The Awards
2023 TANTURA
2022 THE WASTELAND
2021 THERE IS NO EVIL
2020 MADE IN BANGLADESH
2019 BLINDSPOTTING
2018 A MAN OF INTEGRITY
2017 HUNTING FLIES
2016 DEMOCRATS
2015 DRONE
2014 OMAR
2013 WADJDA
2012 PLAY
2011 HANDS UP
2010 THE OTHER BANK
2009 WALTZ WITH BASHIR
2008 LITTLE MOTH
2006 SHOOTING DOGS
2005 BEAUTIFUL CITY
2004 IN THIS WORLD
2023
Ida Johannessen - Bachelor student, Department of Philosophy, UiT
Elisabeth Sandersen - Head of Administration, Centre for Peace Studies, UiT
Laurens Perol - Independent film producer based in Tromsø
Country: Israel
Year: 2022
Directed by Alon Schwarz
The Norwegian Peace Film Award (NoPFA) is given to a film spotlighting direct, structural or cultural violence, and which in a creative way contributes to a deeper understanding of conflicts and violence.
The award is presented by TIFF in collaboration with the Centre for Peace Studies at the University of Tromsø and the Student Network for Peace.
2022
Rasha Larsen, Oslo, creative producer and owner of Oslo based production company Yellow Log.
Anuradha Gayanath Abeykoon, MPCT-student, Centre for Peace Studies, UiT
Hermann Greuel, Tromsø, NoPFA board-member
Original title: Dashte Khamoush
Director: Ahmad Bahrami
Country: Iran
Year: 2020
Run time: 1h 43m
Screenplay: Ahmad Bahrami
Photo: Masud Amini Tirani
Cast: Touraj Alvand, Ali Bagheri, Majid Farhang, Mahdie Nassaj, Farrokh Nemati
Dialogue: Persian, Turkish, Kurdish
Producer: Saeed Bashiri
This year the Norwegian peace film award goes to a complete work of cinematic art with a universal perspective on day labourers in conflict with capital and power.
Through its formal and visual narrative structure, the film focuses on the essentials, the powerlessness and abandonment of workers in a changing economic situation. Through repetition, the narrative mercilessly penetrates to the core of the problem and thereby becomes a humanistic message.
2021
Kristine Ann Skaret, Film Producer, Straydog Productions
Marcela Douglas, Director, Centre for Peace Studies, UiT-the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø
Marija Stancic, Student, Master Program in Peace and conflict Transformation, Centre for Peace Studies, UiT
Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
Written by Mohammad Rasoulof
Produced by Mohammad Rasoulof, Kaveh Farnam, Farzad PakStarring
Cinematography: Ashkan Ashkani
Edited by Mohammadreza Muini
Country: Iran
2020
Christine Cynn, Film director/producer (The Act of Killing), Production company: Ice-9 in Tromsø
Holger Pötzsch, Associate professor in Media and Documentation Studies, Dept. of Language and Culture, UiT.
Heidi Alexandra Darvell, student, Master Program in Peace and conflict Transformation, Centre for Peace Studies, UiT
France/Bangladesh/Danmark/Portugal 2019
Producer: François d'Artemare, Ashique Mostafa
Director: Rubaiyat Hossain
Screenplay: Rubaiyat Hossain, Philippe Barrière
Photography: Sabine Lancelin
Actors: Rikita Nandini Shimu, Novera Rahman, Parvin Paru, Deepanwita Martin
Handed out for the first time in 2004, The Peace Film Award honors films and directors that take up issues of direct, structural, and cultural violence in an artistic manner. In addition, these films should not restrict themselves to highlighting such issues, but also show creative and non-violent ways to overcome avert conditions.
This year’s jury consisted of documentary film maker Christine Cynn, Master student at the Centre for Peace Studies Heidi Darvell, and associate professor in Media- and Documentation Studies Holger Pötzsch.
10 films were nominated, and with very few exceptions, each one of them would have made a worthy winner. In the end, for us, two films stood out among their high-quality competitors. Zacharias Kunuk’s One Day in the Life of Noah Piugatukk and Rubaiyat Hossain’s Made in Bangladesh. Both films take up extremely important issues.
