Rookie Competition

AJAMI

ISRAEL, GERMANY / 2009 / 35mm / 120min / with English & Japanese subtitles / The Match Factor

Story: Sketching a graphic diary,sensitive 13-year-old Nasri depicts the tough daily reality around him in the enclosed community of Jaffa's Ajami,where age-old enemies must live as neighbors. When his uncle foolishly wounds a prominent clan member,Nasri's entire family is the target for revenge. Omar,Nasri's older brother,is determined tosave his family,although he is distracted by his longing for the boss' daughter Hadir. Omar contemplates committing a crime for the money that promises tosolve all his family's problems … Malek,a Palestinian teenager from a West Bank refugee camp,smuggles into Israel to find work to finance thesurgery that willsave his mother's life. Through　his job at Abu Elias' restaurant,Malek is befriended by Binj and Omar,whosesituation is more desperate than ever … Binj comes from a Palestinian family in Jaffa,but he dreams of a future with his Jewish girlfriend. Binj is forced tosee anotherside to hissituation when his brother becomes asuspect in the murder of a Jew … As a Jewish police detective,Dando is part of the continuousstruggle to protect hissmall country from the "Arab Enemy."The loving father of a baby girl,his life has become complicatedsince his younger brother,asoldier,has gone missing …

Staff: 〈Director〉Scandar Copti / Yaron Shani
〈Editer〉Scandar Copti / Yaron Shani
〈Writter〉Scandar Copti / Yaron Shani
〈Produced〉Inosan Productions / Twenty Twenty Vision
〈Producers〉Mosh Danon / Thanassis Karathanos
〈Co-producer〉Talia Kleinhendler
〈Commissioning Editors〉Burkhard Althoff / Doris Hepp
〈Director of Photography〉Boaz Yehonatan Yacov
〈International Press〉RICHARD LORMAND / world cinema publicity

Profile: Scandar Copti is a Palestinian citizen of the Israeli state, born and raised in Jaffa. After graduating from the Israeli polytechnic "The Technion" as a mechanical engineer, he decided to leave his profession and pursue his childhood dream of becoming a filmmaker. After studying acting and scriptwriting, Scandar made THE TRUTH, a 12-minute mockumentary which was produced by the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, and was acclaimed for its bold political statement. THE TRUTH was screened at the 2003 Artists Against Occupation in Montreal, and was purchased by the Israeli Channel 8, but was eventually censored and shelved. Since then Scandar has written, directed and edited several fiction, documentary and experimental short films. His video art works were screened at the Israeli Center for Digital Art, the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art and at the Redding Art Fair 5 in Tel-Aviv.

Profile: Yaron Shani is an Israeli Jew, born in 1973. He graduated the Tel Aviv University Department of Film and Television with his thesis film DISPHORIA, a 40-minute drama, which won the Audience Award at the Babelsberg International Student Film Festival, as well as a Special Jury Mention at Karlovy Vary. The film was broadcast on ARTE and ZDF (Germany), and participated in several other international festivals. As the director of The Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival in 2002, he met Scandar Copti, and they both started to develop their first feature film AJAMI. In that time, Yaron had directed and edited documentaries and 3D films for Orpan Group, shown in museums and cinema theaters all over the world.