Program of five short films by Palestinian filmmakers. Program duration: 90 min

Last year, a series of workshops on documentary scriptwriting, directing, and cinema were given in Ramallah in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The co-operative project was initiated by Geneva filmmaker Nicolas Wadimoff. The workshops were facilitated by Swiss film professionals Fernand Melgar, Jean Perret, and Jolle Com.

Five short films, selected from around 20 proposals, were produced on the common theme of "My Home. The theme allowed the participants to express themselves in the first person while exploring the various meanings of the notion of "home."

Q & A will follow with filmmaker Enas Muthaffar, Nicolas Wadimoff, Fernand Melgar and Jean Perret.

ENAS MUTHAFFAR was born in Jerusalem. In 2000, she graduated from the Higher Institute of Cinema in Cairo, Egypt, with a BA in film directing.
Besides writing and directing several short films during her studies and one film after graduation, she had also worked with several Palestinian and Egyptian film directors as assistant director and script supervisor.


The films:

EAST TO WEST BY ENAS MUTHAFFAR

A wall is being built. Enas' family are compelled to move, otherwise they will find themselves on the wrong side. She was born in the apartment they must now leave behind. Her father was born in a house at Jaffa that he was forced to abandon in 1948. Each generation has had to face a move.


THE FOURTH ROOM BY NAHED AWWAD

Abu Jamil owns a bookshop in Ramallah. Nothing has changed in his shop since the 1960s. The filmmaker asks him about his dreams and his troubles, about Nasser and the Palestine of earlier years, and about the secret room, where precious pictures of the past are kept.


THE GUARDIAN OF BOREDOM BY MAZEN SAADEH

Mazen works as an employee in the offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Although there is nothing to do, the employees are obliged to put in their hours under the watchful eye of a department head, who is very strict about schedules.


SUMMER OF '85 BY ROWAN AL FAQUIH

There is nothing left on this patch of land. At most a few stones and an almond tree. Yet it was here that Rowan spent the most peaceful days of her childhood, surrounded by the love of her grandparents and her cousin from America. One day, war broke out.


SECOND HALFTIME BY SAED ABU HMUD

The football club is my home,. says Saed Abu Hmud, the film.s director.
Originally from Bethlehem, he takes us on a trip down the memory lane of his childhood to the football field of the Catholic community of Salesian brothers. Through his recollections of those years, the first Intifada is depicted.