200 Meters (2020)

Drama, 1h 36m

Every night, Mustafa says goodnight to his children by flashlight – signalling across the 200 metres that keep them apart, on either side of the wall.

When Mustafa’s son is taken to hospital, the mere 200 metres that separate his abode from his family’s might as well be an ocean: he must overcome Israel’s heavily policed wall to reach them. This absurd odyssey sees his fate collide with others – a young boy simply trying to find work, and an incongruous couple – a diasporic Palestinian whose German girlfriend films him playing the defiant tourist on their way to his cousin’s wedding. Whilst the wall itself visibly and increasingly fragments Palestine, it is the subtle and labyrinthine ramifications on everyday life that director Ameen Nayfeh brings into frame. His accomplished debut feature negotiates its gripping storyline much as Mustafa navigates the complexities of a life under occupation – with ingenuity, and dignity.

Writer & Director: Ameen Nayfeh

Cinematography: Elin Kirschfink

Editing: Kamal El Mallakh

Sound Design: Sylvain Bellemare

Production Design: Bashar Hassuneh

Original Music: Faraj Suliman

Costume Design: Fairouze Nastas

Producer: May Odeh

Starring: Ali Suliman, Lana Zreik, Samia Bakri, Tawfeeq Nayfeh, Maryam Nayfeh, Salma Nayfeh, Ghassan Abbas, Nabil Al Raai, Ghassan Ashqar, Mahmoud Abu Eita, Anna Unterberger, Motaz Malhees, Amer Khalil, Dia Harb

Gaza Mon Amour (2020)

Drama, 1h 27m

Gaza, today. Sixty-year-old fisherman Issa is secretly in love with Siham, a woman who works at the market with her daughter Leila. When he discovers an ancient phallic statue of Apollo in his fishing nets, Issa hides it, not knowing what to do with this mysterious and potent treasure. Yet deep inside, he feels that this discovery will change his life forever. Strangely, his confidence starts to grow and eventually he decides to approach Siham.

Director: Arab & Tarzan Nasser

Writers: Fadette Drouard, Arab & Tarzan Nasser

Cinematography: Christophe Graillot

Editing: Véronique Lange

Music: Andre Matthias

Costume Design: Hamada Atallah

Mixing: Thierry Sabatier

Cast: Salim Daw, Hiam Abbass, Maisa Abd Elhadi, George Iskandar, Manal Awad, Hitham Omari, Majd Eid

Produced by: Rashid Abdelhamid, Pandora da Cunha Telles, Marie Legrand, Rani Massalha

The Night (1992)

Drama, 1h 56m

In the destroyed city of Quneitra rests the grave of a resistance fighter for Palestine. His son, director Mohammad Malas, endeavors to restore the fighter’s history, tracing echoes of his mother’s memory. Told through the dreams, fears and hopes of its citizens, Malas chronicles his hometown of Quneitra in the Golan Heights, from the start of the Great Revolt of 1936 through the year of the city’s destruction. Through the film, the director seeks to exorcise feelings of shame and humiliation that long accompanied the image of his father and also his hometown, occupied by Israeli forces in 1967.

Director: Mohammad Malas

Script: Mohammad Malas & Ossama Mohamad

Director of Photography: Yussef Ben Yussef

Editor: Qais Al-Zubaidi

Musical Arrangement: Vahe Demergian

Sound: Sophie Bastein

Mixing: Thierry Sabatier

Cast: Sabah Jazairy, Fares Helou, Rafik Sbei’I, Riad Charhrour, Omar Malas, Maher Sleibi, Hazar Awad, Raja Kotrach, Abdulilah Dawleh

Production: National Film Organization, Damascus

Distribution: mec film - Irit Neidhardt

Leila and the Wolves (1984)

Drama, 1h 30m

Refusing colonial and masculine readings of the past, Leila, a Lebanese student, travels through time and space, reflecting on 80 years of Middle Eastern history. From the British Mandate to the Lebanese Civil War, she reveals the hidden role of women, and discovers that the Patriarchy also oppresses men.

