The story of Omar, who spends his life striving to get back his stolen property. The events take place in one of Cairo’s popular wards, wherein the story of Omar and the stranger begins.
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 -- 14' (Egypt: 2000)
The chronicle of a wedding in a Palestinian village under Israeli occupation, this film provides a portrait not only of the bride and groom, but also of their immediate kin. It becomes clear that attitudes about marriage, women’s roles and politics are undergoing great changes. Despite the military presence, there is hope for the future.
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 -- 46' (Palestine: 1991)
Said is a child from the village of Qarrara, in Gaza. After the start of the al-Aqsa intifada, he struggles to return to school.
Seoud Mahanna -- 11' (Palestine: 2001)
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. Direct, stubborn, and determined to reclaim what is hers, she fulfills her life-long dream of "returning" to Palestine. 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.
Annemarie Jacir has been working in independent film since 1994 and has written, directed and produced a number of films including A Post Oslo History (1998), The Satellite Shooters (2001) and Like Twenty Impossibles (2003). She has taught courses at Columbia, Bethlehem, and Birzeit University. She also works as a freelance editor and cinematographer. Salt of this Sea (2008) is her first feature film, and her second work to debut at Cannes Film Festival. Having been banned from returning to Palestine, she now lives in Amman, Jordan.
Annemarie Jacir -- 109’, Arabic/English/Hebrew (Palestine/Belgium/France/Spain/Switzerland: 2008)
A drama based on the life of a Nicaraguan liberation fighter, Cesar Augusto Sandino, famous for having confronted US occupying forces during their occupation of Nicaragua from 1927 to 1933.
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 -- 135’/165’, Spanish (Chile, Italy, Nicaragua, Spain: 1989)
Using the conventions of the Western genre, "The Satellite Shooters" satirically tells the story of Tawfiq, a young Palestinian boy in Texas trying to find his place in America, and The Kid, a local gunslinger. The film is a critique of the imagination that the Western arises from -- that fantasy land wherein masculine idealizations and racial hierarchies lead to the prevailing cowboy hero and his stunted sidekick.
Annemarie Jacir has been working in independent film since 1994 and has written, directed and produced a number of films including A Post Oslo History (1998), The Satellite Shooters (2001) and Like Twenty Impossibles (2003). She has taught courses at Columbia, Bethlehem, and Birzeit University. She also works as a freelance editor and cinematographer. Salt of this Sea (2008) is her first feature film, and her second work to debut at Cannes Film Festival. Having been banned from returning to Palestine, she now lives in Amman, Jordan.
Annemarie Jacir -- 16’, English/Arabic with English Subtitles (USA/Palestine: 2001)
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 -- 43' (Palestine: 2000)
An Arab fairy tale goes awry in the Netherlands when the invincible hero “Hassan-the-Smart” becomes a nameless junkie. The director (in a voice-over and through the nostalgic images of Amsterdam) projects his feelings of being lost in this fairy tale character. Eventually, the narrative becomes the story of the director trying to retrieve his lost childhood by attempting to come to terms with the sense of belonging nowhere. It is a story about being homeless in a city, being far away from home, having lost your own country, your culture, your roots, your identity.
Mahmoud Al Massad, a filmmaker, was born in Jordan in 1969. He studied Film & Art at Yarmouk University in Jordan and then fled the country in 1988 to Romania, Italy, and Germany, where he studied and worked in the film industry.
Mahmoud Al Massad -- 40' (Jordan/Netherlands: 2001)
