A documentary exploring social life in Yaffa before 1948 through a miniature portrait of a Palestinian couple, Wadee’a Aghabi and Naim Azar, constructed through the oral histories presented by their daughters and relatives.
Writer/ Director Najwa Najjar received her BA in Political Science and Economics, and MA in Film and Video production from the US. She has worked in both documentary and fiction since 1999. She has reviewed books for acclaimed journals, and her articles on Palestinian cinema have been published in both local and international newspapers. She lives in Palestine.
Najwa Najjar -- Documentary, 20’, Arabic with English Subtitles (Palestine: 1999)
A collection of short films produced by the Institute of Modern Media, Al-Quds University, and George Khleifi.
Nada El-Yassir left the field of neurophysiology for cinema. Her work ranges from fiction to documentary to experimental. She presently lives in Nazareth.
Tawfik Abu Wael was born in the Palestinian town of Um El-Fahim in Israel, in 1976. He graduated from Tel Aviv University, where he studied film directing, and worked in the film archive from 1996 to 1998. He taught drama at the Hassan Arafe School in Jaffa from 1997 to 1999.
Ismael Habbash, Nada El-Yassir, Tawfiq Abu Wael, Najwa Najjar and Abdel Salam Shehadeh -- 58' (Palestine: 2001)
Ramallah this decade. A free spirited woman dancer, Kamar, finds herself the wife of a prisoner, Zaid, and away from everything she loves until she returns to the dance, defying society's taboos. At the dance Kamar is confronted with Kais, a Palestinian returnee, who has taken Kamar's role as the head choreographer. Sparks fly between Kamar and Kais, creating more than a passionate, emotional dance for the both of them. Matters become even more complicated when Zaid's sentence is extended. At the same time the family's legal case against the land confiscation faces one obstacle after another and the villagers from the nearby villages are unable to reach the family's olive groves, placing the annual harvest and consequently the family's livelihood in danger. And Kamar's life is thrown into turmoil as she becomes increasingly attached to Kais, and caught in the midst of her desire to dance and breaking the family and society taboos of the prisoner's wife's role while life under occupation rages on.
Writer/ Director Najwa Najjar received her BA in Political Science and Economics, and MA in Film and Video production from the US. She has worked in both documentary and fiction since 1999. She has reviewed books for acclaimed journals, and her articles on Palestinian cinema have been published in both local and international newspapers. She lives in Palestine.
Najwa Najjar -- 95’, Arabic/English/Hebrew (Palestine: 2008)
The film retraces the social life of the residents of Jerusalem, through archival footage and interviews, focusing on the role of al-Hamra Cinema and its demise.
Writer/ Director Najwa Najjar received her BA in Political Science and Economics, and MA in Film and Video production from the US. She has worked in both documentary and fiction since 1999. She has reviewed books for acclaimed journals, and her articles on Palestinian cinema have been published in both local and international newspapers. She lives in Palestine.
Najwa Najjar -- 108' (Palestine: 2002)
This film revolves around the love story of Yasmine and Ziad (a young man from her village). Though the young couple plans to wed, Yasmine is faced with the fact that she has been promised to another suitor by her parents. As the story develops and the complexity of Yasmine's dilemma intensifies, the wall begins to have an ominous presence. Najjar alludes to the expansion of the invasive structure in hints strewn throughout the first part of the film. Scenes of Yasmine and Ziad in their daily lives are interspersed with impacting shots of white village homes against dramatic Palestinian landscape. This landscape is later interrupted by the construction of the wall.
Writer/ Director Najwa Najjar received her BA in Political Science and Economics, and MA in Film and Video production from the US. She has worked in both documentary and fiction since 1999. She has reviewed books for acclaimed journals, and her articles on Palestinian cinema have been published in both local and international newspapers. She lives in Palestine.
Najwa Najjar -- Short film, Arabic (Palestine/Israel: 2009)