Shot over seven years, and in often treacherous conditions, Heiny Srour’s film is a masterpiece of filmmaking, mixing together archival footage, fairy-tale storytelling, aesthetically bold imagery, and dramatizations of situations faced by women in Lebanon and Palestine.

Writer & Director: Heiny Srour

Directors of Photography: Curtis Clark, Charlet Recors

Editor: Eva Houdova

Starring: Nabila Zeitouni, Rafic Ali Ahmed, Emilia Fouad, Ferial Abillamah

Curfew (1993)

Drama, 72m

Curfew is the story of a Palestinian family living in a refugee camp in the year 1993. At the start of the film, the Israeli army announces a curfew which will last until further notice. Abu Raji’s family has just received a letter from one son studying in Germany when they are interrupted by the news. Streets empty, doors shut, and stores close. But even in such strange times, family drama continues just like always. The story captures 24 hours within the life of one household, representing the drama of a people that has lasted for decades.  

The debut feature by director Rashid Masharawi, Curfew is also the first feature film by a director from Gaza. It premiered at the 17th Cairo International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Golden Pyramid for Best Film.

Writer & Director: Rashid Masharawi

Executive Producer : Hany Abu-Assad

Director of Photography: Klaus Juliusburger

Editor: Hadara Oren

Set & Art Director: Sharif Waked

Director Assistants: Anwar Hassan & Vidi Bilu

Camera Assistant: Ehab Assal

Starring:

Salim Daw

Areen Omari

Na’ila Zayaad

Mahmoud Qadah

Younis Younis

Assem Zoabi

Lotof Nweser

Salwa Naqara Haddad

Canticle of the Stones (1990)

Drama, 1h 40m

In his second feature, director Michel Khleifi tells the story of two Palestinian lovers, now in their forties. Two decades after being forced apart by the 1967 war, they are reunited in Jerusalem, in the midst of the Intifada. Lyrically blending fact and fiction, Canticle of the Stones juxtaposes the nostalgic dialogue of the long-lost lovers with verité documentation of the popular struggle unfolding on the streets of Palestine. Against a backdrop of resistance and repression, they fall in love again.

Writer & Director: Michel Khleifi

Editor: Moufida Tlatli

Cinematography: Raymond Fromont

Original Music: Jean-Marie Senia

Starring: Bushra Karaman, Makhram Khoury

Official Selection: Cannes Film Festival, 1990

“A very powerful and unapologetically partisan document.”

— The Philadelphia Inquirer

Naji Al-Ali: An Artist with Vision (1999)

Documentary 53m

In July 1987 the Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al-Ali was shot by an unknown assassin. This film traces his life and work from his birth in Galilee to his death in London. It examines the forces that shaped Naji as an artist and as a human being, and shows how his experiences mirror that of other exiled Palestinians.

Director: Kasim Abid

Standstill (2013)

Drama, 1h 44m

After the political crisis in Kanesatake’s reserve, Arihote (Atewena:ron David Deerhouse), a Kanienkehaka "Mohawk", sometime war photographer, and his wife parted ways. While trying to help his son who has committed a misdemeanor, Arihote, whose life is in a rut, happens upon the revenge killing of a neighbor by Wedad (Meissoon Azzaria), a Palestinian refugee. Loath to get involved in a police investigation, Arihote finds himself helping Wedad to leave the crime scene. Arihote finally begins to rebuild his relationship with his son, and to focus on resolving his feelings about both his wife’s departure and his father’s suicide. The chance encounter between Arihote and Wedad sets each of them on a new course.

Writer & Director: Majdi El-Omari

Cinematographer: Stéphanie Weber Biron

Music: Antoine Bustros

Editor: Majdi El-Omari

Starring:

Atewena:Ron David Deerhous

Meissoon Azzaria

Iohahi:Io Curotte

Skawennati Madelaine Montour

Tatum Ieronhienhawi Mccomber

The Forgotten (2012)

Drama, 22m

Driven from the Golan Heights some 45 years ago, old Mustafa seeks to return to the house he left behind. Guided by a tough young smuggler, he crosses the heavily fortified Israeli border, but his long journey is confounded by the onset of dementia. As a camaraderie between Mustafa and the smuggler takes root, ‘The Forgotten’ confronts us with a simple but deeply distressing question: How can you go home if you can’t remember where home is?