Set in the Canadian Arctic in 1961, the first film tells about a fateful meeting between indigenous Inuit and a White Canadian official. Subtly setting an Inuit world view and life style as an implied norm and opposing it to a Western mindset that appears severely limited in comparison, Kunuk’s film elegantly and forcefully challenges us to question received understandings and taken for granted knowledge. Functioning also as an allegory, it issues a timely warning that resonates across a variety of issues ranging from humanitarian interventionism, via practices of global exploitation to a continued reliance upon colonial archives to describe and determine ‘the other’.
The second film, Rubaiyat Hossain’s Made in Bangladesh, offers a dissection of various forms and relations of oppression in a globalized economic system. Set in contemporary Bangladesh, we follow a young factory worker on her way to founding a trade union to protect her and her co-workers from aggressive and abusive males, avert working conditions, globalized exploitation, and deeply patriarchic structures and practices. Applying an intersectional lens, the film not only offers a detailed picture of work-life in contemporary Bangladesh, but also lays bare racial, gendered, and class-based forms of oppression as well as their interaction and mutual reinforcement.
Both films would have made very worthy winners. In the end, we had to choose and we chose Rubaiyat Hossain’s Made in Bangladesh. This film, one of the three out of ten nominees made by a female director, not only offered a detailed description of various forms of violence at play in the contemporary world, but also carried the deeply inspiring message that collective action matters and makes a difference. This way, Made in Bangladesh shows a clear way forward and, also through its didactic nature, has the potential to inspire further political mobilisation.
Congratulations to Rubaiyat Hossain. The 2020 winner of the Norwegian Peace Film Award is Made in Bangladesh.
2019
Torunn Nyen
Head of Programming Committee «Movies on War», Elverum
Erik Lundestad
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, UiT/NoPFA
Benjamin Schaller
PhD student, Centre for Peace Studies, UiT
USA 2018
Director: Carlos López Estrad
Screenplay: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs
Photography: Robby Baumgartner
Actors: Daveed Diggs, Rafael Casal, Janina Gavankar, Jasmine Cephas Jones
Producer: Keith Calder, Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs
Director info:
Carlos López Estrada (b. 1988) is a filmmaker from Mexico City. He studied film at the Chapman University in California, and has directed numerous short films, as well as music videos for Goo Goo Dolls, Thundercat and Flying Lotus, among others.
Collin is trying to quietly get through the remainder of his parole – there are only three days left, but this feels like an eternity as trouble seems to follow him. He is anxious and in shock after witnessing a police officer shoot another black man to death, and he begins to consider whether he is safe around his best friend, the loud and unpredictable Miles.
Written by its charismatic stars, Daveed Diggs (Collin) and Rafael Casal (Miles), BLINDSPOTTING is a love letter to their hometown of Oakland, California, as well as impassioned commentary on the problems facing its inhabitants, that are in no way unique to Oakland. BLINDSPOTTING earnestly confronts weighty issues such as racism, police brutality and gentrification while constantly brimming with color and energy, making it feel like a spiritual sequel to Spike Lee’s classic DO THE RIGHT THING set on the west coast.
2018
Mohamed Jabaly - Film Director, Palestine/Norway
Stephanie Hemelryk Donald - Australian Research Council Future Fellow, University of New South Wales, Australia
Pak Man Yu - Student Master’s Programme in Peace and Conflict Transformation, Centre for Peace Studies, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway
Iran 2017
Director: Mohammad Rasoulof
Screenplay: Mohammad Rasoulof
Photography: Ashkan Ashkani
Actors: Reza Akhlaghirad, Soudabeh Beizaee, Nasim Adabi, Misagh Zare, Zeinab Shabani, Zhila Shahi
Producer: Mohammad Rasoulof
Reza moves to the countryside in northern Iran with his wife and their 12-year-old son, hoping to live a freer and more independent life. But corruption is everywhere. The “company” runs just about every aspect of local life, and Reza is increasingly getting into trouble for not following the rules. Reza, as a man of integrity, does everything he can to protect his family and his rights, but at which cost?
