Arafat & I
| 2008 | 15min 10sec | 16mm | :1:1:85 | B/W | Dolby Stereo |
| Director | M. Fleifel |
| Screenwriters | M. Fleifel & Steven Bloomer |
| Producer | Alexander Ronnberg |
| Cinematographer | Daniel Stafford-Clark |
| Designer | James Morrall |
| Editor | Lawrence Huck |
| Composer | Stuart Earl |
Cast
| Marwan (Mahdi Fleifel) | Mustafa (Zein Ja’afar) | Lisa (Ximena Garcia Vera) |
Synopsis
Marwan is a Palestinian in love. He's finally met Lisa, the girl he's going to marry. Everything about her is perfect - she was even born on the same day as Chairman Arafat! But does Lisa know the significance of this coincidence? And how far will Marwan go to make her understand?
About the Director
Mahdi Fleifel was born in 1979 in Dubai of Palestinian origin. He grew up between the United Arabic Emirates and South Lebanon. Mahdi moved permanently to Lebanon in 1986 where he lived with relatives in Ain Al-Helweh camp in the suburbs of Saida. In 1988, at the age of nine, his family emigrated to Denmark. He settled in the small town of Elsinore where he continued his education. He received a Danish baccalaureate in classic linguistics in 1998. With a passion for cinema - inherited from his father’s enthusiasm for the medium – Mahdi took a diploma in film studies at the Media School, Copenhagen in 1999 and then went on to study for a BA in Film Production at the International Film School of Wales, from which he graduated in 2003. There he wrote and directed his first short film Shadi in the Beautiful Well, a story set in the refugee camp where he spent his formative years. The film won numerous international awards and enabled him to write and direct his second short, Hamoudi & Emil, a comedy based on his upbringing in Denmark. In 2006 he received grants from the Danish Arts Fund and the David Lean Foundation to study for an MA in screenwriting at Royal Holloway, University of London. Mahdi is currently based in London where he specializes in directing at the National Film and Television School. Arafat & I is his first year film.
FESTIVALS
- Oran International Arab Film Festival, Algeria 2008 - in competition
- San Francisco Arab Film Festival 2008 - panorama section
- Palm Springs Int. Short Film Festival 2008 - in competition
- Dubai Int. Film Festival 2008 - in competition
- Pisek Int. Student Film Festival, Czech Republic 2008 - Winner: Best Short Fiction
- Short Shorts Film Festival, Japan 2009 – in competition
- Shorts at Moonlight, Germany 2009
- Chicago Palestine Film Festival 2009
- Houston Palestine Film Festival 2009 (2009 Audience Award for Short Film)
Back to Line up: HPFF 2009
