Permission to Narrate

Director: Samir Salem

Producers: Linda Mutawi, Yasmine Al Masri

Countries of Production: USA, Colombia, Germany (in negotiation)

Production Company: Fikra Film

Runtime: 120 minutes

Budget: USD 2,500 000

Secured Budget: 500,000 USD

We are looking for: Looking to connect with potential co-financing partners and investors.

Contact: linda@fikra.se, Samir88salem@gmail.com

Social Media handles: Cinemonger

Synopsis:

Samir, a neurotic but gifted 27-year-old filmmaker from New York City, dreams of making Revolutionaries, a movie about Leila Khaled—the first woman to hijack a plane and an icon of the Palestinian resistance. His film follows Leila after her 1969 hijacking as she undergoes plastic surgery to evade capture and joins forces with Patricio Argüello Ryan, an Irish-Nicaraguan-American revolutionary exiled from Managua. Together, they prepare for a mission in Germany in 1970, while an Israeli agent haunted by Holocaust trauma hunts them down. As the mission intensifies, Leila and Patricio’s bond deepens into a romance. Back in reality, Samir faces mounting resistance to his controversial project—from producers, friends, and even his anti-Zionist Jewish fiancée, Avigail, who reveals she’s pregnant. Driven by desperation and obsession, Samir deceives everyone to realize his vision. The film blurs fiction and reality as the audience watches both Samir’s descent and the imagined world of Revolutionaries, exploring the price of truth, love, and artistic conviction.

Director:

Samir Salem is a storyteller, educator, and activist. His work reflects his multi-cultural background and his Chicago blue-collar upbringing. Samir works for multiple international media organizations where he creates content, exposes stories of injustice, and covers foreign affairs. Samir recently wrapped production on his horror-comedy short film Guess Who’s Coming To Shiva about what it’s like to be Palestinian in Zionist spaces. Permission To Narrate will be Samir’s feature film debut.

Producer:

Linda Mutawi is a Palestinian producer currently based in Sweden. She has 23 years of experience working in the film industry in countries like the UK, US, UAE, and Jordan. Recently she has produced several feature films and documentaries, including Tarik Saleh's latest feature Eagles of the Republic, which premiered in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2025. Linda is a graduate of both The Producers Guild of America’s diversity workshop 2012, and the prestigious EAVE Producers Workshop 2022.