In ZAHARA, through evocative imagery and poetic narration, director and prolific actor Bakri (LEILA’S BIRTHDAY, PRIVATE) creates a portrait of his 80-year-old aunt that subtly works as a meditation on the repeating patterns of history. The chronicle of the Palestinian troubles plays out in Zahara’s life, from her forced walk to Lebanon in 1948, to the untimely death of her husband, which left her to raise ten children alone, and yet Bakri’s emphasis is not on affliction but on the beauty and enduring strength of a mother.