Annemarie Jacir's “When I Saw You” to screen at Toronto Film Festival
Sunday, September 2, 2012 at 03:16PM 
Annemarie Jacir's second feature film “When I Saw You” (Lamma Shoftak) has been selected to be screened at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) being held in September 2012.
The Palestinian/ Jordanian film, set in Jordan in 1967 and tells the story of a boy who runs away from home in search of freedom, was produced by Ossama Bawardi of Philistine Films and stars Mahmoud Asfa, from Irbid Refugee camp in his first acting role, as well as some familiar faces from Annemarie's previous films including Saleh Bakri (“Salt of this Sea”) and Ruba Blal, in addition to a number of other Jordanian actors.
Asked why she chose the 1960s for her story, Jacir told Variety Arabia back in 2011, “What I love about this particular time period is that people used to feel they could do something to change their lives. They believed that something good would happen to them if only they could change things around them.
“The film revolves around a moment in this boy’s life when everything changes. This film is all about hope. It’s about a reality that exists today and is very specific to the Palestinian experience. “When I Saw You” tells the story of a boy whose needs are much more basic,” she explained.
Founded in 1976, TIFF is one of the most prominent film festivals in the world and North America's most important film event. It continues to draw massive audiences, and has exceeded 260,000 festival attendees, with 287,000 public and industry admissions in 2010, and a further 239,000 at its free programming.