A MAN OF INTEGRITY fits well into the modern realist film tradition in Iran, but while some of his colleagues are more indirect in their criticism of the Iranian society, Rasoulof presents a down right explicit system critique. Hence, none of Rasoulof’s films have been screened in Iran and the director has a pending jail sentence for filming without a licence. Last year the authorities confiscated his passport, just before he was due to appear at the Films from the South festival in Oslo. A MAN OF INTEGRITY won the “Un Certain Regard” Award at Cannes 2017.
2017
Hisham Zaman
Anna Podercar
Stuart Robinson
Fiction | Norway/Macedonia | 2016 | 106 min
Director: Izer Aliu
Screenplay: Izer Aliu
Photography: Nils Eilif Bremdal
Actors: Burhan Amiti
Producer: Khalid Maimouni
At first glance HUNTING FLIES is a film about childhood, but it is also deeply political. The story takes place in Macedonia, where politics and ethnicity still creates great divide in the population. On their first day in junior high school three friends meet their new classmates. The teacher Ghani quickly discovers that old conflicts divide the class. Ghani, who will lose his job as the new government replaces the old teachers with their own administration, tries to convince the director to keep him on. He declares his intention to make peace in his class, and starts a work of mediation. He is determined not to end it before the groups have reconciled.
Filmmaker Izer Aliu balances gravity and satire in his debut movie. HUNTING FLIES is a film about boys who reproduces their fathers feuds, and about a country where choosing the wrong side in politics can have serious consequences.
Izer Aliu was born in Macedonia and graduated from the Norwegian Film School. His short film TO GUARD A MOUNTAIN won an Amanda-price in 2012 and DET GODE LIVET won best short at the Grimstad Short Film Festival in 2014. HUNTING FLIES is his first feature film.
2016
Jonathan Borge Lie - Producer of DRONE (NoPFA Winner 2015)
Holger Pötzsch - Associate Professor, Media- and Documentation Studies, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway
Barbara Stein - Student, Master’s Programme in Peace and Conflict Transformation, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway
Denmark | 2015 | 100 min
Director: Camilla Nielsson
Screenplay: Camilla Nielsson
Photography: Henrik Bohn Ipsen
Producer: Henrik Veileborg
Over the course of more than three years, director Camilla Nielsson has been up-close in the inner circles of politics in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. Following the process of creating Zimbabwe's new constitution, DEMOCRATS tells the story of the political elite in Zimbabwe fighting the battle over the founding principles defining the country's possible future.
The film’s protagonists are the politicians Paul Mangwana and Douglas Mwonzora, who are negotiators on behalf of the government party ZANU-PF and the opposition. They must balance between catering to the interests of their respective factions, and trying to achieve actual cooperation. This is not easy in a culture marred by democratic deficiency and lack of respect for basic human rights. DEMOCRATS gives unique insight into an African country on the threshold of an uncertain future.
Camilla Nielsson (b. 1977) is a Danish documentary filmmaker. She studied visual anthropology at the New York University and film at the Tisch School of the Arts. She has also worked for UNICEF and UNESCO. DEMOCRATS was awarded Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015.
2015
Espen Nomedal - Filmmaker, Tromsø, Norway
Mona Pedersen - Associate professor, film and media, Hedmark University College
Sara Karoline Steinmoen - Master Student, Centre for Peace Studies, UiT
Norway | 2014 | 78 min
Director: Tonje Hessen Schei
Photography: Anna Myking
Producer: Lars Løge
When the CIA introduced drones to the war on terror, a big selling point was the accuracy with which terrorists could now be killed without risking the lives of civilians and American soldiers on the ground. Reality has however proven to be very different. Drones have caused significant human losses. As several other countries make use of the technology the definition of «a legitimate target» –and who bears responsibility for the bombings – has become increasingly unclear.
The documentary DRONE goes behind the scenes of the drone wars, asking important questions about how the aggressive use of drones affects modern warfare. We also meet people living under the threat of drone attacks in Pakistan, as well as young American boys recruited to kill – using joysticks not unlike the ones they grew up using for video gaming.
