Ajami (2009)

Ajami is the religiously mixed community of Muslims and Christians in Tel Aviv. These are five stories about the everyday life in Ajami.

Directors:

Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani

Writers:

Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani

Stars:

Fouad Habash, Nisrine Rihan, Elias Saba

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 15 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Fouad Habash	...	Nasri
Nisrine Rihan	...	Ilham
Elias Saba	...	Shata
Youssef Sahwani	...	Abu-Lias
Abu George Shibli	...	Sido
Ibrahim Frege	...	Malek
Scandar Copti	...	Binj
Shahir Kabaha	...	Omar
Hilal Kabob	...	Anan
Ranin Karim	...	Hadir
Eran Naim	...	Dando Ben David
Sigal Harel	...	Dando's sister
Tamar Yerushalmi	...	Dando's mother
Moshe Yerushalmi	...	Dando's father
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ghassan Ashkar

Storyline

Ajami is an area of Jaffa where Arabs, Palestinians, Jews and Christians try to live together in an atmosphere that is -to say the least - electric. Omar, an Israeli Arab, struggles to save his family from elimination by a gang of extortionists. He also courts a beautiful Christian girl, Hadir, but marrying her is far from obvious. Malek, an illegal Palestinian worker, tries to collect enough money to pay for his mother's operation. Dando, an Israeli cop, does his utmost to trace his missing brother who may have been killed by Palestinians. Binj, Malek and Omar's Arab friend, suffers from being rejected by other members of his community for mixing with an Israeli girl. All of them will meet violence, most of the time ... with violence.

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Plot Keywords:

christian | arab | israeli | palestinian | violence | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany Israel

Language:

Arabic Hebrew

Release Date:

17 September 2009 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Adzami

Filming Locations:

Ajami District, Jaffa, Israel

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$35,792 (USA) (5 February 2010)

Gross:

$621,240 (USA) (20 August 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Inosan productions, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion GmbH, ARTE

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of the scenes in this film are improvised. Often the actors didn't even know what's going to happen.

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Connections

Featured in Sharon Amrani: Remember His Name (2010)

User Reviews

Extraordinary film

Ajami is the first full length feature film directed by two young Israelis Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani.

They have produced an extraordinary film which features five separate stories set in Ajami, a poor Arab neighborhood situated in the city of Tel-Aviv/Yafo. The many characters are played mostly by non professionals, i.e. are not working actors, and the result gives a documentary feel to the film. Amazingly the level of acting is very high and ensures that the film is completely believable and absorbing from beginning to end. Perhaps the only drawback is the limited time available to develop each main character. The viewer wants to know more about them and their lives but time is limited.

The film shows a part of Israeli society rarely shown in Israeli films (Arab Moslem and Arab Christian families living in Ajami) and the makers are to be commended for their achievement in showing a rather hidden side of our society.