This publication has been produced for the occasion of the Cannes Producers Network 2018 PFI © May 2018 Palestine
CANNES 71
MAY 2018
Producers Network Guide
Palestine Film Institute (PFI) is a structure that supports film productions from and for Palestine, through providing development and consultancy, increasing accessibility to funding, and connecting film talents and experts.The PFI is rooted in the tradition of political cinema, independent film practice, and the commitment to film as a tool of social change.
This publication has been produced for the occasion of the Cannes Producers Network 2018 With the support of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and in partnership with the French Consulate in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Cultural Fund The event is curated by Mohanad Yaqubi and Rashid Abdelhamid Senior Project Manager: Rashid Abdelhamid Program curator: Mohanad Yaqubi Copy Editor: Nicholas Davies Designer: Hamza Abu Ayyash Project Coordinator: Rana Anani Printing:
Contacts: info@palestinefilminstitute.org, www.palestinefilminstitute.org PFI Š May 2018 Palestine Supported by
In collaboration with
Media Partner
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Forward
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Jury Biographies
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Projects at the Cannes Producers Network
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- Barzakh – Laila Abbas - Desert Dogs – Ihab Jadallah - The Devil’s Drivers – Mohammed Abugeth, Daniel Carsenty - Displaced in Heaven – Khaled Jarrar - In Vitro – Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind - Mayor – David Osit - A Respectable Family – Ismahane Lahmar - Stateless – Mohamed Jabaly - Unbowed – Nehad Khader - Where Did I Leave My Face? – Ramzi Maqdisi Focus - 200 Metres – Ameen Nayfeh - As I Want – Samaher Alqadi - Lyd in Exile – Sarah Friedland, Rami Younis - Untitled Laila Khaled Project – Samir Salem Company profiles and contacts
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From the pixel to the frame Stitching our cinema at the Cannes Producers Network Filmmaking is like stitching a traditional Palestinian dress. It takes a lot of work, and the creator has to hold a micro to macro vision of the finished product. Still, every project starts from the pixel, the basic element, and that›s what we aim to do at PFI. Bridging -8bit pixels together to make a picture, which can be a dress, a memory or a film. Palestinian filmmakers and producers have been regular participants of the Cannes Producers Network since its beginnings. Every year, two or three producers from Palestine join other producers from around the world to present their projects, which has had a significant impact on securing co-producers, financial partners, distribution, and sales. For us, as Palestinian people who are still struggling against injustice and who are one of the last nations seeking freedom, it is very important that we raise our voices in international arenas, and work on rectifying the stigma and delusions about Palestinians and their image. This act of unity and collaboration – to present our film projects as a lineup, as a unified installation, is in itself an act of performance to draw the imaginary of living as one nation, in our land. In order to provide a space for this dream, this year the Palestine Film Institute (PFI) has partnered with the Producers Network to present a line-up of the best upcoming films from and about Palestine. Our team believes that Palestine is not only a physical space, and that Palestinian is a broader term than the narrow meaning of nationality; for us, these are concepts of anti-colonial struggle, of a space of solidarity, of a creative treatment of social and political narratives. With this in mind, we sent out an open call to invite filmmakers from around the world to submit their film projects, with the only criteria being that the project must have something to do with Palestine, whether it be that the director or producer is Palestinian, or the topic is an issue related to Palestine. The selected projects represent a wide range of stories, backgrounds, times, and locations; they are fragments of narratives scattered around the globe. We have films from filmmakers based in Denmark, Germany, Palestine, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with partners from France, Lebanon, Norway, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. This breadth of locations and narratives also means access points to several film funding and support organisations, as well as including more talents from these counties; this generates a great chance for talents and professionals to develop and train through several models, to be pushed to the limits in their creativity, in order to find common ground that will attract more producers, and hopefully secure wider audiences. These films represent the wide spectrum of the fragmented Palestinian story. Each explores a person, a place, a time, a theme, a struggle; Palestine in these projects becomes the equivalent of a world that is being looked at from a particular perspective, that of a politically keen eye that recognises the structures of power as well the power of human beings. With the help of a wonderful, committed, and professional jury of international, Arab, and Palestinian members, including Mahmoud Abu Hashhash, Lina Boukhary, Rula Nasser, Rasha Salti, and Adriek Van Nieuwenhuyzen, we have selected 10 feature-length projects at different stages of production – fiction and documentary, of various formats, all cinematic. These are films in search of a history, by filmmakers who are looking for a narrative and a way to make themselves and their audiences understand the realities they live in, and find a way to move forward. We also invite you to look at our Focus selection of another four features – additional films the team feel a light should be shed on; unique, diverse, and directed by talented upcoming filmmakers. We at the PFI would like to send our heartfelt thanks to the jury, who took time out of their busy schedules to look at submissions, as well as to the consultants who have agreed to share their knowledge and expertise with the selected producers and filmmakers. A huge thanks as well to the PFI team, who are working tirelessly to make sure that these film projects will have a fruitful and successful time in Cannes. Mohanad Yaqubi / Producer Palestine Film Institute
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Jury
Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen obtained her Master’s degree in theatre and film science from the University of Utrecht in 1989. During her studies, she started specialising in documentary films, and became involved in the first edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), at the time a small but sparkling initiative to bring documentary back to the big screen in Amsterdam. Before becoming the deputy director of IDFA in 1993, she worked as an assistant producer for a Dutch public broadcaster. From her start at IDFA, she was primarily involved in programming, and over 30 years’ time, the festival became one of the leading documentary festivals worldwide. Since 2007, Van Nieuwenhuyzen has been Head of the Industry Office of IDFA , where she is in charge of the programmes for professionals, including the Forum and Docs for Sale markets. She is also a member of the selection committee of the IDFA Bertha Fund, which aims to generate more attention for the voices of filmmakers in the developing world by providing grants to filmmakers. Lina Bokhary has been Head of the Cinema Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Culture since 2015, where she manages and supports ongoing programmes to develop and create a platform for a film industry in Palestine, seeking to revive film culture in the Palestinian community through working with partners and the private sector. Prior to her position in the Ministry of Culture, she held several management positions focusing on the arts and cultural development.As an independent artist and filmmaker, her works include Deluge (2004), Weightless (2006), and A Corner in the Old City (2007).She has also participated in Palestinian productions such as Cherien Dabis’s Amreeka (2009) and Najwa Najjar’s Pomegranates and Myrrh (2008). A Fulbright Alumna, Bokhary received her Master’s degree in fine arts and media arts from the California College of the Arts in 2007.
