Present-day Bethlehem looks like a space haunted by the ghost of a gloomy future. At the same time a letter, a diary, and a video essay, Emily Jacir’s film condenses all the urgency of a present threatened by chaos and ruin into 40 minutes. Several cities rise out of Jacir’s Bethlehem, lying one on top of the other in the maelstrom of history: each era shattered the core of the previous one, the green fields turned into a conglomeration of houses, and the humble peace of the people melted into armed conflicts and tear gas reserves. Wandering around places from her childhood, the director sketches a map of the most important symbols of the city, as if all the paths of Bethlehem led to a unique destination: home. P.S.: Where to go back to, though, when your natal city becomes a little pile of smoking lumps and the only thing that you remain with is the memory of someone waving from a hazy photograph? (Andreea Chiper)