Lion's Tail Films

Lion's Tail Films Film, photography and multimedia specialising in, but not limited to the Arab World. Charities, NGOs, cultural orgs, artists, brands, individuals.

Our dear friend Mikel Ayestaran has published this beautiful book, not much larger than a side plate, about his Gazan fi...
08/08/2026

Our dear friend Mikel Ayestaran has published this beautiful book, not much larger than a side plate, about his Gazan fixer and friend kayed_hammad and the meals they ate in Gaza since February 5, 2004.

‘We want to tell the world that the situation is extreme. Those who do not die from bombs die from hunger.’

The book is a family effort - each recipe of survival is compiled by Kayed’s wife Amal (meaning ‘Hope’) and each dish is photographed by their daughter Dalia dreams of becoming a journalist.

‘Amal learned to cook from her mother. As a child she remembers how her mother would start cooking early in the day. While she ate breakfast the house already smelled of lunch.’

The book is in English and Spanish and a beautifully produced reminder of the spirit of hope and survival in Gaza against the backdrop of the unimaginable.

We have a small wooden Buddha on the windowsill. The sill is lined with blue tiles we brought back from Afghanistan. I h...
22/05/2026

We have a small wooden Buddha on the windowsill. The sill is lined with blue tiles we brought back from Afghanistan. I had placed the Buddha facing in towards the house. I don’t know why - maybe because I like to see a face. But our youngest cub, whenever she’s home from school, runs to the little sill, and turns the Buddha to face outwards. So we know she is home when the Buddha is looking out of the window. I often tell the cubs when we’re taking a selfie, that cameras were originally designed to face away from us - for us to look at the world through them, to see and witness what is going on around us. That is how we learn. Of course there is room for looking at ourselves too, but I have always felt more inspired looking out than looking in. I don’t ever get bored looking out. Maybe children naturally know this already. Maybe that’s why whenever she’s home we have an outward facing Buddha.

Our eldest cub wrote this poem about his little sister cub when he was 10 and she was 4. It was during the pandemic and ...
14/05/2026

Our eldest cub wrote this poem about his little sister cub when he was 10 and she was 4. It was during the pandemic and he had been tasked to write a poem about a family member during online school.

It’s pinned to our fridge and so I forget to read it as it’s always ‘there’ and it’s just become part of the furniture.

Anyway - I read it again today on an idle moment between watching a robin eat from our feeder and making some tea. And here it is.

Petra my sister

She is a singer’s dress. Sparkly pink glistening purple what a wonderful mess. W for Wonder Woman. A Lamborghini a blazing pink Lamborghini racing down the track destined for the win. With wings and built-in television screen.

Sweet smell of lemonade on a gleaming sunny August morning. Playing and laughing and having fun with me to the depths of France. Munching on warm and delicious croissants that taste like heaven. 8.30 rather sleepy and yawning ready to start a brand-new day.

Our filming trip in late September, early October 2024 turned out to be more intense than we’d imagined - coinciding wit...
22/04/2026

Our filming trip in late September, early October 2024 turned out to be more intense than we’d imagined - coinciding with the barrage of ballistic missiles from Iran to Israel on October 2nd - and culminating in a Thelma and Louise style escape through the southern desert towards Egypt in a beige Fiat Punto.

However, we look back now and realise that it was really the only week we could have got there, and captured candid and honest opinions from a broad range of Israeli perspectives. www.planetisrael.co.uk for information on where to watch.

Last day of the holidays. We are somewhat entw**ed. 🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁
13/04/2026

Last day of the holidays. We are somewhat entw**ed. 🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁

When our girl cub was 4 weeks old we were invited to pay respects at the house of one of the Lion’s Palestinian colleagu...
01/04/2026

When our girl cub was 4 weeks old we were invited to pay respects at the house of one of the Lion’s Palestinian colleagues in the West Bank. They were mourning a family member who had died. It was a huge honour to be asked.

Bring your baby! They said. I was nervous as the cub wailed every time she was fed. And how difficult to be in a room with new people, grief and our wailing baby.

We arrived, she fed, she howled.

Then this lovely lady in the photo grabbed our cub - got her in a neat clutch/bundle/gentle lock with all the experience of multiple motherings.

Whereupon the cub emitted an enormous fart. The room fell silent then everyone laughed. Particularly the cub.

We spent a lot of time far from our own families when the cubs were small.

We were adopted by many non-relatives in a multitude of different ways every day.

Mum. You are honestly my main woman. Here we are laughing away, each of us stacking some chins in your kitchen where all...
15/03/2026

Mum. You are honestly my main woman. Here we are laughing away, each of us stacking some chins in your kitchen where all the best conversations happen over the washing up gloves showing a ‘bird’ 🖕 and the droopy basil and an opened bottle of w**e. Even with your grief after losing Dad last year you have not lost even a glint of your sparkle and you still prioritise your mothering and grand mothering and friending above all. You are altruism personified. Dad said he had a hotline to heaven even though he didn’t know if he really believed. Because he was associated with you so he thought that was his ticket. Happy Mother’s Day. To the best of the best 🥰🥰🥰

I’m drawing a lot of solace from the fact that the crafty table also doubles as the Lion’s study table.
07/03/2026

I’m drawing a lot of solace from the fact that the crafty table also doubles as the Lion’s study table.

Flicking through these images, Dad - there was never a dull moment when we were all with you. You and Mum have always be...
25/01/2026

Flicking through these images, Dad - there was never a dull moment when we were all with you.

You and Mum have always been home base - the people who enabled the deepest of roots and the most expansive of wings.

As I headed north up the road this week to remember you one year on, to gather in the home you built for us all, I realised that you are a person, yes. But also a place.

You are the rivers and the trees, the majestic hills and the farmsteads, the fields of cows and sheep. The tractor tyre marks in the mud and the scraggly barbed wire fences, the hooks occasionally wrapped with rust-coloured cow hair.

And the vast ever-changing skies - in which we saw the Northern Lights for the first time together, exactly a year since your death.

There is a light that never goes out.

I think what brings me joy is a feeling of connection to other people which begets a sense of belonging - even when we’r...
11/01/2026

I think what brings me joy is a feeling of connection to other people which begets a sense of belonging - even when we’re far from home (wherever that is).

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