Mahmoud Abu Hashhash is the director of the Culture and Arts Programme at the A. M. Qattan Foundation in Palestine. He graduated from Birzeit University, and received his Master’s degree in arts criticism and management from City, University of London, in 2004. Beside publishing two books of poetry and a novel, Abu Hashhash has edited and co-edited several art books and catalogues about young Palestinian artists. He also writes articles and catalogue essays on art and visual culture in Palestine.
Rasha Salti is a curator, is a curator, writer, and researcher. Her curated projects include: Past Disquiet: Narratives and Ghosts from The International Art Exhibition for Palestine, 1978 (co-curated with Kristine Khouri), presented at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) in 2015, at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (HKW) in 2016, and at the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago de Chile in 2018. She also co-curated Mapping Subjectivity: Experimentation in Arab Cinema from the 1960s until Now with Jytte Jensen, presented the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2010 through 2012; and co-curated, with Richard Peña, The Road to Damascus, a retrospective of Syrian cinema, for the Film Society of Lincoln Centre, in 2006. Her essays have appeared in publications such as Afterall, The London Review of Books, and Naqd. She collaborated with Ziad Antar on the publication Beirut Bereft: The Architecture of the Forsaken and Map of the Derelict (2009) and she edited the book Insights into Syrian Cinema: Essays and Conversations with Filmmakers (2006). Since 2017, Salti has been commissioning editor of La Lucarne at Arte France. Rula Nasser is a Jordanian Canadian film producer. Her involvement in the film industry began in 1999, when she worked on several International productions for the BBC and Discovery Channel. She later joined the Royal Film Commission – Jordan for five years and established the Filmmakers’ Support Programme.Her broad experience in various areas of production enabled Nasser to produce many local films that were selected for several prestigious festivals around the world. The Last Friday (2011) was the first Jordanian film selected for the Berlin International Film Festival; Waiting for P.O. Box (2012) was in the official competition at the Festival de Cannes; and My Love Awaits Me by the Sea (2013) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Nasser has also line produced numerous films by directors inlcuding Hany Abu Assad, Mijke de Jong, Xavier Gianno, and Mia Hansen-Love.
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Barzakh Drama, HD 80 min. Young Oak productions Palestine Arabic with ENG/FR sub Financing 2020
Logline Mariam and Kawthar need to keep the sudden death of their father secret to protect their inheritance. But hiding a death means hiding a corpse. Synopsis Mariam and Kawthar unexpectedly find their father dead in his house. They begin to discuss funeral arrangements, but when they discover a substantial sum of money in his bank account, they realize they need a plan – because if they register their father’s death, by law they will receive much less from his inheritance than their estranged brothers. The bank’s daily limit means they need 89 days to withdraw all the money – and secure a better future for themselves. But can the women come to terms with hiding their father’s corpse for three months?
About the director/producer An independent producer, writer, and director, Laila Abbas graduated with a degree in digital filmmaking from the SAE Institute in Jordan, and made her first short fiction film, Visa, in 2011. She was awarded a Said Foundation scholarship, and obtained a Master’s degree in film and television producing from Royal Holloway University. In 2014, she directed and produced the documentary Ice & Dust, which was nominated for the best documentary award at the Malmö Arab Film Festival. Her latest short film, Madam El (2016), was nominated for several awards, and screened in several festivals internationally. Abbas is now developing The Year of Ashes, her first feature-length film; and Lowest Place on Earth, a new short work.
Director’s statement Human beings have always been haunted by their mortality, trying to get to the bottom of what death means. In many religions and traditions, death has its own rituals believed to help the deceased transition from one form of living to another. The problem with the dead is that they can no longer speak for themselves; they are reduced to what the living think of them. I am intrigued by the journey of the dead, as well as that of those left behind. This film also questions the inheritance laws in Palestine – these two women go to great lengths to secure what ought to be theirs, but society and unjust laws force them to do things they wouldn’t if the setting were different.
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Desert Dogs Thriller, DCP, 90 min. Aanat film Palestine Arabic with ENG/FR sub Perproduction Feb 2020
Logline A dog, an ex-prisoner, and his son wander alone in the vastness of a dystopian desert. Their journey through this landscape transforms them – Ibrahim learns forgiveness, his son becomes angry, and the dog finds a cause. Synopsis Not long after he is released from an Israeli prison, -43year-old Ibrahim finds himself talked into involvement in a dangerous revenge plot. Despite protests from his wife and son, he sets out into the desert, bent on drastic vengeance. Trailed by his son, who is bent on stopping the cycle of violence, and accompanied by a stray dog, Ibrahim continues on his quest, but the journey through the arid landscape and a sequence of unexpected events changes minds and alters goals, and soon the intentions of the father are remodeled and transferred to the son.
About the director Ihab Jadallah was born in 1980. An award-winning Palestinian director and producer, he obtained a BA in audiovisual communication from CEU San Pablo in Valencia, Spain, in 2004, following which he studied at the Centre for Cinematographic Studies in Barcelona. He has written, directed, and produced several highly acclaimed short films, including the guerrilla-style The Shooter (2007). The Flower Seller (2010), a thriller set in the West Bank, was a competition selection at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. The screenplay for his feature-length Desert Dogs was selected for the Development Lab at EICTV in Cuba, and received a grant from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture.
Director’s statement While my father was a political prisoner, I became used to visiting him in jail. Later, I was happy to celebrate his freedom, but he was never the same person again. While he was away, I often dreamed of liberating him, and of exacting revenge from the man who caused me a lonely childhood. I belong to a dystopian generation; our parents were in prison and we had to fight in the streets for their liberation. Looking back, I understand that we were alone in savage territory, abandoned not only by our parents and the security they would have provided, but also by peace. The freedom fighting of our fathers has now been transferred to us as a civil war against those who betrayed those who went before us.
