Children Under Occupation: Maradona’s Legs (Firas Khoury), Ayny (Ahmad Saleh), The Present (Farah Nabulsi), Zoo (Tariq Rimawi), Uncle… Give Me A Cigarette + Q&A with Farah

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Date: Saturday, May 25th

Time: 11am 

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Maradona’s Legs إجرين مارادونا

During the 1990 World Cup, two young Palestinian boys are looking for “Maradona’s legs”; the last missing sticker that they need in order to complete their world cup album and win a free Atari.

Genre: Comedy, Sports, Short
Year: 2019
Original languages: Arabic 

Ayny

Two young boys 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 have.

Genre: Stop Motion Animation, Short
Year: 2016
Original Languages: Arabic  

The Present  الهدية

On his wedding anniversary, Yusef and his young daughter set out in the West Bank to buy his wife a gift. Between soldiers, segregated roads and checkpoints, how easy would it be to go shopping?

Genre: Drama, Narrative, Short 
Year: 2020 
Original Languages: Arabic, English 

Zoo  حديقة الحیوان

Wandering through the Worst Zoo in the World, a young boy Sami is looking for his football. The lone boy finds more than that when he encounters the little tiger Laziz, who follows him on his quest to find a safe place to play. Against all odds, they become friends. But the remnants of war harbour danger. 

Genre: Drama, Animation, Short
Year: 2022
Original Languages: Arabic 

Uncle… Give Me A Cigarette عمي اعطيني سيجارة

Awaiting a prison transfer, Walid receives a strange request in a mysterious whisper…

Collaborating with a team of girls from the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees and interns from Birzeit University, the group transformed Walid Dakka's narrative into a short stop-motion film. Employing wire armatures and paper mache for puppet creation, they meticulously reconstructed the prison court with insights from eyewitnesses.

The production also featured dynamic mobile camera movements achieved through an automated camera slider.

Genre: Drama, Stop Motion Animation, Short
Year: 2023
Original Languages: Arabic 

About the filmmakers  

Firas Khoury is a Palestinian director, screenwriter, and lecturer in cinematic language. He was born in the city of Haifa in occupied Palestine. He is best known for his films “Science”, “Maradona’s Legs” and his latest feature “Alam.” 

Ahmad Saleh is a Jordanian writer, director, and film producer of Palestinian origin. Every visit to Palestine left details and stories in his mind that he wished he could tell in his own way and as he saw them with his own eyes. He started writing short stories as a way to communicate his ideas, but he did not find enough interest from readers, so he turned to films as a place through which he could reach the largest number of people.

Farah Nabulsi Farah Nabulsi is a Palestinian British Oscar nominated and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker and human rights advocate. She is the daughter of Palestinians who were fortunate enough to make a home in 1970's Britain — unlike the millions who continue to remain stateless in refugee camps. She founded Native Liberty production company through which she writes, produces and directs fiction films, exploring topics that matter to her and she created the digital resource, Oceans of Injustice, to uniquely deconstruct the Israeli military occupation of Palestine.

Tariq Rimawi is an independent Jordanian animated film director, scriptwriter, and academic. His films have received regional and international awards and have been screened at over 200 international film festivals. In 2016, Tariq established the Animation Department at the University of Petra in Jordan to equip its graduates with the latest storytelling and visual communication techniques. He also created Labtoons.org, an educational animation platform that helps teachers find dynamic content to make their classroom lessons more engaging. 

Uncle Give Me a Cigarette 

Participants: Retal Wajdi, Jawan Wajdi,  Karmel Alaa, Lamees Alaa, Kinda Alaa, Rama Hamed, Hala Samara, Maram Zahran, Layan Taleeb, Karmil Khawaja, Maysa Zahran, Arjwan Alkhalid, Abrar Zahran, Ro’a Aasi, Aya Amouri, Yasmeena Khalil, Nirmeen Nayfeh, Jawa Refaie 

Trainers: Abul Rahman Haj, Basel Nasr, Mohamed Bishara, Bahir Massad 

Supervision: Tahreer Jaber, Badera Jaradat 

Voices : Dirar Abu Qutaish, Ziad Nasr, Hafez Omar 

Special Thanks: Sanaa Daqqa , Hafez Omar