double bill #31

Baking bread and tending a garden may seem quite mundane, but these acts can also tell a story of intimacy: a kind of understanding passed down from our mothers and fathers. Dhiaa Biya’s what else grows on the palm of your hand? and Hannan Jones’s Working Knowledge of Ritual both reveal young women seeking guidance from their ancestors.

A young girl reminisces about her grandmother while working in the kitchen: cleaning beans and baking bread. In a fleeting memory, she plays with leftover dough as a child, and continues to do so as an adult. The gestures of their hands are what bind the women in Biya’s film.

A similar recollection unfolds in Jones’ film. Panning through plants and sunlight, she reveals the lush life her late grandfather left behind in his garden. He cared deeply for his flowers and believed he would return to them after his passing—grounded in the ritual of caring.

The filmmakers remind us that what we inherit is what we come to treasure. Memories do not live in the mind alone but also in the palms of our hands.