18th Arab Film Festival

Friday, September 27 at 5pm

ABOUT THE FILM

In 2014, while a young Palestinian director Mohamed Jabaly was visiting a film festival in Tromsø, Norway, Israel launched a war on Gaza and the borders to his home were closed. It will be seven years before he can return home and see his family again. While waiting for the situation to change, Jabaly and friends begin documenting the process of applying for asylum. Facing many challenges, Mohamed stays connected with family in Gaza. They provide solace, but when Gaza is attacked again, Mohamed is faced with an impossible choice: if he goes back to Gaza, he may never be able to leave again and continue his work as a filmmaker. Told by a director who uses his creativity to connect with the world and forge a way forward,

FILMMAKER BIO

Mohamed Jabaly is a Palestinian filmmaker, producer, and artist from Gaza City. His first full-length documentary, Ambulance, has been shown at several of the world's largest film festivals and has won multiple awards, including the One World Media Award for Best Feature Documentary at BAFTA, the SunBird Award at Days of Cinema in Palestine, and the Jury Award for Best Documentary at FIPA in Biarritz, France in 2017. Life Is Beautiful is his second feature film.

PRESENTED BY MIZNA

Celebrating 25 years in 2024, Mizna is a critical platform for contemporary literature, film, art, and cultural production centering the work of Arab and Southwest Asian and North African artists. For more than twenty years, we have been creating a decolonized cultural space to reflect the expansiveness of our community and to foster exchange, examine ideas, and engage audiences in meaningful art.