Starting with the hands’ gestures of various sculptures for imperative historical Egyptian figures and through the sketches of a painter, the camera hence continues to follow the hands of different people while doing various jobs.
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, 5' (Egypt: 1999)
Viva El Presidente: El Recurso del Metodo; Le Recourse de la Methode; The Discourse on Method)
Born in 1942 in Palmilla, Chile to Palestinian parents, is a major Latin American director and screenwriter. Littin has had a long and distinguished career as a filmmaker and screenwriter in his home county and in Europe.
Miguel Littin (1978)
Before leaving to settle abroad, Ahmad accepts one last job. He must audition actors for the new National Palestinian Theatre. On the road with interviewer Bissan and her cameraman Loumir, Ahmad goes in search of talent in the numerous refugee camps of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Hopefully for the last time, Ahmad experiences the insurmountable difficulties of life in Palestine: harassing searches at check points and borders, barricades, constant tension. He realizes the destiny of all waiting refugees is much the same as his own. He ends up guiding the auditioning actors into dramatizing what best embodies their destiny. But with the chance to catch his plane at risk, Ahmad could see the opportunity for his long-awaited exile slip away.
Rashid Masharawi was born and raised in Shati refugee camp, Gaza Strip. He is a self-taught filmmaker, beginning to work at eighteen in the cinema industry and acquiring skills on over twenty films before starting himself to write and direct his own. Masharawi’s films portray his knowledge of living under the Israeli Occupation in refugee camps, the new space of the intifada, as well as his constant reflection on cinema narrative.
Rashid Masharawi -- 90’, Arabic (Palestine/France: 2005)
Easter in Palestine has a special meaning. This documentary film follows two Christian women from Ramallah in the West Bank during Easter Holy Week. They express their feelings towards being not permitted to attend the celebrations in Jerusalem (16 km far from Ramallah), and how they wait for the Holy Light to come from Jerusalem with other fellow Christians. Traditional customs of Easter are also shown, together with special events that took place during Easter Week.
Rawan Damen is has been a TV Senior Producer and director at Al Jazeera since 2006. She received her MA in Communications Studies from Leeds University/UK, Dec. 2003. BA in Media and Sociology from Birzeit University/Palestine, June 2001.
Rawan Damen -- Documentary, 10’, English (Palestine: 2000)
East Jerusalem in the year 2000. Palestinians wait… for the Messiah, Godot, or Saladin? What's the difference? The film shows the lives of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem under occupation, without the most elementary rights, despite being considered citizens of Israel.
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.
Tawfik Abu Wael -- 53' (Palestine: 2001)
A documentary on three generations of young people growing up in war-torn Beirut.
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 & Jean Chamoun -- Documentary, 50', Arabic (Lebanon: 1988)
Abdel Salam Shehadeh is from Rafah in Gaza, Palestine. He has worked in television production and media and as a camera and sound technician, and has worked in various capacities for international news crews. Director of more than 15 Documentary films such as The Shadow, the Cane, and Debris which had a good impact in many international festivals.
Abdel Salam Shehadeh -- 35' (Palestine: 1998)
Filmed in 1992, this study of Islamic movements in the Gaza Strip includes interviews with some of the Hamas leaders expelled in 1992 as well as a clear definition of the role of women. The story of two brothers, one a supporter of the PLO’s Fatah and the other favoring the Hamas movement, adds personalization.
Hanna Musleh was born in 1954 in Beit Jala to Wahbe and Nijmeh Musleh. During his youth he attended the Mennonite School in Beit Jala, and later went to study in Leningrad State University in Russia for a degree in anthropology, finally obtaining his M.A. from the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology at Manchester University in England. Musleh then returned to Palestine and has worked as a professor at Bethlehem University since 1980 where he has taught cultural studies, history, anthropology and currently teaches film appreciation, anthropology of religion and philosophy.
Hanna Musleh -- 52' (1993)
