The film traces the life of the great Palestinian poetess, Fadwa Tuqan.
Liana Badr was born in 1950 in Jerusalem to a nationalist family, and was raised in Jericho. She obtained a BA in philosophy and psychology from the Beirut Arab University. After the 1982 Palestinian exodus from Lebanon, she lived in Damascus, Tunis, Amman, and returned to Palestine in 1994.
Liana Badr -- 52' (Palestine: 1999)
Written in 1978, Fertile Memory was the first film to be made by a Palestinian director inside Israel's pre-1967 borders. Neither a documentary nor a feature film, Fertile Memory recounts the lives of two very different Palestinian women: Farah Hatoum, a widow living with her children and grandchildren, and Sahar Khalifeh, a West Bank novelist. Their differing opinions and differing lives play an important role in underlining their shared status as Palestinians under Israeli rule, and as women in a male-dominated society. Yet despite these contrasts, both mother and intellectual share the same struggle for freedom and dignity.
Michel Khleifi was born in Nazareth in 1950. In 1970 he traveled to Belgium where he studied television and theatre directing. Considered the founder of modern Palestinian cinema, Khleifi produced and directed several full-length features and documentaries for international release and broadcast. His previous documentary feature, Fertile Memory (1980), was the first Palestinian film to be shown at the Cannes FF and was a groundbreaking work, both on a political and aesthetic level, treating the struggle for women's freedom and emancipation, across the generations and under occupation, in a haunting lyrical style that became all his own.
Michel Khleifi -- 99’, Arabic (Belgium/Palestine: 1980)
An illustration for the Intifada’s psychological impact on Palestinian children, which shows five stories of five kids trying to portray what the word “occupation” means.
Enas I. Muthaffar was born and raised in Jerusalem. She obtained a BA in film direction from the Higher Institute of Cinema in Cairo, Egypt, and an MA in Feature Film from Goldsmiths College, University of London
Enas I. Muthaffar -- Documentary, 30’ (Egypt/Palestine: 2001)
A look at the lives and loves of eight interfaith and interethnic couples in Israel and occupied Palestine.
Michel Khleifi was born in Nazareth in 1950. In 1970 he traveled to Belgium where he studied television and theatre directing. Considered the founder of modern Palestinian cinema, Khleifi produced and directed several full-length features and documentaries for international release and broadcast. His previous documentary feature, Fertile Memory (1980), was the first Palestinian film to be shown at the Cannes FF and was a groundbreaking work, both on a political and aesthetic level, treating the struggle for women's freedom and emancipation, across the generations and under occupation, in a haunting lyrical style that became all his own.
Michel Khleifi -- Documentary, 66', Arabic/Hebrew (Palestine/UK/Belgium: 1995)
The film follows Rajai, who drives his Ford Transit between Ramallah and Jerusalem, and captures the roadblocks, conversations, and frustrations common to the daily lives of Palestinians under occupation.
Born in Nazareth in 1961, Abu-Assad studied and worked as an airplane engineer in The Netherlands for several years, before entering the world of cinema and television as a producer.
Hany Abu-Assad -- 80', Arabic/English/Hebrew (Palestine: 2002)
A Toronto teenager pursues a dream of becoming a creative dancer, to the consternation of her Palestinian immigrant parents. The father considers an arranged marriage to a man in their homeland to straighten his Canadianized daughter out.
Izidore Musallam is a director and most recently produced the Sci Fi Pictures original film: Savage Planet. He was born in Haifa and graduated with a BFA in film production from York University in Toronto, Canada where he now lives and works.
Izidore Musallam -- 90’, English (Canada: 1989)
Every day is a bad-news day in a tiny place in this world called Palestine. Death has become very much part of daily life on the West Bank and Gaza. A Palestinian woman goes through the daily routines of eating, drinking, and feeding her son while the news of the conflict permeates her mundane chores.
Nada El-Yassir left the field of neurophysiology for cinema. Her work ranges from fiction to documentary to experimental. She presently lives in Nazareth.
Nada El-Yassir -- 13’ (Palestine: 2001)
Award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Mai Masri's most recent work traces the delicate friendship that evolves between two Palestinian girls: Mona, a resident of the economically marginalized Beirut refugee camp and Manar, an occupant of Bethlehem's Al-Dheisha camp under Israeli control. The two girls begin and continue their relationship through letters until they are finally given the opportunity to meet at the border during the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon. When the intifada suddenly erupts around them, both girls face heart-breaking changes in their lives.
Mai Masri (b. 1959) is a Palestinian filmmaker largely based in Lebanon. Masri received a degree in film production from San Francisco State University. She has directed and produced several award-winning films that have been broadcast and shown internationally.
Mai Masri -- 56’, Arabic with English Subtitles (Lebanon: 2001)
