Alam
Despite being part of a young generation of Palestinian Arabs whose families chose to stay and challenge the Israeli state after Al-Nakba, 17-year-old Tamer and his friends are just like any other group of teenage boys. They clumsily search for drugs, flirt with girls, play video games, and slack off at school. However, when a beautiful new student named Maysaa’ joins their class, Tamer immediately falls for her and, by association, is drawn into her political activism. Together they join fellow classmate, Safwat, in an operation to covertly raise the Palestinian flag and peacefully disrupt the local celebrations planned for Israel’s Independence Day – otherwise known to Palestinians as a day of mourning and memorialization for their displacement 70 years prior. Unsure of his own political convictions, Tamer must quickly determine what matters to him and what price he is willing to pay for freedom.
In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles.
“…crackles with the energy of both the insouciance of teenage rebellion and hedonism, and the awakening of political activism.” Laurence Boyce, Cineuropa
“This directorial debut which looks at a new third generation of Palestinians living in Israel is a fascinating take on a group of young people whose future is so constrained it almost compresses the screen.” Alissa Simon, Variety
“Alam is a brilliantly devastating coming-of-age story, one of comedy, confusion, and sorrow that thoroughly captures the sense of misguided teenage bravado mixed with genuine awkwardness and anxiety about finding a place in the world, raising the stakes beyond the mundane and giving us insight into a world so rarely seen on American movie screens.” Adam Mullins-Khatib, Chicago Reader