Writer & Director: Ehab Tarabieh

Starring: Shadi Ayoub & Tarik Kopty

Shorts 6

The Seven Villages (2020)

Dir. Farah Abou Kharroub / 2020 / Documentary / 17 mins

Young filmmaker’s Farah Abou Kharroub’s insight into a dramatic family history which is not entirely over. Over the course of one video call, family members share their experiences as Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Their statements are accompanied by dynamic animation.

The Cup Reader (2013)

Dir. Suha Araj / 2013 / Drama / 12 mins

Warde, shamed as a young girl yet renowned in Palestine for her mystical seeing and matchmaking lives with her sister Jaleleh and reads the fortunes of her clients. Each woman has made or will make a choice between love and marriage, not having had the luxury of both.

Your Father Was Born 100 Years Old, and So Was the Nakba (2017)

Dir. Razan AlSalah / 2017 / Experimental / 7 mins

Oum Ameen, a Palestinian grandmother, returns to her hometown Haifa through Google Maps Streetview, today, the only way she can see Palestine.

Falafala (2019)

Dir. Mohammed Almughanni / 2019 / Documentary / 30 mins

In 1972, Abdul Alnajjar is flown in secret to Denmark to be the first child to receive a heart valve operation. But when the only link between Abdul and his family in Jordan is severed, his life takes a different direction.

The Bomb (2018)

Dir. Dima Hamdan / 2018 / Drama / 21 mins

Wasim and his mother haven't been getting along for a while. When the police ask them to evacuate their home in Berlin for one night to excavate a World War II bomb that's been discovered in the area, more feelings of anger and hurt come to the surface.

Strange Cities are Familiar (2019)

Dir. Saeed Taji Farouky / 2019 / Drama / 21 mins

Ashraf has been a political refugee in London for some 30 years, content with spending his days in his study or at his local social club. One day he receives a phone call from his friend in Palestine, telling him that his son Moataz has been fatally wounded in a protest. His friend pleads with Ashraf to return home.

Jerusalem Bride (2010)

75 minutes, Drama

Through the daily life of Jerusalemite social worker Riham, we discover the difficult situation and suffering experienced by four families because of the political, economic and social circumstances in the Old City. Riham faces her own Personal difficulties in her wish to marry Omar. His family opposes the marriage fearing for their own reputation, do to the habits of her brother.

Director: Sahera Darbis

Haifa (1996)

Drama, 1h 15m

Haifa, nicknamed after the city he longs for, comes and goes in a Palestinian refugee camp. Although he is seen as the town fool, there are many things that only he knows. He is closely related to the family of Abu Said, a former policeman who is has high hopes for the political developments promised by the peace process. Oum Said, his wife, hangs her hope instead on the imminent release of their eldest son, Said, from jail. Their youngest son, Siad, is cynical and rebellious. Sabah, their twelve year old daughter sees the future through the eyes of a romantic, searching for what it might hold in store for her.

Writer & Director: Rashid Masharawi

Cinematographer: Edwin Verstegen

Editor: Hadara Oren

Music: Said Morad-Sabrin

Set Decorator: Jamal Afghani

Starring:

Mohammad Bakri

Hiam Abbass

Areen Omari

Ahmed Abu Saloum

Nawal Zaqout

Khalid Awad

Shorts 5

Cyber Palestine (1999)

Dir. Elia Suleiman / 1999 / Experimental / 16 mins

Cyber Palestine is a parable about a modern-day Mary and Joseph, two Palestinian returnees living in Gaza, and their tribulations with the Israeli occupation. The film was commissioned by the Palestinian National Authority’s Bethlehem 2000 Project as part of the millennium commemorations in Bethlehem.