The Devil’s Drivers Documentery, DCP, 90 min M. Abugheth and D. Carsenty Palestine, Germany, France Arabic with ENG/FR/GR sub Post Production 2019
Logline With the army on their tail, two Bedouins smuggle Palestinian workers through the Negev Desert. Filmed over five years, The Devil’s Drivers is a portrait of men living on the edge in one the most fragile regions of the world. Synopsis The area south of Hebron, with its vast landscapes of biblical proportions, is home to an indigenous population of Bedouins. Israeli settlers have built fortified villages on the hilltops, cutting off the Palestinians from their property. Today, the Bedouins seek to make a living working on construction sites in Israel. Twice a day, cousins Hamouda and Ismael drive workers without permits into the border region. In 2012, the cousins were 26 and 29 years old, reckless young gangsters enjoying the thrills of life. But those easygoing days are eclipsed by the almost unbearable hard-ships of survival during the Intifada in 2016. About the director/producer Mohammed Abugeth was born in Jerusalem in 1986. He studied computer sciences at Al-Quds University, and worked as a production assistant at Idioms Films in Ramallah. In 2013, he moved to Germany to study international media management at the DW Akademie in Bonn, and graduated in 2015 with an MFA. Since then, he has worked as a freelancer in the television industry in Berlin and Ramallah. The Devil’s Drivers is his first feature-length film.
About the director/producer Daniel Carsenty was born in Frankfurt in 1982. He worked in Cologne as a production assistant for television from 2004 until 2008, when he took up studies in film at the Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg. He graduated in 2014 with his first feature-length film, After Spring Comes Fall. The film had its premiere in 2015 at the Hofer Filmfestspiele in Germany, and was screened internationally at the Gothenburg International Film Festival and the Mostra in São Paulo. It was named Best Feature at the Vilmos Szigmond Festival in Hungary, and won a Best Production award at the Achtung Berlin Festival and the Michael Ballhaus-Award for Best Cinematography at the First Steps Awards. The Devil’s Drivers is his second feature-length film.
Directors’ statement In today’s West Bank, with its political stalemate and the absence of an imaginable future without an eight-metre-high separation wall, one has the impression that constant imprisonment has become the Palestinian destiny. The smugglers portrayed in our film appear as modern-day versions of Prometheus, who rebels against the powerful and is punished by having to relive the same painful day for eternity. Masters of their own decisions, they fight with their own means against the world of injustice that surrounds them, and put themselves in danger every dayt, only to return in the evenings to spend their hard-earned money on mundane needs. They are genius drivers, and had they been born in Europe or America they would no doubt be champion stock-car drivers. But such possibilities do not exist in their world.
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Displaced in Heaven Documentary, HD, 80 min Jenin Films, Kaske Films Palestine, Germany, Quatar Arabic with ENG/GR sub Post Production 2020
Logline By following a family across the Balkan route, a Palestinian director plunges into the horror of exile in a desperate need to recover his lost memories. Synopsis The repetition of history and the passing on of collective and individual traumas from generation to generation is what defines the Palestinian identity. In a journey across the Balkan route, director Khaled Jarrar follows an elderly Palestinian woman from Damascus to Europe in what marks her second displacement. Walking side by side with Nadeera and her family towards a utopian freedom, Jarrar asks himself about the meaning of home, belonging, and identity, while the memories of his childhood come back to life after many years of silence. About the director Born in the occupied West Bank in 1976, Khaled Jarrar currently lives and works in Tucson, where he researches the potential fallout of the proposed border wall between Mexico and the United States. He is also working on a film and multimedia series that documents his month-long journey with a group of migrants who travelled to Europe last year in order to draw attention to the plight of Syrian refugees.
About the director/producer Thomas Kaske was born in 1984. After living in Nairobi, he decided to study Social and Cultural Anthropology and Film Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. Since 2008, he has worked for the MA Visual and Media Anthropology there. In 2013, he began to study Media Art and Media Design at the Bauhaus University in Weimar. During his MFA studies, he directed and produced experimental short lms. A er obtaining his degree, he worked as a Junior Producer and Archive Researcher for the Berlin-based companies Ilanga Films and Molly Aida. Since 2016, he has worked as an independent producer.
Director’s statement I became a protagonist of this lm without expecting to. But, to be able to help Nadeera’s family and bring them to Germany, I had no choice but to become a refugee. On the one hand, there is a distance with the reality I lm; I am witnessing a historical moment – I observe. On the other, an intimate world grows in response to that: How do I perceive this reality? How is it affecting me? In the film, my presence appears to connect both journeys, or to express how I feel; how it feels to be a refugee. I will not assume facts in a judgmental way, but rather express ideas and thoughts through a shared experience of displacement. Although there is drama in this story, humour and lightness will also appear in the film, as they do in human nature.
In Vitro Sci-Fi, HD,85 min Spike Film and Video UK, Danmark, Palestine Arabic Post Production Unknown
Logline A dialogue between two female scientists in an underground orchard beneath Bethlehem, In Vitro accelerates an existing ecological doomsday scenario to explore notions of exile, loss, and memory. Synopsis In a converted nuclear reactor under the biblical city of Bethlehem in Palestine, the dying founder of a hi-tech orchard designed to reverse the effects of the eco-apocalypse, passes on instructions to her younger successor. The aim is to cultivate a replica ecosystem and replant the healing soil above. Intimate dialogue between the two scientists reveals stories of the past, the environmental disaster that led to the apocalypse, and their shared ambitions to restore their vanished lands. An emotional tale of memory, politics, and loss, as well as a story of two women forging a friendship on the brink of extinction. About the directors Larissa Sansour was born in 1973 in East Jerusalem, Palestine, and studied fine arts in London, New York City and Copenhagen. Central to her work is the push and pull between fiction and reality. In her recent works, she uses science fiction to address social and political issues. Working mainly with film, Sansour also produces installations, photography, and sculpture. Her work has been shown in film festivals and museums worldwide, including at the Tate Modern, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou and the Istanbul Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include Bluecoat in Liverpool and the Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen. Sansour currently lives and works in London. Born in 1970, Søren Lind is a Danish author, director, and scriptwriter. With a background in philosophy, he wrote books on the mind, language, and understanding before turning to fiction and filmmaking. He has published novels, shorts story collections and several children’s books on the topics of mind, language, identity and understanding. Lind screens and exhibits his films at museums, galleries and film festivals worldwide. Recent venues and festivals include the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Barbican Centre, the Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen, the Berlin International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the BFI London Film Festival, and the Studio Museum in Harlem.
