THE JUMP
The Jump explores the psychological terrains of leaping into the void, its potential sense of cosmic freedom, physical thrill, suspension and definitive end. Set within the tectonic rift of the Jordan Valley, the film is narrated bya robotic voice that guides us through dizzying shots of the landscape while speculating the conditions surrounding a Palestinian man’s jump into the Mediterranean. The two other main protagonists of the films – author, professor of literature Wafa Darwish, and psychologist and trauma healer Laila Atshan – reflect on their own experiences of seeking freedom and overcoming the limitations of their respective disabilities, while also offering insight into the meaning and motive behind the man’s possible suicide. The Jump unfolds like a visual poem that suspends the viewer into another worldly space, equally hypnotizing in its affects, alienating in its details, and emotionally compelling in its reflection.
Experimental
Palestine, 2021
Arabic with English subtitles
10 minutes
16+
Director: Shuruq Harb
Cast: Hussam Ghosheh, Wafa Darwish, Layla Atshan
Cinematography: Mashal Kawasmi
Editing: Shuruq Harb, Mashal Kawasmi
Music: Sarouna Mshasha
Producer: Han Nefkens Foundation
Shuruq Harb is an artist, filmmaker and writer based in Ramallah.
LIWAN: A STORY OF CULTURAL RESISTANCE
Liwan is a documentary about the cultural space of the same name in Nazareth. Producer and Director Doris Hakim first met the founders of Liwan back in 2016, when an exhibition she was to put on in Nazareth was banned. They came out to support her, and she immediately fell in love with them and with the project. Opening and running Liwan has been a constant struggle for its founders. The space has been attacked in the past, and they were threatened constantly.
Documentary
Palestine, Spain, 2021
Arabic and English with English subtitles
29 minutes
16+
Director: Doris Hakim
Cinematography: Doris Hakim, Adam Newby
Editing: Adam Newby
Producer/s: Doris Hakim, Adam Newby
Doris Hakim was born in Nazareth to a Palestinian father and a Greek mother. This background played an important role in her artistic development, triggering her to explore the effects and conception of society, religion and politics, focusing on the meaning of issues such as democracy, equality and boundaries. Hakim left Nazareth and moved to Greece aged 20. She studied Theology and then Fine Arts. Moving to Spain, she continued with an MA degree and is currently undertaking a PhD. Hakim's complex and diverse origins combine both the richness and the violence of the cultural context she grew into. She deals with these issues in an attempt to reconcile herself with her culture and its socio-political boundaries.
TRUMPETS IN THE SKY
Boushra, one of the Syrian potato-picking girls in Lebanon, returns from a long day of work in the field only to learn that today her childhood will come to an end.
Fiction, Experimental
Palestine, Lebanon France, Belgium
2021
Without dialogue
14 minutes
16+
Director: Rakan Mayasi
Screenwriter: Rakan Mayasi
Cast: Boushra Matar, Azra Al Nazzal, Hussein Ali, Yasser Shlash
Cinematography: Pôl Seif
Editing: Rakan Mayasi, Marie-Rose Osta
Sound: Bassam Lebbos, Tatiana Dahdah
Music: Hadi Zeidan Tamikrest
Producer/s: Rakan Mayasi, François Morisset, Laura Jumel
Rakan Mayasi is an independent filmmaker from Palestine, born in Germany and currently based in Lebanon. He studied Cinema, Theatre and Psychology in Lebanon and then received film training with Abbas Kiarostami in South Korea at the Asian Film Academy. He has written, directed and produced several short films. His previous film Roubama was an official selection at the Locarno Film Festival in 2012. His short film Bonboné tackles the phenomenon of Palestinian sperm smuggling from Israeli jails and has world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 - it is the recipient of 28 Best Short Awards at international film festivals, namely Küstendorf Film and Music Festival and the 40th Moscow International Film Festival. Trumpets in the Sky is his new short exploring Cinema as a contemplative medium of visual poetry, metaphor, and mythology, while pushing back the narrative. Rakan is currently in pre-production for his new political horror short film.
3 LOGICAL EXITS
A sociological meditation on the different “exits” that young Palestinians choose, in order to cope with life in the refugee camps.
Documentary
Denmark, United Kingdom, Lebanon
Arabic with English subtitles
15 minutes
16+
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Cinematography: Mahdi Fleifel & Talal Khoury
Editing: Michael Aaglund
Sound: Dario Swade
Music: Stefan Smith
Producer: Mahdi Fleifel
Born in Dubai, Mahdi Fleifel lives and works between Denmark, England and Greece. Graduated from the National Film & Television School. His debut feature A World Not Ours premiered at TIFF ‘12. In 2016 Fleifel won a Silver Bear for A Man Returned. His follow up, A Drowning Man, was selected in the Official Competition at Cannes, and was nominated for a BAFTA. His last film, I Signed the Petition, won Best Documentary Short at IDFA and was nominated for the 2018 European Film Awards.
BLACKLISTED
A Palestinian young man is being interrogated for crossing the border and suspected to be a terrorist while his true intentions stay hidden.
Fiction
Palestine, Poland, 2021
Arabic, Hebrew with English subtitles
23 minutes
16+
Director: Mohammed Almughanni
Screenwriter: Mohammed Almughanni
Cast: Motaz Malhees, Yara Jarrar, Mohammad Bakri, Ashraf Dowani
Cinematography: Mateusz Czuchnowski
Sound: Montaser Abu Alul, Szymon Kucharski, Rafał Nowak
Producer: Agata Golanska
Mohammed Almughanni is a director, screenwriter and cinematographer. He was born in 1994 in Gaza, Palestine. He pursued his Bachelor and Masters degree in Film Directing at Łódź Film School in Poland. In the past few years he did film in different areas in the world such as Cuba, Palestine, Denmark, China, Jordan, Lebanon, Poland and Germany. He is an author of documentary and narrative films, including Blacklisted (2021), Son Of The Streets (2020), Falafala (2019), Operation (2018), Where’s the Donkey (2018), Shujayya (2015) and Halawan (2012). His films were selected and awarded at numerous film festivals around the world.