For CNN’s Great Big Story
Documentary Short (2020)
Nablus, West Bank
(Directed/Produced, DP)Ahmed Darwish el Fakhouri spends his days surrounded by olive oil soap stacked up high—each precious bar waiting to be wrapped and sold after a drying out period of two to three months. He is the third generation of his family to run one of the oldest soap-making factories in Nablus, Palestine. All of the soap is made by hand, and only three ingredients go into it. El Fakhouri takes us through the production process and explains why people have sworn by olive oil soap for centuries.