Familiar Phantoms is an experimental documentary short film about memory, history and trauma. Blending live action, special effects, private family photos and archival footage, the film explores the impact on fiction on the creation and reinterpretation of memory. Familiar Phantoms is inspired by anecdotes from my family history and my old childhood in Bethlehem, making it my most personal film to date. Shot in a derelict mansion and a black studio, the film oscillates between slow, fluid exploratory sequences and fast-paced collages of objects, mementos, family photos and Super 8 footage, its visuals and editing mimicking the actual workings of memory, constantly revisiting the same imagery alongside new fragments in search of meaning – while alternating between storytelling and ruminations on memory.



Familiar Phantoms, film, 42’, Larissa Sansour/Søren Lind, 2022