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Palestinian creativity and innovation in the cinema: Palestinian youth receives 3rd place in submission of short film in the Cannes Film Festival
Palestinian creativity and innovation in the cinema: Palestinian youth receives 3rd place in submission of short film in the Cannes Film Festival

PR/EN/130619/23

On June 13 2019, BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights in cooperation with Ibda’a Cultural Center organized a ceremony in honor of Palestinian director Wissam Al-Jaafari and his crew for the short film entitled “Ambience”. The film received third place in the category of Cinéfondation short films at the Cannes Film Festival in June 2019.

The ceremony was held at Ibda’a Cultural Center in Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem were there was a showing of the short film followed by open discussions between the audience and the film director. BADIL and Ibda’a presented Wissam Al-Jaafari and his film crew with an award to recognize and acknowledge their efforts, creativity and well-deserved achievement. BADIL supported the group’s efforts in artistic innovation and film making as it serves to enhance local and international awareness regarding Palestinian identity and refugees.

The short film shows how two young Palestinians try to record a demo for a music competition inside a noisy and crowded refugee camp, while initially failing to record due to the chaos of the place. However, they decide to use the situation to their favor by incorporating the sounds from the camp into the film and create music unique to the camp.

The film is not available for mass public viewing as it had been entered in a number of regional and international film festivals. BADIL will be organizing, in cooperation with Mr. Jaafari, closed viewing sessions throughout Mandatory Palestine in the coming months.