Milh Hadha al-Bahr (2008)

A romantic drama about a working-class woman and her experiences traveling back home.

Director:

Annemarie Jacir

Writers:

Mamoun El Shinawi (poetry writer), Annemarie Jacir

Stars:

Suheir Hammad, Saleh Bakri, Riyad Ideis

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Suheir Hammad	...	Soraya
Saleh Bakri	...	Emad
Riyad Ideis	...	Marwan
Dana Drigov	...	Airport Agent 1
Edna Blilious	...	Airport Agent 2 (Ilana) (as Edna Balilous)
Ishai Golan	...	Male Agent
Hagar Lotem	...	Young Agent
Renana Lotem	...	Body Search Agent
Sylvie Wetz	...	Corinne (as Sylvie Wetz)
Yahya Barakat	...	Ziad
Khaled Hourani	...	Khaled
Ismael Dabbag	...	Bank Teller
Jack Saadeh	...	Bank Manager
Iman Aoun	...	Wealthy Landlord
Giras Abu Sabbah	...	Cinematheque Bouncer

Storyline

Soraya, born in Brooklyn in a working class community of Palestinian refugees, discovers that her grandfather's savings were frozen in a bank account in Jaffa when he was exiled in 1948. Direct, stubborn, and determined to reclaim what is hers, she fulfills her life-long dream of "returning" to Palestine. Slowly she is taken apart by the reality around her and is forced to confront her own anger. She meets Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever. Tired of the constraints that dictate their lives, they know in order to be free, they must take things into their own hands, even if it's illegal

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Plot Keywords:

palestine | f rated | male rear nudity | male nudity | israel | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Facebook Page Official site

Country:

Palestine Belgium France Spain Switzerland

Language:

Arabic English Hebrew

Release Date:

3 September 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

Bu Denizin Tuzu

Filming Locations:

Palestine

Box Office

Budget:

€800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$80,000 (France), 3 September 2008, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,973, 15 August 2010, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$10,794, 17 October 2010

Company Credits

Production Co:

Augustus Film,Clarity Productions,JBA Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Palestine's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign-Language Film category.

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Soundtracks

La
Composed and performed by Shadi Zaqtan

User Reviews

Very artistic, well directed to reflect only a bit of the Palestinian suffering

This is a film well worth seeing by people who want to know more about the reality of the Palestinian tragedy. Artistically made, with no hysterics about showing daily material sufferings, but instead, the ordinary life of Palestinians which has to somehow go on, with laughter, anger, happiness, pain, love, etc. It also reflected the psychological pain felt by the Palestinians wherever they may be (in USA in this case), showing how a Palestinian-American young lady seeking her roots in a country she had never seen before can in fact have the feeling of "longing" and belonging, not in any way different from the feeling of an adopted child upon meeting her/his real parents. The film is of course about Palestine and Palestinians and not about Israel and Israelis, however, it does not "demonize" anyone! See it for yourself and be the judge!