Palestinian voices, recorded in secret: Aida Kaadan’s stirring act of defiance

L'OLJ / By Nanette Ziadé-Ritter, 19 May 2026 17:15

There are films that, in just 20 minutes, send a message of unprecedented power. A small documentary that echoes a great cry of distress. A despair built over time, which only deepens the fractures instead of healing them.

This suffering is that of the Palestinians from the Nakba, at the heart of the documentary ''Another Day Shall Come'' by Aida Kaadan, which expresses the full revolt of a people caught between a rock and a hard place. A film that shows two diametrically opposed worlds, that nothing seems able to reconcile, and which takes shape because silence has become unbearable. Because the fear of erasure must be voiced. And because it is essential not to forget.

Filming without showing

Kaadan is a Palestinian filmmaker and author based in Haifa, whose work explores questions of image, voice and representation, delving into both intimate stories and collective memories. ''Another Day Shall Come,'' her second short film, is supported by AFAC, the Doha Film Institute and Mawred. With this project, she continues her exploration of sound and voice as forms of archiving and transmission.

The project began in October 2023, as the war in Gaza profoundly shook Palestinians living inside the occupied territories of 1948. Around her, Kaadan noticed a phenomenon that disturbed her: silence. She launched an anonymous call via the Signal app: for eight days, every evening at 8 p.m., Palestinians were invited to send her voice messages without revealing their identity. Only one rule: maintain anonymity by avoiding any personal details. The filmmaker also imposed a radical constraint on herself: not to listen to anything before the end of the experiment.

"I have always wanted to convey what it means, for a Palestinian survivor, to live in a home that no longer feels like home. I wanted to be able to translate this sense of alienation, of pain, and the anger of living surrounded by violence that is sometimes subtle, sometimes as blatant as a sticker, a flag, or a graffiti calling for the death of a people." What she discovers in the messages exceeds her expectations. The voices seem to answer each other, to follow one another in meaningful ways, collectively experiencing the same emotions. Gradually, an emotional map emerges.

So Kaadan films the streets of Haifa. A city she describes as empty, almost ghostly. The urban images become an extension of the recorded voices: deserted landscapes, ever-present signs of violence, hostile slogans posted on cars, an increase of Israeli flags in public spaces. What was to be a film about Palestinian emotions during the war gradually evolves into a broader meditation on what it means to live "at home" in an environment perceived as hostile.

Hostile, but with no direct violence visible, only implied. It sneaks in, subtly, as a backdrop. The filmmaker chooses to contrast, with her camera, architectural jewels and crumbling buildings, a normal daily life and one that is falling apart, an ordinary way of living and a world in tatters.

"I wanted to show the world how beautiful Palestine is: its nature, its cities, its sky, despite the violence and hypermilitarization that tarnish our view. I want the audience to feel the love we have for this land, its animals, its birds, its sea and its clouds, and I want the world to feel the same anger as we do at what is taken from us and constantly changed, at dizzying speed," she says indignantly.

The filmmaker explains that she had to hide herself to film certain scenes, to conceal her Palestinian identity in order to film in certain spaces. An experience that feeds the sense of strangeness and alienation at the heart of the film.

"This film offers an intimate perspective, far from slogans and sophisticated analyses, on Palestinians living within the 1948 borders, holding Israeli identity, faced with extremely complex realities. Some have managed to navigate this reality without losing their roots, others have ended up yielding to erasure. Through their own words — raw and sincere — mixed with unfiltered images of the Palestine we know — this Palestine that the world has called Israel for 77 years — I want people to see us, understand us, and listen to us. I want the world to know that we exist, that we feel, and, above all, that we say no to all this, despite the persecution and imposed silence," explains Kaadan.

As filming continued, from November 2023 to October 2025, ''Another Day Shall Come'' took the shape of a collective testimony carried by anonymous voices. The film seeks less to document a specific event than to register a memory over the long term — that of individuals refusing to disappear symbolically, despite the political and territorial upheavals around them.

"At first, it was a social experiment, and I never imagined it would become a film. When I decided to make it, I thought a short film would be faster. After shooting an enormous amount of footage and collecting voice messages from more than 15 people over eight months, I realized I needed to step back and read our identity in a more complex way. The project then took a more analytical turn and I ultimately decided to return to the short format to retain this meditative, emotional and raw tone. Even though analysis is very present in the background, it never appears directly," the filmmaker says.

Staying in spite of everything

This reality does not change. Worse, it becomes more difficult every day.

"I cannot speak for all Palestinians, but I can say that we practice soumoud every day: we remain on our land despite all attempts at alienation and erasure. Just yesterday, I saw my neighbor in Haifa celebrate his wedding in the middle of a very central street called Jaffa Street — because before the Nakba, it connected Jaffa to Haifa. He rode on horseback while a folk singer performed Palestinian songs. Right in the heart of Haifa. So we stay. And another day shall come..."

''Another Day Shall Come,'' in itself, is a kind of multiethnic diaspora, bringing together a team scattered across the

planet that includes Lebanese co-producer Carol Mezher. The film was selected for a world premiere at Hot Docs, and participated with the Cannes Film Market as part of the Palestinian pavilion.