Reel Palestine / 4th Edition / 2018
Reel Palestine's annual film festival ran from January 19th - 27th 2018. Films were screened in collaboration with our presenting partner, Cinema Akil, across venues in Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, Sharjah Art Foundation in Sharjah and for the first time in Abu Dhabi at Manarat Saadiyat.

2018 Festival Films

Wajib

​Directed by: Annemarie Jacir
2017 | PG | Drama | 96’
Arabic (English Subtitles)

Wajib takes place entirely in one day. With each stop, each visitor, and in those moments in the car, the two men begin a new relationship while trying to deal with the old tensions and resentments of their former lives. Abu Shadi defends the political and social reality of those Palestinians who did not become refugees in 1948 and remained in their homeland while Shadi despairs at what he sees as an apathetic community suffering from an identity crisis. Struggling to connect, the two men forge ahead, caught between playful humor, a strained relationship and awkward moments, they travel house-to-house dropping off the wedding invitations to various people of all different classes. Everyone tries their best to honor their “wajib” (duty). But more than rediscovering a changed city, the two men rediscover each other. 

Ghost Hunting

​Directed by: Raed Andoni
2017 | PG 13 | Documentary | 94’
Arabic (English Subtitles)

Director Raed Andoni places a newspaper advertisement in Ramallah. He is looking for former inmates of the Moskobiya interrogation centre in Jerusalem. In his ad he asks that the men should also have experience as craftsmen, architects or actors. After a casting process that almost feels like role play, he arranges for a replica of the centre's interrogation rooms and cells to be built to scale inside a hall - under close supervision from the former inmates and based on their memories. In this realistic setting the men subsequently re-enact their interrogations, discuss details about the prison, and express the humiliation they experienced during their detention. Using techniques that are reminiscent of the so-called 'theatre of the oppressed' they work together to dramatise their real-life experiences. 

​1948: Creation & ​Catastrophe

Directed by: Ahlam Muhtaseb & Andy Trimlett
2016 | PG | Documentary |  84’
​Arabic & English

Through riveting and moving personal recollections of both Palestinians and Israelis, 1948: Creation & Catastrophe reveals the shocking events of the most pivotal year in the most controversial conflict in the world.  It tells the story of the establishment of Israel as seen through the eyes of the people who lived it. But rather than being a history lesson, this documentary is a primer for the present.  It is simply not possible to make sense of what is happening in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today without an understanding of 1948.  This documentary is the last chance to hear first-hand accounts of what took place in Haifa, Jaffa, Dayr Yasin, Acre, Jerusalem, Ramla and Lydda from the Israelis and Palestinians who personally lived through those events.  These shocking and dramatic events reveal the core of what drives the conflict today.

You Reap What You Sow

Directed by: Alaa Ashkar
2016 | PG | Documentary | 70'
Arabic (English Subtitles)

A Palestinian director living in France was about to start a documentary about the Palestinian memory. During his research for film locations in Galilee, his family who lives there expressed its concern about the idea of making the film. The director decides to include his family in the scenario and ends up giving us an intimate story about the evolution of his identity, since his childhood within his protective family, until adulthood through his travels.
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The Villagers

Directed by: Nidal Badarny 
2015 | PG | Short | | 10’
Arabic (English subtitles)

A tempestuous Palestinian love story alongside the ‘separation wall’. The story heads towards an end when Majdi decides to leave the country since his dreams and the plums can no longer find their space given the circumstances. His love, Salma, tries to stop him, but to no avail. Suddenly, Majdi and Salma escape from their secret love-nest near the wall, after ‘Abu Mustafa’ discovers their story. The tragic love story ends and a new story begins with a new protagonist, Abu Mustafa, with the same wall that remains present in all details; giant, grey, absurd. Simply an absurd film, because cinema is frivolous; cinema is absurd

The Parrot

Directed by: Darin J. Sallam, Amjad Al-Rasheed
2016| PG | Narrative | 18’
Arabic (English Subtitles)

