NUFF Special -
Mahdi Fleifel Shorts
Mahdi Fleifel is one of this year’s mentors for the NUFF film workshops. We’re very glad to be able to screen his short-film program with five award-winning films.
The program will be introduced by the film-critic Kaleem Aftab from London, who will also lead a Q&A with the director and of course the audience.
XENOS
(2014, 13min)
Director / Photographer: Mahdi Fleifel
Produced by: Patrick Campbell
Edited by: Michael Aaglund
Sound Designer: Gunnar Oskarsson
In 2010, Abu Eyad and other young Palestinian men from the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon travelled with smugglers through Syria and Turkey into Greece. Like so many other migrants, they come looking for a way into Europe but found themselves trapped in a country undergoing economic, political, and social collapse.
20 HANDSHAKES FOR PEACE
(2015, 5min)
“I remember the handshake very clearly. My dad recorded the ceremony on video and would play it over and over again. He could not believe what had happened. In fact, none of us could. One time he threw his shoe at the TV and shouted so loud, the next door neighbors complained about him.” Listening to the last interview with Edward Said while watching the ceremony made me realize that father’s anger was because chairman Arafat was the first one to reach out his hand.
A MAN RETURNED
(2016, 30min)
Director / Photographer: Mahdi Fleifel
Produced by: Patrick Campbell & Mahdi Fleifel
Edited by: Michael Aaglund
Sound Design: Dario Swade
Reda is 26 years old. His dreams of escaping the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain El-Helweh ended in failure after three years trapped in Greece. He returned with a heroin addiction to life in a camp being torn apart by internal strife and the encroachment of war from Syria.
Against all odds he decides to marry his childhood sweetheart; a love story, bittersweet as the camp itself.
A DROWNING MAN
(2017, 15min)
Writer / Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Produced by: Signe Byrge Sørensen, Patrick Campbell & Mahdi Fleifel
Cinematographer: Vasco Viana
Edited by: Michael Aaglund
Sound Design: Dario Swade
Alone and far from home, The Kid makes his way through a strange city looking for the means to get through his day. Surrounded by predators he is forced to make compromises merely to survive, his life of exile grows one day longer.
I SIGNED THE PETITION
(2018, 10min)
Writer / Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Produced by: Patrick Campbell & Mahdi Fleifel
Cinematographer: Mahdi Fleifel
Featuring: Faris & Mahdi
Edited by: Michael Aaglund
Sound Design: Dario Swade
Immediately after a Palestinian man signs an online petition, he is thrown into a panic-inducing spiral of self-doubt. Over the course of a conversation with an understanding friend, he analyses, deconstructs and interprets the meaning of his choice to publicly support the cultural boycott of Israel.