Director’s statement – Larissa Sansour Central to my practice is the push and pull between fiction and reality in a Middle Eastern context; recently, I have become interested in the dialectics between myth and history. Too, I have been examining the role of archaeology in nation-building, by reversing archaeological methodology in an attempt to influence colonialist narratives and manipulate history. In Vitro being my most ambitious project to date, the film will merge the above approaches into a single fictional account of the Palestinian experience. The Palestinian narrative being made up of a melange of personal and collective history, fact, biblical, myth, documentary, religion, the film takes elements from all these realms to conjure up a notion of truth more loyal to the Palestinian reality than any fact-based historical account.
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Mayor Documentery, DCP, 90 min Rose water films, Idioms film USA, Palestine Arabic with ENG sub Production Feb 2020
Logline With startling and unprecedented access, Mayor follows Musa Hadid, the charismatic mayor of Ramallah, in his quest to build the city of the future in a nation paralysed by its past. Synopsis Mayor focuses on Musa Hadid, the charismatic Christian mayor of Ramallah – the beating cultural, artistic and political heart of the emerging Palestinian state – and his efforts to change it from an embattled and oppressed face of the occupation to a cosmopolitan city that can redefine the notion of Palestinian statehood. The film also explores the complications of a changing and growing Ramallah. The desire for a good life can be difficult to reconcile with the quest for a state, and through following the municipality and its infrastructure, Mayor asks us to consider what government and leadership mean in the shadow of an occupation. About the director David Osit is an Emmy Award-winning director, editor, and composer. His documentary Thank You for Playing (2015) had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for three Emmy awards, winning for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary. His first feature-length documentary, Building Babel (2012), had its premiere at True/False and was broadcast as the series premiere of PBS’s America Reframed in 2013. He most recently produced David Garrett Byars’s No Man’s Land (2017), which premiered at Tribeca, prior to which he produced Mohanad Yaqubi’s Off Frame (2016), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. He studied refugee law at the American University of Cairo, is a Berlinale Talents alumnus, and received his MFA in social documentary film from the School of Visual Arts in New York. About the producer Mohanad Yaqubi is a Palestinian filmmaker and producer. Based in Ramallah for the past 15 years, he is the director and producer of Off Frame, which has played at more than 50 film festivals worldwide, including the Berlin and Toronto International Film Festivals, and Cinéma du réel. He is a founder of the Ramallah-based production outfit Idioms Film and the research and curatorial collective Subversive Film, and has been a key advocate for Palestinian nonfiction cinema for decades. He teaches film studies at the International Art Academy in Palestine and at the University of Ghent in Belgium.
Director’s statement Mayor is about a population that has not only been historically denied power, but is largely depicted in popular media over the last century through its powerlessness. Mayor seeks only to point a camera at an occupied nation and show how it operates – realities that do not break into Western media with any regularity. Even liberal American news outlets continue to frame the Israel/Palestine conflict as featuring a modern army and a victimized populace lacking agency. Successful documentaries about the region are told, at least in part, from an Israeli perspective, or are made by Israeli filmmakers; the trend towards one side shaping the narrative becomes alarming. Rarely are Palestinians permitted multi-dimensionality in their representations, even when they are behind the storytelling. I aim to ameliorate this situation with this film.
A Respectable Family fiction, HD, 90 min. Made in Palestine project Palestine, Tunisia Arabic with ENG/FR sub Development May 2020
Logline In a society where divorced women are outcast, newlywed Houda must not disappoint. With their families’ help, she and her husband Achraf do their utmost… until the unbearable occurs. Synopsis A Respectable Family is a fantastico-realistic fable in which newlyweds Achraf and Houda find themselves trapped in their house, where religious and societal rules are dictated by a couple of deceitful, elderly gurus: Sidna, a man whose knowledge of religion is broad, but whose readings are approximate; and Sitna, a woman who is a living encyclopedia when it comes to manners. Over the course of their matrimonial adventure, with the precious help of their fathers, sisters, and – most importantly – their mothers, Achraf and Houda strive to become what everybody asks them to be: a respectable family. About the director Ismahane Lahmar was born in France and raised in Tunisia and Paris. A trip to Canada during her university years marked the beginning of her passion for film, when a friend, starting his singing career, was about to shoot a video clip. Back in Paris, Lahmar studied at ESRA, and graduated a few years later with a Master’s degree in filmmaking through a partnership with New York University. In 2010, she returned to Tunisia, where she worked as a political reporter during the revolution there, directing the institutional documentaries Mon 14 and Enti Essout. In 2013, she went back to creating fiction with the two short films Get Married and Rainbow, which were selected for several international festivals. She is currently working on two feature-length projects: I’ll Go to Hell and A Respectable Family. About the producer Of mixed Palestinian-Serbian origin, Rashid Abdelhamid was born and raised in Algeria and received his education in France and Italy, going on to live and work in Gaza from 1997 to 2008. After a career in architecture, in early 2013, in collaboration with twin Gazan filmmakers Tarzan and Arab, he founded Made in Palestine Project, an independent arts initiative to create and promote contemporary visual art with a focus on Palestine. In 2013, he produced and acted in the short film Condom Lead, the first Palestinian short film selected for the official competition of the Festival de Cannes. In 2015, Made in Palestine Project’s first feature-length film, Dégradé, was selected for the Critics’ Wek at Cannes. Director’s statement It is through caricature and a grotesque situation that I want to tackle the story of Houda, a young woman who finds herself trapped in a modern, luxurious villa whose locks are the things not said, imposed rules, and physical, psychological and – above all – sexual abuse. We women are all in a way prisoners of social convention and of our families, but particularly of other women, who take particular care to be the guardians of morality codes. It is important to me to tell the story of a woman who does not dare speak, who walls herself up in her silence, who shuts down, but who will finally speak up.
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Stateless Documentery, DCP, 89 min ICE-9 Norway, Palestine Arabic with ENG sub Development Summer 2019
Logline Six young Arabs in Tromsø, Norway, live together in a shelter for asylum seekers, on the brink of a new life. They have sacrificed everything to reach this point, challenging reality and risking their lives. Synopsis Stateless is an intimate portrait of Khader Zaurob, a young man from Gaza, and a group of Arab asylum seekers from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. Through the fog of war, in defiance of reason, these men have arrived in the small Arctic city of Tromsø, Norway. All under 25, these six men are one step away from starting new lives in a new country, away from war. They have sacrificed everything to reach this point, and risked their lives to arrive in Europe. They have left a world in which they belonged for a ‘dream’ of Europe gone wrong. Their hopes of liberty, opportunity, and peace have been met with Kafka-esque bureaucracy, xenophobia, and bigotry.