Shortly after the declaration of the State of Israel in May 1948, a Mizrahi Jewish family emigrates from Tunisia to Palestine. Mousa, the insecure head of the family, his wife Rachel and their seven year old daughter Aziza try to settle into life in the city of Haifa. Entering their newly assigned home, the family is surprised by the haste with which the former Palestinian occupants must have fled. Among their many leftovers, the Jewish family finds one particularly troublesome – a big blue talking parrot called Saeed. Like an annoying poltergeist from the past, it haunts the family in their new life. The situation escalates when Mousa invites their Ashkenazi neighbors over, hoping to benefit from the social influence of the wealthy family. The one thing he did not reckon with was Saeed telling story of days past.​

Five Boys and a Wheel

Directed by: Said Zagha
2016 | PG | Drama | 20’
Arabic (English Subs) 

A young father has to help his son out of a petty conflict with the neighbors. As the parents of each respective family are summoned to discuss the issue at hand, the discussions begin to quickly spin out of control, putting the values of the father to test.

Ayny

Directed by: Ahmed Saleh
2016 | PG | Drama | 11'​
Arabic (English subs)

Based on true events, Ayny follows two young boys who run away from their mother's protection and slack line on the danger of war to play music with the instrument they always dreamt to own.

Drowning Man

Directed by: Mahdi Fleifel
2017| PG15 | Drama | 15’
​Arabic (English subtitles)

Alone and far from home, The Kid make his way through a strange city looking for the means to get through his day. Surrounded by predators he is forced to make compromises merely to survive, his life of exile grows one day longer.

Beneath the Earth

Directed by: Sami Alalul
2017 | PG| Documentary | 21’ Arabic (English subtitles)

In Palestine, music is more than just a creative outlet: it's a social tool that amplifies the voices of marginalized communities to transform the entire narrative of the occupation. Mideast Tunes has partnered with Ramallah-based production company Breathing Stories to produce From Beneath the Earth, a documentary film that showcases the work and artistic perspectives of Palestinian musicians in their own words. Featuring Maysa Daw (DAM), Saaleek, Shadi Zaqtan, Apo & the Apostles, and Rasha Nahas, From Beneath the Earth amplifies voices rising from the underground to express both the personal and the political, and explores the intersections that exist at the heart of music created by Palestinian artists. From Beneath the Earth is the first installment of a new Mideast Tunes docu-series that delves into underground music scenes across the region.

Fire at Sea

Directed by: Gianfranco Rosi
2017 | Documentary | 114’
Italian & English

Situated some 200km off Italy's southern coast, Lampedusa has hit world headlines in recent years as the first port of call for hundreds of thousands of African and Middle Eastern migrants hoping to make a new life in Europe. Rosi spent months living on the Mediterranean island, capturing its history, culture and the current everyday reality of its 6,000-strong local population as hundreds of migrants land on its shores on a weekly basis. The resulting documentary focuses on 12-year-old Samuele, a local boy who loves to hunt with his slingshot and spend time on land even though he hails from a culture steeped in the sea. 
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Stitching Palestine

Directed by: Carol Mansour
2017 | PG | Documentary | 78’
Arabic (English subtitles)

Twelve Palestinian women sit before us and talk of their life before the Diaspora, of their memories, of their lives and of their identity. Their narratives are connected by the enduring thread of the ancient art of embroidery. 

​Twelve resilient, determined and articulate women from disparate walks of life: lawyers, artists, housewives, activists, architects, and politicians stitch together the story of their homeland, of their dispossession, and of their unwavering determination that justice will prevail. Through their stories, the individual weaves into the collective, yet remaining distinctly personal. ​

Check out the highlights of the Reel Palestine 2018 Festival

2018 Events 

Reel Palestine Souk

​Reel Palestine's Souk ran during the film festival dates and featured a curated collection of unique crafts, souvenirs and flavors made and inspired by Palestinian traditions. Thank you to our partner vendors: Exhale. Thob. Ayadi by Widad. Harakat. Mooneh. Badira Gifts & Favors. Pearl Tree. Kan Yama Kan in Palestine. ​

2018 Reel Palestine Pop-Ups

Reel Palestine presents films by emerging and established international artists and filmmakers from Palestine and its diaspora. This selection of feature films and shorts explores notions of place, space, and origin through poetic, metaphorical, and experimental visual gestures. Produced in the last five years, these films offer alternative vistas to those portrayed in the media, and relay overlooked stories about migration, displacement, fragmentation, and family traditions.

Reel Palestine 2018 was featured in: