ABOUT THE FILM

A Wedding in Ramallah begins in 2000, when Israeli-Palestinian relations seemed to be on the upswing. It shows us the arranged marriage of Bessam and Mariam; Bessam, forced to leave the country due to suspected militancy, lives in America while Mariam stays home and struggles to get her visa to join him. But the situation deteriorates as fighting resumes. Although she finally does get to America, it comes at an enormous cost. With no English and no Palestinian community, she must learn to live in urban isolation. Mariam goes crazy with boredom. A Wedding in Ramallah shows a way of life cruelly disrupted and is essential for putting a face on the current Middle East crisis.

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Sherine Salama

Originally from Ramallah, Sherine Salama was born in Cairo and moved to Australia when she was three years old. In 1989, she worked as a freelance journalist in Cairo and from 1993 as an ABC reporter, receiving the United Nations Media Peace Prize for a report on the rape of Bosnian women.

Sherine Salama -- 90' (Palestine/Australia: 2002)