A new trailer has been released for Traces of Home, the award-winning documentary from filmmaker Colette Ghunim, ahead of its upcoming U.S. theatrical release. The film follows Ghunim as she travels with her parents to Palestine and Mexico, returning to ancestral homes they were forced to leave as children. The journey becomes a personal exploration of family history, displacement, identity and the meaning of home.
At the centre of Traces of Home is Ghunim’s decision to accompany her parents back to the places that shaped their childhoods. In Palestine and Mexico, the family revisits locations connected to memories that have remained with them for decades. For Ghunim, however, the journey is about more than discovering where her parents came from. It becomes an attempt to understand the experiences she inherited as their daughter and the ways those experiences continue to influence her understanding of identity and belonging.
The documentary brings together two family histories shaped by displacement. Although Ghunim’s parents experienced the loss of their childhood homes in different ways, their stories share a common connection to separation from places that remained important to them. By placing their experiences alongside each other, the film examines how displacement can continue to affect families long after the original departure. Their return allows Ghunim to explore questions of memory, belonging and the lasting relationship people can have with places they have been forced to leave behind.
Ghunim filmed Traces of Home over a period of five years, giving the filmmaker the opportunity to document both the family’s physical journey and the conversations that developed around it. The documentary combines present-day footage with archival material and animation, allowing the story to move between the family’s current experiences and memories of the past.
The film has already received significant recognition on the festival circuit. Traces of Home won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Competition at DOC NYC in 2025, following its world premiere at the festival. The award established the documentary as a notable title before its upcoming theatrical release.
Melissa Barrera and John Leguizamo serve as executive producers on the documentary alongside Keith Wilson and Dena Takruri. The film is produced by Sara Maamouri, Dan Rybicky and Capella Fahoome. Its cinematography is credited to Hosni Ghunim, Monica Wise and Rafic Saadeh, while Maamouri, Loulwa Khoury and Laura Moya handled editing. Omar Fadel composed the score.
While Barrera and Leguizamo’s involvement adds notable industry names to the project, neither actor is the central subject of the documentary. The story remains focused on Ghunim and her parents, with their shared journey providing the framework for the film’s exploration of displacement, memory and family connections.
Traces of Home is distributed by Watermelon Pictures, a Chicago-based film production and distribution company founded in 2024 by brothers Hamza Ali and Badie Ali. The company has positioned itself around amplifying the work of underrepresented filmmakers, with a particular focus on Palestinian culture and storytelling.
Watermelon Pictures’ previous releases include The Voice of Hind Rajab, which received an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature, and American Doctor, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
The documentary has a reported runtime of 89 minutes and will begin its U.S. theatrical rollout in September. Traces of Home is scheduled to open in New York on September 18, 2026, preceded by a special preview screening at the Angelika Film Center. The film will then open in Los Angeles on September 25, 2026.
The theatrical release gives Traces of Home an opportunity to reach a wider audience after its festival recognition. The film’s story connects two distinct cultural histories through a family’s attempt to return to places that remain central to their memories and sense of identity.
Rather than treating home simply as a physical location, the documentary examines how places can remain part of a person’s identity even after they have been left behind. Ghunim’s journey with her parents becomes a way of confronting inherited memories and understanding how experiences of displacement can continue across generations.
The documentary’s storytelling approach is similarly personal. Its narrative is built through family members, places and memories rather than relying primarily on conventional narration. This keeps the focus closely connected to the people at the centre of the story while allowing the broader themes to emerge through their experiences.
With its new trailer now released, Traces of Home enters its theatrical phase with a major festival award already on its record and a story centred on family, memory and belonging. At its core, the documentary asks what remains of a home after people are forced to leave it, and how those memories continue to shape the generations that follow.
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