About the director Mohamed Jabaly is a -27year old Palestinian filmmaker and artist from Gaza based in Tromsø, Norway. He has made several short films, documentaries, and music videos. His first feature-length documentary, Ambulance, has won several prizes including the One World Media Award for Best Feature Documentary in 2017.
About the producer Filmmaker Christine Cynn has been directing documentary and experimental films for the past 14 years. She codirected and co-produced the the Oscar-nominated documentary The Act of Killing (recipient of the European Film Academy Award, Danish Film Academy Award, Audience Award, Berlin Int’l Film Festival Panorama, DOX:AWARD Grand Prize CPH:DOX). She has worked as a screenwriter for FilmFour UK and holds a BA in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. Cynn’s work explores emotional resonances hidden in cracks created by political tension. For the last decade, she has been developing new ways to document the human imagination. Her goal is to illuminate the largely unseen, and often surreal, conflicts of desire, fear, and hope that shape our lives and our world. She has worked as a screenwriter for FilmFour. Cynn is is the director of Shooting Ourselves, a feature documentary on the arms trade (to be released July 2016), and developing scienceFUTURE, about how scientists imagine the future. Director’s statement My friendship with Khader began during my first visit to Norway. I was unable to return to Palestine due to the siege imposed on Gaza City; I had only planned to stay for a month. Khader often invited me for dinner at the house where he was staying with other asylum-seekers of various nationalities. He was not the only one awaiting a decision from the immigration office. He got to know that I am a filmmaker, and eventually pushed the idea of making a film about his situation. I accompanied Khader over the course of two years, filming him and his five housemates, each from a different Arab country. The house became a place for Arab unity. The camera became part of their waiting experience.
Unbowed Documentery, HD, 90 min Zinati Films USA, Palestine Arabic with ENG sub Production Fall 2019
Logline Having survived a lifetime of resistance, torture, and prisoner exchanges, an iconic seventy-year-old Palestinian revolutionary restarts her life in the aftermath of political deportation. Synopsis Rasmea Odeh, a -70year-old community organizer and former political prisoner, was prosecuted by the US government from 2013 to 2017. She puts an end to the arduous legal battle by signing a plea deal; she is subsequently stripped of her US citizenship and deported to Jordan. Optimistic about beginning a new life, Odeh finds the state has taken a keen interest in her. On one level, this film is about humanizing an icon – one lionized by some and demonized by others. More importantly, it portrays pivotal moments of Palestinian history, some never explored on film. Through a collection of never-before-publicized archival footage, photographs, and documents, as well as innovative audio-visual recreations, Unbowed reconstructs a history whose record has been destroyed repeatedly in airstrikes, confiscations, and archival theft.
About the director/producer To capture the scope of her work, Nehad Khader considers herself to be a cultural historian. She is a filmmaker, film curator, literary editor, and writer whose work in film informs her work as a historian, and vice versa. Trained in media and literature by black and Palestinian creators, Khader believes in art that carries aesthetic excellence as well as social and political significance. She is the senior program manager of Philadelphia’s BlackStar Film Festival, and served as the curator of the DC Palestinian Film & Arts Festival for six years. Khader is also the managing editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, a 2017 Flaherty Film Seminar Fellow, and a 2017 Leeway Transformation Award winner. Her debut feature-length documentary, Unbowed received support from the Tribeca Film Institute in 2018.
Director’s statement On March 2017 ,23, Rasmea Odeh announced she would take a plea deal. On March 24, I flew to Chicago to meet her. What was intended to be an hour-long meeting in her office turned into two full days spent around the city. The relationship between the past and the present in Odeh’s life is uncanny. For example, in 1979 she was released from an Israeli prison through popular pressure, when Palestinian factions exchanged her and 75 other Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier. In 2015 she was again released from a Detroit prison by popular pressure, when the Palestinians and their allies flooded the court’s hotline. I use such moments to make connections between the past and the present and drive home the idea that the present moment cannot be divorced from history.
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Where Did I Leave My Face? Fiction, HD, 90 min Quds Art France, Palestine Arabic and French with ENG sub Financing Fall 2020
Logline A man from Jerusalem decides to leave everything behind and start his life again in Paris, but his previous life decides to follow him. Synopsis Ramzi lives in Paris with his girlfriend Julie, and must return to his hometown of Jerusalem to renew his ID. On this trip, the family home, where he spent his entire childhood, has been slated for demolition. Ramzi’s father no longer speaks; his mother feels helpless; his grandmother is dying. He returns to Paris, where his new ID is stolen, the recent terror attacks have changed the atmosphere of the city, and Julie has decided she wants children. Ramzi moves in with a Palestinian friend, and finds himself consumed with the multitude of things that humiliate him and prevent him from existing. Do you have the right to love someone when you come from nowhere?
About the director Ramzi Maqdisi was born in 1980 in Jerusalem, Palestine. He studied performing arts, and began his professional career as an actor at the Palestinian National Theatre (PNT) and other theatres. He has directed plays in Spain and for the PNT. In 2005, he took up studies at Catalonia Film and directed the fiction films Solomon’s Stone (2014) Winner Audience Award Film Mizna Film and Defying My Disability (2016).
About the producer Iyas Jubeh was born in Jerusalem, Palestine in 1986. He began his career as an actor with the Palestinian National Theatre, and graduated with a degree in cinema studies from the University of Bologna in 2012. He has worked as a producer on films including DIRECTOR’S Under the Sky (2012), DIRECTOR’S E se domani (2013), Ramzi Maqdisi’s Solomon’s Stone (2014), DIRECTOR’S She and the King (2015), and Maqdisi’s Defying My Disability (2016).
Director’s statement In Palestine, we live every day through precarious circumstances, and we survive. But even as we try to live our lives as if they were normal, life here is not normal. Each of us internalizes our circumstances, and the way we live with our pain varies, shaping our lives in ways we would never choose. Still, Palestinians are celebrated as heroes because of our ability to exist. Sometimes even this comes at a psychic cost to us. The title of my film is a line from If You Return Alone by Mahmoud Darwish. The poem considers how it feels to exist not in life, but beside it, and to be forced to choose between the daily dehumanization of occupation and the alienation of exile. It is a very lonely feeling, one I have felt since I was a child travelling by bus between Jerusalem and Hebron to visit my grandmother, contemplating the numerous abandoned houses of Palestinians forced off their land. It is exhausting to live under these conditions. As a human being, I assert I have the right to be tired.
