Aflamnah

This is an art house feature-length documentary exploring the last 60 years of Palestinian politics seen through the prism of the life of my father, Dr Elias Shoufani, a leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, an academic writer and leftist intellectual who worked with Fateh (but was one of the leaders of the opposition to Arafat) for over 20 years. Narrated by myself, in English, this Arabic film recounts his personal history from 1948 till today. From being under occupation in 1948, to moving to America to get a PHD from Princeton in the 1960’s, followed by him giving up his tenured professorship to return and join the underground PLO in Beirut, where he lived for a decade till 1983, and the subsequent move to Syria and his current exile there. It emphasizes as well the cycle of wars around him, as he is stuck in Damascus now and I have not seen him in 16 months. It is also partly the story of my courageous Palestinian/American mother who sacrificed and worked to support the cause of my father,which she shared passionately, only to have their ambitions for a free and secular Palestine shattered, and their marriage ended in a tragic manner. It is the story of their daughters, more American than Arab, but more Palestinian than anything, and more the product of our parents than any society we were refugees in. It is the story of what went wrong in the Arab world, how we slowly eroded any chance of a united region and what it took for us to find ourselves in the quagmire of Arab collaboration with and subservience to Israel. Set in Damascus- featuring Amman, Beirut, the Galilee (Israel), NYC and Washington- it is a family saga that reveals the reality of the leading political initiators of the secular PLO which has failed. It’s a story of a troubled marriage that ended sadly, a union heavily involved with the inner core politicians, revolutionaries, journalists, artists, writers and spies that were active in the US and Beirut in the 60’s and 70’s, and then adding Syria and Jordan to the arena during the 80’s and 90’s. It is also a testimony to the dear price he had to pay to spend his life in pursuit of a homeland. Today my father lives alone, 80 yrs old and physically frail, a full time writer to a public that does not read, separated from a large family living but a few hours away in the Galilee but behind enemy lines. It is part homage to a man I consider very interesting and very noble, but also a critique of how he let his ideology and passion separate him from his family, his wife, his kids and how he made choices as a political leader that led to the breaking up of his home, and created a difficult- albeit inspiring- life for those who love him. We are editing scenes, designing structure, and creating various pieces of music for the offline cut. The funds I hope to raise in this campaign are for the online cut of the film, which includes color correction, some graphics for a few scenes to add a more multi media feel, titling and subtitling and the final output of the film for festival submissions and a release.

I am Palestinian writer/filmmaker currently based in Dubai, but I keep a suitcase ready to zoom about whenever the chance for adventure- cinematic, literary or otherwise- presents itself.

I perform poetry in various countries and collect archive for this documentary, in a stubborn desire to express as many words in print as possible and to

archive as much of our collective Arab history as my many hard drives can withstand.

I was born in 1978 in Lebanon as a refugee, and raised in Amman, Beirut and Damascus, which means I currently belong nowhere and everywhere.

For the past 14 years, I have been a reporter, a writer, a producer, a director, a translator and an editor. I can also make a mean Mexican salad.

I have a BA in Radio/TV/Film from the Lebanese American University in 1999 and in 2002 I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship from Jordan to obtain a Master of Fine Arts from New York University in film writing and directing. In 2005, I wrote and directed a feature length fiction film, titled “Carencia”, as my thesis project for NYU. The budget was so ridiculously small, nothing in the world will ever seem impossible!

I also taught film for two years in Beirut, but that’s a whole other story.

I wrote two books of poetry titled "More Light than Death Could Bear" and “Inkstains on the Edge of Light”. My fiction feature script, “This War on Love” was part of the first Interchange program between the Torino film lab and DIFF, which was wonderful in terms of bonding with Middle Eastern filmmakers. The fact that we were let loose to explore Italy might have had something to do with that as well…

I am proud to be the founder of the “Poeticians” poetry group in Beirut/Dubai. We just published our first anthology, “Nowhere Near a Damn Rainbow” which is launching in Beirut in July 2012. I love glitter and saturated colors, the idea of a free and secular Palestine, writing poetry to combat bitterness, female rights and liberties in the Middle East, reading alone in the afternoon, as well as belly dancing, updating the Poeticians website and hunting for colorful shiny Indian bindis for my forehead in Dubai.

Most of the things I love are very good for me---but others, like cumin cheese, never having an office job, resisting sunlight, and insisting on being a red head, and being obsessed with this film, are still open for debate. For a more detailed or professional list of my experience please refer to the CV on my website.

Thank you.

Peace.

Useful Links

• http://www.hindshoufani.com