Make a Wish (2005)

Cherien Dabis / 2005 / Drama / 13 mins

A young Palestinian girl will do whatever it takes to buy a birthday cake. Eleven year-old MARIAM begs her mother for the extra money she needs to buy a cake at the local bakery. Her mother begrudgingly relents, but when Mariam arrives at the bakery, she realizes that she still doesn't have enough. Determined to get the cake, she sets out to brave the obstacles and land some cash. What begins as a simple trip to the bakery turns into a journey that depicts not only the subtle tensions of a politically charged environment, but also illustrates the grief that can result from growing up under occupation.

A Boy, a Wall, and a Donkey (2008)

Hany Abu-Assad / 2008 / Experimental / 5 mins

Three young boys want to make a film in a village without cameras. They ride their donkey to the separation wall and are in luck as the place is flooded with surveillance cameras. When an army jeep approaches they wonder if they will finally get their hands on their footage.

Diary of a Male Whore (2001)

Tawfik Abu Wael / 2001 / Drama / 14 mins

Esam, a young Arab war refugee who lives in Tel Aviv, makes his living as a male prostitute. His physical pleasure, which makes him forget his hunger, reminds him constantly of his childhood in his home village. Inspired by the novel For Bread Alone by Mohammad Shukry.

Habibi (2011)

Drama, 1h 8m

Habibi, a story of forbidden love, is a fiction feature set in Gaza. Two students in the West Bank are forced to return home to Gaza, where their love defies tradition. To reach his lover, Qays grafittis poetry across town. Habibi is a modern re-telling of the famous ancient Sufi parable Majnun Layla. The full Arabic title is ‘Habibi Rasak Kharban,’ which translates as “Darling, something’s wrong with your head.”

Writer & Director: Susan Youssef
Cinematography: PJ Raval
Editor: Susan Youssef & Man Kit Lam
Music: Menno Cruijsen
Starring: Maisa Abd Elhadi & Kais Nashif

Shorts 4

Ismail (2013)

Dir. Nora al-Sharif // 2013 // Drama // 28 Mins

Inspired by a day in the life of the famous and prolific Palestinian painter Ismail Shammout (1930-2006), Ismail depicts the evocative story of a young Palestinian artist struggling to survive and support his parents and young brother after their expulsion to a refugee camp in 1948 by the Israeli forces.

Area C (2018)

Dir. Salah Abu Nimah // 2018 // Drama // 10 mins

In the nearly two-thirds of the West Bank classified as ‘Area C’ under the Oslo Accords, which contains many of the Israeli settlements, Israel exclusively administers the area and severely limits Palestinian development. By contrast, Jewish settlements are allowed to flourish unchecked, and settlers run rampant over their Palestinian neighbors. Young Hussain tries to defend his house so he can stay there with his parents.

A Sketch of Manners (2013)

Dir. Jumana Manna // 2013 // Experimental // 12 mins

Alfred Roch, member of the Palestinian National League, is a politician with a bohemian panache. In 1942, at the height of WWII, he throws what will turn out to be the last masquerade in Palestine.

The Bomb (2018)

Dir. Dima Hamdan // 2018 // Drama // 21 mins

Wasim and his mother haven't been getting along for a while. When the police ask them to evacuate their home in Berlin for one night to excavate a World War II bomb that's been discovered in the area, more feelings of anger and hurt come to the surface.

Maradonna’s Legs (2019)

Firas Khoury // 2019 // Drama // 23 mins

During the 1990 World Cup, two young Palestinian boys are looking for “Maradona’s legs”; the last missing sticker that they need in order to complete their world cup album and win a free Atari.

Sara (2014)

Drama, 1h 25m

A screenwriter and a director are working on a film about Sara, a Palestinian girl in one of Gaza's refugee camps, who is a victim of an "honour killing". The screenwriter is unable to write an ending that is both compelling and fictitious - the happy ending that he had hoped for. Meanwhile, the director, who is insistent on upholding the truth, is as keen to end his film, as he is to help his friend, who is deeply affected by Sara's story. The film presents the different sides of Gaza, whose people are hurt by everyday issues as much as by death.

