Traces of Home

10/7/2026

Exploring one’s roots can be a revelatory experience, especially for those who don’t know much about their family history. That’s particularly true when one may wonder how and why one’s upbringing turned out as it did. It can end up being quite a journey, especially when one isn’t necessarily prepared for what emerges. Such was the experience of documentary filmmaker Colette Ghunim and her brother, Ramsey. As the children of a Mexican mother, Iza, an accountant, and Palestinian father, Hesni, a wedding videographer who was never without his camera, they grew up in Schaumburg, IL, a suburb of Chicago, in the 1990s. For all practical purposes, they personified the prototypical all-American family living a happy and contented life in a storybook suburban community. In many ways, Iza and Hesni