Leading Arab filmmaker Najwa Najjar has announced that her next film project will be “Kiss of a Stranger,” from an original script she wrote during the lockdown.
“Kiss of a Stranger” is a musical set during the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema in the 1930s. Taking place in the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria, where strangers from all walks of life are searching for richer, more meaningful experiences, the film will take a fun and exciting look at the birth of the Egyptian film industry, using the power of music, dance and cinema.
Recently elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Jordanian-Palestinian filmmaker was attending the El Gouna Film Festival to discuss the script for her fourth film with high-profile Egyptian actors and potential heads of department. She is also location scouting as she looks for venues that will capture the magic of pre-war Alexandria.
Speaking at El Gouna,...
“Kiss of a Stranger” is a musical set during the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema in the 1930s. Taking place in the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria, where strangers from all walks of life are searching for richer, more meaningful experiences, the film will take a fun and exciting look at the birth of the Egyptian film industry, using the power of music, dance and cinema.
Recently elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Jordanian-Palestinian filmmaker was attending the El Gouna Film Festival to discuss the script for her fourth film with high-profile Egyptian actors and potential heads of department. She is also location scouting as she looks for venues that will capture the magic of pre-war Alexandria.
Speaking at El Gouna,...
- 10/25/2020
- by Kaleem Aftab
- Variety Film + TV
The film received a 10-minute standing ovation at its world premiere.
In the opening scene of Palestinian director Najwa Najjar’s new film Between Heaven And Earth, a sassy looking young woman rocks up at her former marital home in Ramallah in a vintage blue Mercedes with red-leather seats, music blaring.
Inside, she finds the place in disarray and her estranged husband idling in the outdoor pool.
The romantic road movie, marks a departure in terms of tone and register, if not political intent, for Najjar after hard-hitting West Bank-set dramas Pomegranates And Myrrh and Eyes Of A Thief.
The...
In the opening scene of Palestinian director Najwa Najjar’s new film Between Heaven And Earth, a sassy looking young woman rocks up at her former marital home in Ramallah in a vintage blue Mercedes with red-leather seats, music blaring.
Inside, she finds the place in disarray and her estranged husband idling in the outdoor pool.
The romantic road movie, marks a departure in terms of tone and register, if not political intent, for Najjar after hard-hitting West Bank-set dramas Pomegranates And Myrrh and Eyes Of A Thief.
The...
- 12/6/2019
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Only the seventh time Palestine has submitted film to the Academy Awards.
The Palestinian Ministry of Culture has submitted Najwa Najjar’s Eyes of a Thief for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Academy Awards.
The timely drama explores the impact of the Middle East conflict on Palestinian life through the tale of a West Bank man searching for his lost daughter following his release from an Israeli jail.
Egyptian actor Khaled Abol Naga, whose credits include Villa 69 and Microphone, plays the protagonist Tareq – an enigmatic figure with a violent past – opposite Algerian actress and singer Souad Massi, as a woman who knows the whereabouts of his child.
The film has drawn strong audiences in the West Bank and Jerusalem since its release there at the beginning of September.
“We had quite an overwhelming opening on September 9 at the Ramallah Cultural Palace. 850 people came to a space meant for 700,” Najjar told ScreenDaily...
The Palestinian Ministry of Culture has submitted Najwa Najjar’s Eyes of a Thief for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Academy Awards.
The timely drama explores the impact of the Middle East conflict on Palestinian life through the tale of a West Bank man searching for his lost daughter following his release from an Israeli jail.
Egyptian actor Khaled Abol Naga, whose credits include Villa 69 and Microphone, plays the protagonist Tareq – an enigmatic figure with a violent past – opposite Algerian actress and singer Souad Massi, as a woman who knows the whereabouts of his child.
The film has drawn strong audiences in the West Bank and Jerusalem since its release there at the beginning of September.
“We had quite an overwhelming opening on September 9 at the Ramallah Cultural Palace. 850 people came to a space meant for 700,” Najjar told ScreenDaily...
- 9/25/2014
- ScreenDaily
Algerian singer Souad Massi and Egyptian Khaled Abol Naga co-star in film shot in West Bank city of Nablus.
Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar has finished her timely drama Eyes Of A Thief exploring the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian life through the tale of a man searching for his lost daughter after his release from an Israeli jail.
Inspired by a real-life event that took place in 2002, at the height of the Second Palestinian Intifada and the Israeli incursion into the West Bank, the film moves back and forth between that period and contemporary Palestine.
It revolves around Tareq, an enigmatic figure harbouring a dark, violent secret returning to his hometown after serving 10 years in an Israeli jail.
He is desperate to find his daughter who disappeared during his absence. His search leads him to a young woman called Lila and also brings him up against the town’s self-imposed leader Adel, a man of...
Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar has finished her timely drama Eyes Of A Thief exploring the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian life through the tale of a man searching for his lost daughter after his release from an Israeli jail.
Inspired by a real-life event that took place in 2002, at the height of the Second Palestinian Intifada and the Israeli incursion into the West Bank, the film moves back and forth between that period and contemporary Palestine.