Director: Khalil al Mozian

Writers: Naim Al Khatib & Khalil al Mozian

Producer: Jamal Abu Alqumsan

Cinematography: Ibrahim Yaghi

Starring: Naim Al Khatib

Jamal Abu Alqumsan

Inas Al-Saqa

Haia Ashour

May in the Summer (2013)

Documentary, 1h 39m

May returns to her childhood home in Jordan for her wedding. Shortly after reuniting with her sisters and their long-since divorced parents, myriad familial and cultural conflicts lead May to question the big step she is about to take.

Writer & Director: Cherien Dabis

Cinematography: Brian Rigney Hubbard

Editor: Sabine Hoffman

Music: Kareem Roustom

Starring: Cherian Dabis

Bill Pullman

Alia Shawkat

Hiam Abbass

Shorts 3

Naim and Wadee'a (2000)

Dir. Najwa Najjar // 2000 // Documentary // 20 Mins

This documentary by Najwa Najjar explores social life in Yaffa through a miniature portrait of a Palestinian couple, Wadee’a Aghabi and Naim Azar, the filmmaker’s grandparents who lived there before the expulsion in 1948. The story is built on the oral accounts of Naim and Wadee’a’s three daughters, offering a glimpse into the memories of a couple forced to leave their home, and the effect displacement had on their family.

Solomon’s Stone (2015)

Dir. Ramzi Maqdisi // 2015 // Comedy // 26 mins

Hussein, a young Palestinian man, receives a letter from the Israeli post office to appear in person to receive a package. He has to pay the sum of 20,000 $ US dollars in order to collect that package. Hussein’s curiosity to find out what the package contains drives him to sell everything he owns, despite the outright rejection of his mother, changing their lives forever.
Adapted from the novel Blue Light by Hussein Barghouty.

Strawberry (2017)

Dir. Aida Kaadan // 2017 // Drame // 17 mins

Samir, 43, is the owner of a shoe shop in Ramallah who has never seen the sea. He decides to sneak past the Israeli border with other Palestinian construction workers to fulfill his dream of seeing the sea. Instead, he ends up at a construction site where Anas, 22, asks him to work for him.

Ambience (2017)

Dir. Wissam Aljafari // 2017 // Experimental // 15 mins

Two young Palestinians try to record a demo for a Music Competition inside a noisy crowded refugee camp. While failing to record because of the chaos surrounding them, they discover a creative method for meeting the deadline.

Roof Knocking (2017)

Dir. Sina Salimi // 2017 // Drama // 13 mins

In Gaza, a woman prepares a meal for her family to break the fast in the month of Ramadan. A phone call by an Israeli soldier alerts her of the bombing of her building in 10 minutes. Coming to accept her family’s fate is the only way she has to make a stand for her life, with grim consequences.

Salt of This Sea (2008)

Drama, 1h 48m

Soraya, born in Brooklyn in a working class community of Palestinian refugees, discovers that her grandfather’s savings were frozen in a bank account in Jaffa when he was exiled in 1948. Stubborn, passionate and determined to reclaim what is hers, she fulfils her life-long dream of “returning” to Palestine. Once there, slowly she is taken apart by the reality around her and is forced to confront her own anger. She meets Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever. Tired of the constraints that dictate their lives, they know in order to be free, they must take things into their own hands, even if it’s illegal. In this quest for life, we follow their trail through remains of Palestine.

Writer & Director: Annemarie Jacir

Starring: Suheir Hammad & Saleh Bakri

Cinematography: Benoît Chamaillard

Music: Kamran Rastegar

Editing: Michèle Hubinon

Mars at Sunrise (2014)

Documentary, 1h 15m

A Palestinian artist tells a Jewish-American poet how he was tortured by a failed Israeli artist who wanted to turn him into an informant. Mars at Sunrise depicts a war waged on the imagination. A painter’s resistance, courage and spirit can never be imprisoned in this highly stylized story of the conflict of two frustrated artists on either side of Israel’s militarized borders.

Writer & Director: Jessica Habie

Cinematographer: Xavi José

Editors: Luis Carballar, EresOz

Starring: Ali Suliman, Guy Elhanan, Maisam Masri