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200 Metres Fiction, DCP, 90 min Odeh Films Palestine, Jordan Arabic with ENG sub Financing Fall 2019
Logline A Palestinian on one side of the wall tries to get to the hospital on the other side, where his son is. A distance of 200 metres becomes a -200kilometre journey. Synopsis Mustafa and his wife Salwa come from two Palestinian villages that are 200 metres apart, but separated by the wall. He lives on one side, she on the other with their children. The separation is a strain on their marriage, but they do what they can. When their son is hit by a car, Mustafa runs into complications trying to pass through the checkpoint, and so he contacts a smuggler, embarking on a -200kilometre journey to bypass the authorities. About the director Ameen Nayfeh was born in Palestine in 1988. In 2012, he graduated with an MFA from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in Jordan with the goal of telling authentic stories from his region. He has written, produced, and directed a number of award-winning short films, and has been a freelancer in film and television production for the past three years.
About the producer May Odeh was born in Birzeit, Palestine. She is a director and producer, known for Gaza by Her (2017), The Crossing (2017), Drawing for Better Dreams (2015), Diaries (2011), Searching for Napoleon (2006), Unknown Soldiers (2014), Roshmia (2014), and Izriqaq (2013). She has worked on the production and distribution of many Palestinian films, and is the founder of Odeh Films. She has a Master’s Degree in film from Lillehammer University. Odeh also curates and organises various film programmes, including the Red Carpet Film Festival, and Mobile Cinema, which tours around villages and communities in Area C to screen entertaining family-friendly films.
Director’s statement Seven years ago, I was standing at a checkpoint with my brother and sister, waiting to be allowed to cross to where my grandparents live. I still remember the moment when the soldiers yelled at us that it was not possible to enter that day. My brother shouted back that we had to pass immediately: “My grandfather is dead,” he said. I didn’t know until then. I carry many memories I no longer have access to – or it could be that I fear to delve into them. Oppression alienates – especially when you start to adapt to it. 200 Metres is my story and the story of thousands of Palestinians, and telling stories can alter lives. I believe in the power of cinema and how it touches our lives in magical ways. I need to tell this story.
As I Want Documentary, HD, 75 min Prophecy Films Egypt, Palestine Arabic with ENG/FR sub Post Production Release Date
Logline An Arab woman confronts an emotional crossroads as she finds herself choosing between living in repression as is expected, and living the freedom she wants. Synopsis As I Want is a documentary by an Arab woman experiencing an awakening, and confronting an emotional crossroads as she finds herself choosing between living in repression as is expected, and living the freedom she wants. The story, told by director Samaher El Qadi, is a personal, intimate examination of self, as she begins to question societal norms toward women, both in contemporary Cairo, where she lives, and in her own background growing up in a traditional Palestinian family. About the director Samaher Alqadi was born and raised in Jalazon refugee camp in Ramallah. Her films focus on the evolving status of women and dissident artists in the Middle East. She directed and produced Mohammed Bakri (2008), an Al Jazeera documentary about the controversial Palestinian actor and director. Gamalaat (2009) is a short portrait of Gamalaat Shiha, the legendary Chaabi singer and symbol of matriarchal Egypt, and Raja3’een (2012) is a snapshot of Syrian refugees in France. She is currently working on As I Want, a feature-length documentary centred around what it means to be a woman in the Middle East, and what women are doing to combat the diminishing status of women’s rights in Egypt. About the producer Karim El Hakim is a multi-award winning director and cinematographer whose work has focused sharply on socialissue content emanating from the Middle East. His feature-length doc, ½ Revolution (2012), was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and garnered many international awards. El Hakim is a managing partner of Cairo-based Prophecy Films.
Director’s statement I am a woman of Arab origin who has now lived in Egypt for over 10 years. My experiences in this society have forced me to reflect heavily on what it means to be a woman – especially as I am confronted by my gender every day. The impact of this on me – on my comfort level, my body, my identity – is so strong that I grew to want to search for the root cause. I have the simple right to walk safely through the city, but this is nearly impossible and increasingly dangerous. And so, I decided to walk in the streets with my camera as my weapon – never turning it off, in an effort to document what happens to women on a daily basis.
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Lyd in Exile Documentery, HD, 90 min Perinspire Palestine, USA Arabic with ENG sub Post Production Sep 2019
Logline The story of a city that once connected Palestine to the world. Synopsis Over the course of two days in July 1948, in the city of Lyd, in what was then Palestine, soldiers of a Zionist militia invaded, finding the city swollen with refugees forced to leave their towns and villages in order to make way for the new State of Israel. Lyd was one of few remaining Palestinian strongholds. However, after two days of fierce resistance, the fighting culminated in the massacre of hundreds of civilians and the expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinians. What if this moment had never occurred? About the director – Sarah Friedland Sarah Friedland’s documentaries have been seen widely in the United States and abroad. In 2009, after the debut of her feature documentary Thing with No Name, she was named one of the Top 10 Independent Filmmakers to Watch by The Independent Magazine. She has received grants, residencies, and fellowships from numerous organisations, including the Jerome Foundation, the Paul Newman Foundation, the Ford Foundation, JustFilms, the Centre of Contemporary Art in Pont-Aven, France, and the MacDowell Colony. Friedland is a recipient of the Paul Robeson Award and a New York Emmy Nomination for her film The Rink, and is the director of the MDOCS Documentary Storyteller’s Institute at Skidmore College. About the director/producer – Rami Younis Rami Younis is a Palestinian writer and activist from Lyd, who graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He currently writes for the online magazine 972+, and serves as a writer and editor at its Hebrew sister site, Local Call. He is one of the founders of the Palestinian activist group Khotweh, which was active on the issues of home demolitions and Palestinian identity in Lyd and Ramleh, mixed Jewish-Arab cities in occupied Palestine. Youbis served as a parliamentary consultant and spokesperson for the Palestinian member of the Knesset Haneen Zoabi. He is also a co-founder and manager of the first-ever Palestine Music Expo, an event that connects the Palestinian music scene to the worldwide industry. About the producer – Fivel Rothberg Fivel Rothberg specialises in producing short non-fiction films for NGOs and long-format documentaries. He received the 2015 DoGooder Award for Best Impact Video from YouTube and See3 Communications, for Now Is the Time, a production on behalf of the Fund for Modern Courts. Currently, Rothberg is producing Island Soldier, a featurelength documentary by Nathan Fitch about Micronesian citizens serving in the US military. The fillm has the backing of the PBS-affiliated funding body Pacific Islanders in Communications. Rothberg is the associate producer of Kelly Anderson’s My Brooklyn, which aired in 2014 on the PBS series America Reframed. Director’s statement As a Palestinian from Lyd and a Jewish American, we are collaborating on a film that exposes -70years of ethnic cleansing in Palestine. We aim to make a “go-to” film about the Nakba, with a focus on one city, in current day Israel. The drama of Lyd, and its Palestinian refugees who fled in 1948, is a microcosm of oppression and resistance. As filmmakers, storytellers, we navigate these larger forces through the stories of intertwined and opposing lives - from an elderly survivor of Lyd’s 1948 massacre, never-before seen archival footage of soldiers who committed it, exiled families who hope to return and a mayor who speaks of harmony while causing chaos.
