2008: A Big Year for Palestinian Feature Narratives
Ali Jaafar reporting from the Cannes Film Festival lays out a number of new Palestinian films scheduled for completion in 2008.
Here’s a quick summary of the Palestinian films mentioned in Jaafar’s article:
Annemarie Jacir’s Salt of the Sea, premiered at Cannes this week.
Najwa Najjar’s feature debut Pomegranates and Myrrh.
Rachid Masharawi’s (whose credits include Waiting and Ticket to Jerusalem) latest feature Leila’s Birthday, will world premiere at Abu Dhabi’s Middle East Intl. Film Fest in October.
Elia Suleiman, whose Divine Intervention won the 2002 Jury Prize at Cannes, will begin shooting The Time That Remains in July.
Tawfiq Abu Wael, whose Thirst won the Cannes Fipresci prize in 2004, is prepping his sophomore feature, loosely based on Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani’s 1968 novel Return to Haifa.
Hany Abu Assad, who won the Golden Globe for foreign film and received an Oscar nomination for Paradise Now, is also prepping his English-language debut.
In addition to those projects mentioned in this article is the first feature-length film from Palestinian-American, Cherien Dabis (short Make a Wish). Amreeka is currently in mid-production in Palestine.
*Photo of Cherien Dabis from the Sydney Arab Film Festival
