassment in Egypt. As part of the Hulu/Kartemquin Accelerator Program and the 2020 BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship, she is directing Traces of Home, her first feature-length film documenting her journey back to Mexico and Palestine to locate her parents' original homes, which they were forced to leave decades ago. Colette's work has been highlighted on international outlets such as Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, Univision, and TEDx. She was named 2020 Filmmaker of the Moment by Newcity’s Chicago Film 50 List and was listed on Arab America’s “30 Under 30” list. Colette is also the co-founder of Mezcla Media Collective, a nonprofit organization that elevates nearly 700 women and non-binary filmmakers of color in Chicago.

    Headshot of an Indigenous and Middle Eastern Two-Spirit person with medium-light skin tone, curly black hair covered in a yellow head-scarf; They are wearing crimson lipstick and 3 layered semi-precious stone necklaces over a black shirt with sunflowers.

    Kim Chayeb

    Kim Chayeb is a Two-Spirit alum of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2015 BFA), the CEO of Wild Tongues, a multi-disciplinary artist, an educator, a holistic healer, and an activist originally from San Diego, California. Kim’s spoken word poetry and conceptual performance art experiences, (which focus on anti-racism, indigenous sovereignty, science/spirituality, and environmental empathy), have been featured on 91.1 Vocalo Radio, 88.3 WZRD Radio, 105.5 LMPN Radio, Steppenwolf Theater, Pilsen Fest, Steep Theater’s The Boxcar, DePaul University, Saint Xavier University, Navy Pier, Gallery 400, Chicago Artist Coalition, and at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. Kim was a guest speaker at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador, South America and was a 2021 3Arts "Make A Wave" Grantee. Kim is currently a high school Theater Arts Educator and is an Anti-Racism Committee member on the Chicago Poetry Center’s Board of Directors.