Untitled Leila Khaled Project Thriller, DCP, 90 min Cinemonger USA Arabic and English Development Unknown
Logline In the summer of 1970, two political exiles become embroiled in a plot to hijack three airplanes from three European capitals. Synopsis After a Zionist attack on her family’s village in Palestine, Leila Khaled grew up in exile. She excels as a soldier with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and becomes an icon of the resistance after she hijacks an airplane. In Nicaragua, Patricio Argüello Ryan speaks out against government corruption and recruits students to join the revolution. Leila and Pat meet in Frankfurt, where they conspire to carry out three simultaneous hijackings in a week’s time – and are driven into each other’s arms.
About the director Samir Salem is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, and social-justice activist. He studied communications at the University of Illinois and film production at the University of Miami. His films have won multiple awards at film festivals, and have been distributed around the world. He is a national organiser and the field coordinator for the North America Nakba Tour, an organisation that champions the voice and dedicates its resources to female Palestinian refugees from the camps in Lebanon. He also volunteers his time teaching children from low-income families how to tell their stories and make their own films, and is the founder of Cinemonger, a motion picture company whose mission is to produce inspirational, provocative, and impassioned motion pictures for the global marketplace.
Director’s statement While researching Palestinian heroes, I came across Leila Khaled and her story. I fell in love. Here was a woman, much younger than I am now, much braver than I may ever be, who took action and drew international awareness to the Palestinian cause. I learned she was a good-hearted woman who loved passionately and was deeply hurt by the injustices committed against her people. I learned that Nicaraguan-American Patricio Argüello Ryan was a kind and gentle person who aggressively defended those who couldn›t protect themselves from imperialistic governments. I connected with these revolutionaries and their complex lives. I want to share with the world their motivations, their experiences, their faults, their secrets. I want to tell the truth about the “Terror in Black September.”
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Consultants
Angel Chen Currently based in Suva, Fiji, Angel Cheng operated Salt Rose Productions in Toronto & Vancouver since 2010. With a background in Public Relations & Communications, Project Management and Business Management, she was on the Play It By Ear Productions team from 2010-2007. Angel currently produces documentary and multimedia projects, and consults on international media relations for Doha Film Institute and for WOLF Consultants in addition to advising organisations and individual projects in arts & culture/entertainment, NGO, and political advocacy sectors. She was previously Senior Festival Publicist for Toronto International Film Festival, Festival Publicist for Tribeca Film Festival, and Festival Producer & Programmer for GlobalFest FilmFest.
Michael Zana After studying cinema at ESEC (Paris), Michel Zana works in Los Angeles from 1988 to 1996, first as production assistant, then casting director and line producer. Back to France in 1996, he is line producer on TV documentaries (Artline Films and SZ Productions). In 2003, Michel Zana joins Sophie Dulac, first as a producer at Sophie Dulac Productions (SDP) and then in 2004, they start together Sophie Dulac Distribution (SDD), to manage the French theatrical distribution of SDP›s films but also acquire French and international films. As a producer and/or distributor: «El Cielito», «Heartbeat detector (La Question Humaine)», «The band›s visit», «Lenny and the kids», «Nowhere promised land», «Fix ME», «Last days in jerusalem», «The silence of Joan», «The Turin Horse», «National Gallery», «Hannah Arendt», «Ana mon amour», «I am not your negro», «Grain», «3 Days in Quiberon»... SD Distribution has distributed more than 120 films since its creation.
Palmyre Badinier Palmyre Badinier studied Arabic literature and international relations at the Sorbonne, and has worked in the fields of journalism, diplomacy, and international artistic exchanges. Her career in the film industry began in 2007, while working on the development of films from the Middle East.In 2008, she graduated with a Master’s degree in law and management for the audiovisual industry. The same year, she co-founded Les Fillms de Zayna, a Paris-based production company with a strong focus on stories and talents from the Arab world. Through European and international coproductions, Badinier executive-produced the documentary collection Family Albums (2011) with Arte, Nassim Amaouche’s Terra Cognita (2012), Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf’s Deaf Day (2011), and Raed Andoni’s feature-length films Fix Me (2009) and Ghost Hunting (2017).She is a member of the EAVE network.
Raed Andoni Raed Andoni is a Palestinian director and producer. He and was born in 1967 in Amman (Jordan). Andoni started his career in the film industry in 1997 as independent producer. His first documentary as a director, IMPROVISATION (2005), is an appealing insight into a Palestinian Joubran family during the Caesarean birth of their musical “Oud” trio. For his first feature length film, FIX ME (2009) Andoni filmed 20 sessions of his own therapy in Ramallah. Featuring a colorful array of characters, including members of Andoni’s own family, FIX ME explores the need for finding individuality in a place so dominated by collective consciousness and identity. FIX ME was premiered in Sundance and Cannes. GHOST HUNTING his second feature film, won the Glasshütte Original Documentary Award at Berlinale 2017.
