The Roof is a very strong and personal documentary directed by the Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari, who lives in Germany and returns back to his homeland to see the present life of his closest and further family. He then talks with them about the past and leaves a question mark for the future.


The filmmaker shares everyday life with his parents and sisters in Ramle where he was born and where his father’s family comes from.


We learn the daily history together with the history of the Palestinians from Jaffa from the grandmothers’ memories about 1948. The film’s beginning and its end are framed by dialogues with another Palestinian friend with an Israeli passport - a young lady working in Jerusalem who wants to become a judge.

  • Duration: 63
  • Production year: 2006
  • Country: Palestine
  • Subtitles: AR, Subtitles: EN

International Film Festival Rotterdam 2007

Kamal Aljafari