Tonje Hessen Schei (f. 1971) is a Norwegian filmmaker. She studied film at the universities of Trondheim and Austin, Texas and has worked for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). Her previous documentaries focus on issues such as human rights and social justice and screened at international festivals.
2014
Roswitha Skare - Professor, Department of Culture and Literature, University of Tromsø, Norway
Abdalsalam Shehada - Documentary filmmaker, Gaza, Palestine
Anne Marit Bachmann - Student, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway
Palestine | 2013 | 97 min
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Screenplay: Hany Abu-Assad
Photography: Ehab Assal
Actors: Adam Bakri, Waleed Zuaiter, Samer Bishara, Leem Lubany, Ehab Hoorani
Producer: David Gerson, Waleed F. Zuaiter
OMAR is a psychological thriller situated on the occupied West Bank. A concrete wall divides the hometown of Omar and his two best friends Tarek and Amjad. Regularly they risk their lives climbing the separation wall to simply hang out. Omar also has a secret love on the other side, high schooler Nadia, Tarek’s sister. Repeatedly humiliated by the Israeli soldiers and surrounded by violence, the young men are desperate to gain a sense of control. A soldier is shot, and Israel’s revenge is swift; Omar is confined and tortured. Israeli agent Rami cuts a deal with him: find Tarek and avoid imprisonment for the rest of your life.
OMAR shares themes and narrative elements with director Abu-Assad's acclaimed PARADISE NOW. With excellently portrayed characters, played mainly by amateurs, it explores the fate of people under intense pressure.
Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961) is from Nazareth, but immigrated to The Netherlands in 1980, where he studied technical engineering. He has worked extensively as a director, writer, and producer. In 2006 his film PARADISE NOW won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it received an Academy Award-nomination in the same category.
2013
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2013
Rikke Schubart - Associate Professor, Univ. of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Zoia V. Ravna - Film Producer, Tromsø, Norway
Christian Beyer - Student MPCT, Tromsø, Norway
Germany/Saudia Arabia | 2012 | 97 min
Director: Haifaa Al Mansour
Screenplay: Haifaa Al Mansour
Photography: Lutz Reitemeier
Actors: Waad Mohammed, Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani
Producer: Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul
WADJDA is a ground breaking film: the first fiction feature ever shot in Saudi Arabia, with a female director and a young girl in the leading role. Ten-year-old Wadjda lives in the suburbs of Riyadh with her protective mother and hardly present father. All she wants is a new bike to be able to race against the boy next door, Abdullah. But in Saudi Arabia, bikes are seen as dangerous to a girl’s virtue, so the dream is hard to realize. Then one day, Wadjda's school offers a cash prize to the winner of a Qu'ran recitation competition. Wadjda decides to join, to win the prize and fulfill her dream.
During the making of WADJDA, director Haifaa Al Mansour sometimes had to hide in a production van, directing her male crew members via walkie-talkie for fear of sparking protests. She has succeeded in making a captivating coming-of-age-story with impressive acting performances.
Haifaa Al Mansour (b. 1973) has studied literature at the American University in Cairo, and film at the University of Sydney. She has directed several shorts and one documentary before WADJDA, which is her first fiction feature film.
2012
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2012
Sara Linnea Häll - MA-student at the CPS, board member of SNF, University of Tromsø
Asbjørn Grønstad - Professor of visual culture, director of Nomadikon Project, University of Bergen
Rossella Ragazzi - Documentary filmmaker assistant professor in visual anthropology and museology, University of Tromsø
Sweden | 2011 | 118 min
Director: Ruben Östlund
Screenplay: Ruben Östlund, Erik Hemmendorff
Photography: Marius Dybwad Brandrud
Actors: Anas Abdirahman, Sebastian Blyckert, Yannick Diakité, Sebastian Hegmar, Abdiaziz Hilowle, Nana Manu, John Ortiz, Kevin Vaz
Play is based on a series of robberies carried out in Gothenburg between 2006 and 2008 by young immigrant boys. The robbers applied a psychological game where they appeared threatening and manipulated their victims to follow them around town, before taking their cell phones and valuables. In Play, five boys of North-African origin target three Swedish boys with such a game. We follow all eight closely through humiliation, agony and absurd episodes.