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Company profiles and contacts
Aanat Films | Desert Dogs Founded in Ramallah in 2010, and operating from occupied East Jerusalem, Aanat Films is an independent Palestinian film production company that has set the grounds for the development and production of edgy independent Palestinian films. The huge success of Ihab Jadallah’s award-winning debut, The Shooter (2007), which was presented at over 30 festivals around the world, has demonstrated that an alternative workflow and production process can work for talented Palestinian filmmakers, given the obvious lack of resources. It is this innovative workflow, together with the limitation in access to resources, talent, equipment, structure, and process that gave birth to Aanat Film. Contacts: ihab@aanatfilm.com Cinemonger | Untitled Leila Khaled project Defined by a blue collar attitude, Cinemonger’s mission is to produce and promote inspirational, provocative and impassioned motion pictures for the global marketplace, with the intention of bringing about social change to our world through entertainment. Contact: Samir@cinemonger.com The Devil’s Drivers Daniel Carsenty and Mohammed Abugeth work as an independent film & video producers in the fields of documentary films and music videos. Lately they produced music videos for Berlin based Artists like Jonad and Acoid&Modem which are successfully published on online platforms like VEVO. ‹The Devil›s Drivers› is their first feature length collaboration which they produced with the support of Arte from France and Germany and with AFAC – Arab Foundation for Arts and Culture from Lebanon. Contacts: films@danielcarsenty.com ICE-9 | Stateless Founded by Christine Cynn and Valentin Manz in 2014, Ice9- is based in Tromsø, Norway, and focusses on creative documentaries, multimedia projects – visual and online – and experimental fiction and art. The company’s film credits include Ambulance (2016) and Shooting Ourselves (2016). Contacts: stateless@ice9-.no Idioms Film | Mayor IDIOMS FILM was established in Ramallah in 2004 with the purpose of developing the cinematic capacity of independent film production in Palestine, by improving accessibility to production facilities, international film markets, and financing. Our recent titles include « Ouroboros , 2017 » “Off Frame AKA Revolution Until Victory, 2016 », « Ambulance, 2016 » ’Suspended Time, 2014’ ‘Infiltrators 2013’ Contacts: info@idiomsfilm.com Kaske Film | Displaced in Heaven Kaske Film produces creative essay and documentary films that express aesthetic, innovative, and experimental ways of storytelling. The company’s various projects combine personal and critical approaches to historical, social, and political topics. As a cultural film production house, Kaske Film looks for German and international funding opportunities, and seeks to establish international co-productions and creative partnerships, in order to realize and finance projects while maintaining the integrity of the author’s vision. Contacts: info@kaskefilm.de Made in Palestine Project | A Respectable Family Made in Palestine Project is an independent initiative that creates and promotes contemporary visual arts and culture with a focus on Palestine. The project seeks to create a collaborative environment that supports the creativity of emerging visual artists who share our vision. Made in Palestine Project is committed to reaching new audiences and improving understanding through a variety of platforms including exhibitions, publications, and particularly films. Contacts: madeinpal.project@gmail.com Odeh FIlms | 200 Metres Odeh Films provides production services for filmmakinging in Palestine, as well as independent film distribution. The company is known for The Crossing (2017), Gaza by Her (2017), Drawing for Better Dreams (2015), Roshmia (2014), Unknown Soldiers (2014), and Izriqaq (2013). All the films did well in a lot of international festivals around the world. Odeh Films is currently in production with The Forgotten, a feature-length documentary by Ghada Terawi, and is developing the fiction feature 200 Metres by Ameen Nayfeh, which was developed under EAVE 2016. Contacts: odehfilms@gmail.com
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Perinspire | Lyd in Exile Founded in 2013, Perinspire is a small, Brooklyn-based production company that specialises in creative nonfiction films. Previous titles include Jeepney (2014), The Rink (2014), and Here After (2018). Perinspire’s films have been screened around the world, broadcast in the United States, and have received prestigious honours such as the Paul Robeson Award and a New York Emmy nomination. The company has entered into coproductions with the Centre for Asian American Media (a PBS affiliate) and Meerkat Media, and its films have been distributed by Cinetic Media and Kanopy. Contact: fivel.rothberg@gmail.com Prophecy Films | As I Want Prophecy Films is an Egyptian film production company based in Cairo that develops and produces in-house projects and also provides production services to Middle Eastern, U.S. and European networks, independents and international distribution companies. The main vision of Prophecy Films is to build bridges between European and Middle East cinema. Prophecy Films is dedicated to producing independent films of Middle Eastern character for a global audience. We actively invite and pursue partnerships with international entities for co- production opportunities. The company was founded in 2010 by Directors Omar Shargawi and Karim El Hakim. Prophecy Films first feature documentary film, 2/1 REVOLUTION (2011), was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, 2012. Distributed by Focus Features. Contacts: karim@prophecyfilms.net Spike Film and Video | In Vitro Spike Film and Video provides specialist exhibition, production, and post-production services to the arts and heritage sectors. Spike’s team works with artists, arts organisations, galleries and museums throughout the world on the development and delivery of moving image projects. Established in 2013, Spike combines highly experienced, knowledgeable staff with an extensive range of resources to deliver large-scale movingimage installations, and film and video productions. We regularly combine project management and technical services with equipment hire and procurement at very competitive prices. Contact: ali.roche@spikeisland.org.uk Young Oak Productions | Barzakh Young Oak Productions was founded by filmmaker/ producer Laila Abbas in 2016. The company now has a slate of projects in various stages including both documentary and fictions films. The company has produced the short film Madam El in 2016 and is now developing the documentary Yusra and Dorothy, the short film the Lowest Place on Earth and the feature fiction film Barzakh. Contact: laila.abbas.films@gmail.com Quds Art | Where Did I Leave My Face? Quds Art was the name of the independent radio station created by Ramzi Maqdisi in Palestine. It was bombed in 2002, and from its ashes new energies emerged. Today, Quds Art is a collective of artists working in a variety of disciplines from Europe and the Middle East. Our goal is to bring together artists from different backgrounds in a more permanent way. We try to transcend boundaries and see beyond walls. We provide our reflections and technologies to what we want to narrate: stories of and from people and places. Quds Art Films is the organisation’s filmmaking branch, which came together when Ramzi Maqdisi, Aurelien Lambert, Juan Meseguer, Seyed Hosseini, and Iyas Jubeh found themselves in the same place sharing similar goals. Contact: iyas.jubeh@gmail.com Zinati Productions | Unbowed Zinati Productions is a documentary film production company based out of Philadelphia. We are currently producing two feature documentaries : Unbowed about the former political prisoner Rasmea Odeh, as well as a musical documentary about Islamophobia and the media, titled Networks, by Emmy award-winning director David Felix Sutcliffe ((T)Error). Contact: nehadk262@gmail.com
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This publication has been produced for the occasion of the Cannes Producers Network 2018 PFI © May 2018 Palestine
CANNES 71
MAY 2018
Producers Network Guide