SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
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Salt of this Sea
Soraya, born in Brooklyn in a working class community of Palestinian refugees, discovers that her grandfather’s savings were frozen in a bank account in Jaffa when he was exiled in 1948. Stubborn, passionate and determined to reclaim what is hers, she fulfills her life-long dream of “returning” to Palestine. Once there, slowly she is taken apart by the reality around her and is forced to confront her own anger. She meets Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever. Tired of the constraints that dictate their lives, they know in order to be free, they must take things into their own hands, even if it’s illegal. In this quest for life, we follow their trail through remains of Palestine. This prize winning film is the debut feature length work from Annemarie Jacir (Like Twenty Impossibles) it premiered at Cannes to critical acclaim. Featuring Palestinian poet Suheir Hammad and emerging Palestinian star Saleh Bakri in their first lead roles, Jacir’s film also picked up twelve international awards and was theatrically released in Europe, the US, and Asia.
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HANEEN
Haneen, a woman in her mid 60s lives alone in a Palestinian city, estranged from her husband and son. Haneen, the name itself meaning ‘nostalgia’, waits daily for replies to letters that remain unanswered, living past and present in solitude. On befriending Salem, a boy from the neighborhood whom she finds stealing fruit in her garden, she appears to develop a new spark of life.
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Like Twenty Impossibles
When a Palestinian film crew decides to avert a closed checkpoint by taking a remote side road, the political landscape unravels, and the passengers are slowly taken apart by the mundane brutality of military occupation. Both a visual poem and a narrative, like twenty impossibles wryly questions artistic responsibility and the politics of filmmaking, while speaking to the fragmentation of a people. LIKE TWENTY IMPOSSIBLES (Ka'inana Ashrun Mustaheel) was the first Arab short film to ever be an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, and went on to become a National Finalist for the Academy Awards as well as winning Best Film at Palm Springs, Chicago, IFP/New York, Nantucket, and Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film festivals. It screened at 250 film festivals including the New York Film Festival, Dubai, Locarno, Telluride, Edinburgh, and Karlovy Vary. -
A Few Crumbs for the Birds
In 2005, filmmakers Annemarie Jacir and Nassim Amaouche came together to collaborated on this documentary sketch of the lives of a handful of men and women eking out a living in the Jordanian border town of Ruwayshed, a small-time oil-smuggling entrepot that's the last stop on the road to Iraq. -
An Explanation (and then burn the ashes)
An architectural exploration of Columbia University in New York where buildings only reflect each other, space is restricted, objects concealed or only partially revealed. Small, hidden imperfections. Set against a montage of real phone messages received by Columbia University faculty, the viewer's imagination contributes to this portrait reflecting an atmosphere of American college campuses today. -
The Satellite Shooters
Using the conventions of the Western genre, "The Satellite Shooters" satirically tells the story of Tawfiq, a young Palestinian boy in Texas trying to find his place in America, and The Kid, a local gunslinger. The film is a critique of the imagination that the Western arises from -- that fantasy land wherein masculine idealizations and racial hierarchies lead to the prevailing cowboy hero and his stunted sidekick. "The Satellite Shooters" is also a story of assimilation and the immigrant experience. Orientalism meets Occidentalism when Tawfiq and The Kid embark upon a mission to change the world. But things don't turn out like they do in the movies.... -
Until When...
During the 2nd Intifada, the filmmakers Abourahme, Jacir and Salamy lived in the Deheisha Refugee Camp in Bethlehem from 2002-2004. The result is a poignant and intimate documentary following four Palestinian families struggling to survive. Fadi is 13 and cares for his 4 younger brothers, Dar Hammash are a close-knit family who pass on the lessons of life with humor and passion, Sana is a single woman who endures long commutes to do community work, and Emad and Hanan are a young couple trying to shield their daughter from the harsh realities of the occupation. They talk about their past and discuss the future with humor, sorrow, frustration and hope. Until When paints an intimate in-depth portrait of Palestinian lives today. -
Summer 2006, Palestine
Both established as well as new Palestinian filmmakers came together in a project that would reflect the mood of this summer. In three minutes or less, filmmakers were restricted to using one-shot only to tell their stories. Despite the fact that Palestinians have been dispersed across the globe, with the majority of them being refugees, Summer 2006, Palestine, initiated by the Palestinian Film Collective, was limited to those filmmakers who live in Palestine. The result is a unique collection of thirteen short films from across Palestine, delving into the personal, the political, and the poetic - the spirit of a people struggling for freedom. -
Palestine is Waiting
There are over 5 million Palestinian refugees in the world today. They constitute one of the oldest and largest refugee problems. Palestine is Waiting is a brief overview of the Palestinian right of return. Moving from refugee camps in Lebanon to activism in the USA, through the voices of refugees themselves, it chronicles why the right of return is a core issue in forging a just peace in the Middle East. -
When I Saw You (Lamma Shoftak)
Winner of Best Asian Film at the Berlin International Film Festival, Best Arab Film in Abu Dhabi and Palestine's 2013 Oscar Entry, Annemarie Jacir's second feature film takes place in 1967 Jordan when the world is alive with change: brimming with reawakened energy, new styles, music and an infectious sense of hope. In Jordan, a different kind of change is underway as tens of thousands of refugees pour across the border from Palestine. Having been separated from his father in the chaos of war, Tarek, 11, and his mother Ghaydaa, are amongst this latest wave of refugees. Placed in “temporary” refugee camps made up of tents and prefab houses until they would be able to return, they wait, like the generation before them who arrived in 1948. With difficulties adjusting to life in Harir camp and a longing to be reunited with his father, Tarek searches a way out, and discovers a new hope emerging with the times. Eventually his free spirit and curious nature lead him to a group of people on a journey that will change their lives.
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Horizon
A story of a young, ambitious mother who takes advantage of a series of events, which become instrumental in her pursuit for human dignity by first time director Zain Duraie. Jordan, 2013
