2009

An impressionistic piece assembled from footage of everyday Palestinian life: families must surmount an enormous concrete barrier; an old woman is harassed on her land by soldiers. The home-movie style of the film lends it a deceptively nostalgic beauty. London Palestine Film Festival 2008, Hot Docs, Toronto 2008, Houston Palestine Film Festival 2008, Winner of Best Documentary at Festival 50º / 104º, 2007 Regina, Saskatchewan.

The documentary Welcome to Hebron was filmed during more than three years on location in Hebron, West Bank. 17-year old Leila Sarsour is the main character of the film. Leila is a student at the Al-Qurtuba-school, a Palestinian girlschool surrounded by Israeli military installations and settlements.

A former commander of the Israeli army are among the people being interviewed in Welcome to Hebron. The soldier is sharing his story of daily life under occupation.

An artistic interpretation of the late Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish’s, poem “Intensive care unit.” The film uses photomontage with abstract black and white cinematic scenes shot by youth in the Shufat refugee camp, to express the deeper meaning of this heartfelt poem. The poem, spoken by a man and a young girl, is recorded in a small studio in the camp. The film being produced merely 2 weeks after the death of Darwish holds a special meaning for the youth and audiences today.

Detached from many of the daily horrors of the occupation, Ramallah filmmaker Ihab Jadallah finds himself compelled—by producers, collaborating artists and viewers—to present himself and his work in accordance with a “meta-script” that features violence, with good-guy and bad-guy narratives. This film is at once a parody of and a rejection of these constraints. London Palestine Film Festival 2008, Houston Palestine Film Festival 2008, Hamburg International short Film Festival 2008, Short Corner Cannes Film Festival 2008.

The Sons Of Eilaboun (أبناء عيلبون) is a documentary film about the massacre, expulsion and return of a small Palestinian village in the Galilee. In the film the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe introduce the history behind the Nakba events. And the Eilaboun (Eilabun) people tell their story.

In this documentary the late 19th century birth of Zionism—and its repercussions for Palestinians—is detailed with original source documents, rare archival footage, testimonies of witnesses and interviews with historians. All help to illustrate that the expulsion of the indigenous Arab population from Palestine was far from an accidental result of the 1948 war. This award-winning film shines a spotlight on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the Zionist movement.

A touching glimpse at the experience of a very young Palestinian boy just after he is removed from the Israeli penal system. His family and others try to reassure him during his first taste of the “free” world, yet he can’t help but miss the place where he was born, the place where his mother remains: her prison cell.