Jordanian filmmaker, Darin J. Sallam's film Farha, has garnered primarily positive and from Israel equally negative reviews for the film, which depicted the Nakbha events of 1948, when a girl watches his family murdered by Israeli Zionists, including a baby.

During an interview with TIME, Sallam addressed the controversy around Farha and what the movie means for her.

On the question of how difficult was it to get a film about the Nakba made, let alone aired on Netflix?

Sallam replied, "It’s very challenging to make a film in general, and in the Middle East, it’s more difficult because securing funding is even tougher. And when you talk about Palestine, it becomes more and more challenging because it’s a topic that is avoided. With this Palestinian side of the narrative, many don’t want to hear it. It was very hard to get funding for the film but we believed that the right time would never come. We had to make the right circumstances for it to happen."

Touching the sensitive event of a murder of Palestinian family by Israeli forces, the filmmaker said, "The reason I’m so shocked by the backlash is because I didn’t show anything. Compared to what happened during the massacres, this was a small event. I don’t know why some Israeli officials are very upset about this scene. It’s blurry and out of focus because I always said it’s about this girl’s journey. I don’t want to speak about Farha as a number. I want to talk about her as a child who had dreams. She lost her friend, her father, her house, her life. I don’t want to talk about war but it’s there as part of her journey. It’s about her feelings on what she’s witnessing."

Farha was selected as Jordan's 2023 Oscars entry and netted best youth film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.