Habibi
By Susan Youssef
2012 | Drama | 78 min.
Hopelessly in love, two Palestinian students are forced to return to Gaza from the West Bank, where their relationship challenges tradition. Habibi, the first fiction feature film to be shot in Gaza in 15 years, is based on the Sufi fable Majnun Layla. Screened at the 2012 BPFF Festival, it was originally selected for the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.
Watch it here.
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The War Around Us
By Abdallah Omeish and Ayman Mohyeldin
2012 | Documentary | 75 min.
Featured in BPFF’s 2012 festival, The War Around Us is a documentary following the only two international journalists on the ground in Gaza during the devastating 22-day Israeli invasion of 2008-9. Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros, who were originally both meant to leave after 24 hours, witnessed and reported on the horrors of the assault as they found themselves trapped under grueling, dangerous circumstances. As they gave voices to those who had none, Mohyeldin and Tadros examined what it means to be a journalist during conflict while navigating their friendship under such extreme duress.
ADVISORY: Contains graphic footage of war scenes that some viewers may find disturbing.
Watch it here.
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500 Dunam on the Moon
By Rachel Leah Jones
2002 | Documentary | 48 min.
Screened at BPFF’s 2010 festival, 500 Dunam on the Moon is a documentary telling the story of the original inhabitants of Ayn Hawd, a Palestinian village that was destroyed and depopulated by Israeli forces during the 1948 war. Today, what was Ayn Hawd is now a Jewish artists’ colony called Ein Hod. Descendants of the original community live less than two miles away from the city, and are denied basic rights like water, roads, or electricity. 500 Dunam on the Moon delves into the lives of the dispossessed.
Watch it here.
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Port of Memory
By Kamal Aljafari
2009 | Drama | 63 min.
The closing film of BPFF’s 2010 festival, Port of Memory by Kamal Aljafari takes place in the crumbling neighborhood of Ajami, a once-wealthy seaside community in Jaffa. A Palestinian family faces eviction from their home of 40 years due to the systemic “gentrification” of their area, a thin veneer for Judaization. Darkly humorous and visually stunning, Port of Entry delves into the irony and heartbreak of proving one’s own existence against the threat of expulsion.
Watch it here.
By Alia Gilbert
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