It revolves around Tareq, an enigmatic figure harbouring a dark, violent secret returning to his hometown after serving 10 years in an Israeli jail.
He is desperate to find his daughter who disappeared during his absence. His search leads him to a young woman called Lila and also brings him up against the town’s self-imposed leader Adel, a man of...
- 8/4/2014
- ScreenDaily
Algerian singer Souad Massi and Egyptian Khaled Abol Naga co-star in film shot in West Bank city of Nablus.
Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar has finished her timely drama Eyes Of A Thief exploring the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian life through the tale of a man searching for his lost daughter after his release from an Israeli jail.
Inspired by a real-life event that took place in 2002, at the height of the Second Palestinian Intifada and the Israeli incursion into the West Bank, the film moves back and forth between that period and contemporary Palestine.
It revolves around Tareq, an enigmatic figure harbouring a dark, violent secret returning to his hometown after serving 10 years in an Israeli jail.
He is desperate to find his daughter who disappeared during his absence. His search leads him to a young woman called Lila and also brings him up against the town’s self-imposed leader Adel, a man of...
Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar has finished her timely drama Eyes Of A Thief exploring the impact of Israeli occupation on Palestinian life through the tale of a man searching for his lost daughter after his release from an Israeli jail.
Inspired by a real-life event that took place in 2002, at the height of the Second Palestinian Intifada and the Israeli incursion into the West Bank, the film moves back and forth between that period and contemporary Palestine.
It revolves around Tareq, an enigmatic figure harbouring a dark, violent secret returning to his hometown after serving 10 years in an Israeli jail.
He is desperate to find his daughter who disappeared during his absence. His search leads him to a young woman called Lila and also brings him up against the town’s self-imposed leader Adel, a man of...
- 8/4/2014
- ScreenDaily
Algerian cultural agency Aarc is showing first images of Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina’s Crépuscule des Ombres at the Dubai Film Market.
It is the first work in 30 years from Lakhdar-Hamina, best known for Chronicle Of The Years Of Ember, which won the Palme d’Or in 1975 and remains the only Arab or African film to have clinched Cannes’ top prize.
Set in the Algerian desert and epic in scale, Crépuscule des Ombres revolves around a local freedom fighter and two French soldiers, one in favour of Algerian independence, the other against.
French actor Samir Boitard, who starred in hit French TV series Spiral, plays the Algerian revolutionary opposite Nicolas Bridet and Laurent Hennequin as the soldiers.
Aarc started investing in cinema in 2012 as part of a state-backed initiative to build up Algeria’s film industry. To date it has supported roughly 100 works. As a key backer, it handles rights for all the titles, either partially...
It is the first work in 30 years from Lakhdar-Hamina, best known for Chronicle Of The Years Of Ember, which won the Palme d’Or in 1975 and remains the only Arab or African film to have clinched Cannes’ top prize.
Set in the Algerian desert and epic in scale, Crépuscule des Ombres revolves around a local freedom fighter and two French soldiers, one in favour of Algerian independence, the other against.
French actor Samir Boitard, who starred in hit French TV series Spiral, plays the Algerian revolutionary opposite Nicolas Bridet and Laurent Hennequin as the soldiers.
Aarc started investing in cinema in 2012 as part of a state-backed initiative to build up Algeria’s film industry. To date it has supported roughly 100 works. As a key backer, it handles rights for all the titles, either partially...
- 12/9/2013
- ScreenDaily
Algerian cultural agency Aarc is showing first images of Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina’s Crépuscule des Ombres at the Dubai Film Market.
It is the first work in 30 years from Lakhdar-Hamina, best known for Chronicle Of The Years Of Ember, which won the Palme d’Or in 1975 and remains the only Arab or African film to have clinched Cannes’ top prize.
Set in the Algerian desert and epic in scale, Crépuscule des Ombres revolves around a local freedom fighter and two French soldiers, one in favour of Algerian independence, the other against.
French actor Samir Boitard, who starred in hit French TV series Spiral, plays the Algerian revolutionary opposite Nicolas Bridet and Laurent Hennequin as the soldiers.
Aarc started investing in cinema in 2012 as part of a state-backed initiative to build up Algeria’s film industry. To date it has supported roughly 100 works. As a key backer, it handles rights for all the titles, either partially...
It is the first work in 30 years from Lakhdar-Hamina, best known for Chronicle Of The Years Of Ember, which won the Palme d’Or in 1975 and remains the only Arab or African film to have clinched Cannes’ top prize.
Set in the Algerian desert and epic in scale, Crépuscule des Ombres revolves around a local freedom fighter and two French soldiers, one in favour of Algerian independence, the other against.
French actor Samir Boitard, who starred in hit French TV series Spiral, plays the Algerian revolutionary opposite Nicolas Bridet and Laurent Hennequin as the soldiers.
Aarc started investing in cinema in 2012 as part of a state-backed initiative to build up Algeria’s film industry. To date it has supported roughly 100 works. As a key backer, it handles rights for all the titles, either partially...
- 12/9/2013
- ScreenDaily
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