In Play, as in his previous films, Ruben Östlund explores group dynamics. The many long takes create a distinctive and often cruel atmosphere. Through the main story about the boys, and two side stories, Play deals with the relationship between «us» and«them». At the same time, it raises the question of how preju-dice arises, and of how we can relate to it without ending up as racists or naïfs.
After graduating from the School of Film Directing in Gothenburg, Ruben Östlund (b. 1974) has received much acclaim for his «new realism» style of filmmaking, inspired by YouTube as well as by the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl. His INCIDENT BY A BANK won the Golden Bear for best short at Berlin International Film Festival in 2010
2011
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2011
Linda Hattendorf - Filmmaker and former winner of the Norwegian Peace Film Award (the cats of mirikitani), New York
Anne Natvig - Student Network for Peace, Tromsø
Mads Gilbert - Doctor and peace activist, Tromsø
France | 2010 | 90 min
Director: Romain Goupil
Screenplay: Romain Goupil
Cinematography: Irina Lubtchansky
Cast: Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Linda Doudaeva, Jules Ritmanic
March 2067. Chechen immigrant Milana recollects her childhood in Paris, the Paris of today. These fictive memories offer a scathing critique of current asylum politics. The story focuses on how children deal with the subject of illegal immigration when confronted directly with the consequences. Milana and her friends form their own universe where they give each other the care and safety the adults around them fail to provide. Together they engage in various mischief, but always with the childish charm and naiveté that is unfortunately lacking in the adults’ actions and solutions.
The futuristic aspect of the film portrays our present as archaic and poorly equipped to deal with the challenges of a modern, international society. Hands Up also explores the way in which the parallel universes of children and adults play out, both when they are separated and when they finally clash
Romain Goupil (b.1951, Paris) started his film education at Lycée Condorcet, but was expelled because of his political activities. Goupils first feature film, half a life, was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Film. He has also worked as an assistant for Roman Polanski and Jean-Luc Godard.
2010
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2010
Erik Smith Meyer - Filmmaker, Tromsø
Jochen Peters - Norwegian Refugee Council, Oslo
Lodve Svare - Center for Peace Studies, University of Tromsø
Suvimarja Vuontela - Student Network for Peace, Tromsø
Hege Widnes - Cinemateque manager, Verdensteatret Cinemateque, Tromsø
Georgia/Kazakstan | 2009 | 90 min
director: George Ovashvili
screenplay: Nugzar Shataidze
cinematography: Amir Assadi
cast: Tedo Bekhauri, Galoba Gambaria, Nika Alajajev
Tedo and his young mother Keto are refugees from Abkhazia, and are now living in an abandoned hut in a suburb of Tbilisi. Tedo is an apprentice at a car repair shop, Keto works as a sales clerk. Even though several years has passed since they left Abkhazia, Tedo is still unable to adapt to their new environment, and blames himself for not contributing enough financially. When he discovers that his mother has a lover, Tedo decides that enough is enough, and decides to return home. On his journey he has several life-changing experiences, but whether the grass is greener on the other side of the fence remains to be seen.
THE OTHER BANK is a film about families shattered by war, and about the deeper meanings of the word home.
George Ovashvili is a graduate of the Georgian State Institute of Cinema and Theatere and the New York Film Academy at Universal Studios. Before debuting as a feature director with THE OTHER BANK he cut his teeth making short films.
2009
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2013
Roswitha Skare - Professor, Department of Culture and Literature, University of Tromsø, Norway
Abdalsalam Shehada - Documentary filmmaker, Gaza, Palestine
Anne Marit Bachmann - Student, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway
Palestine | 2013 | 97 min
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Screenplay: Hany Abu-Assad
Photography: Ehab Assal
Actors: Adam Bakri, Waleed Zuaiter, Samer Bishara, Leem Lubany, Ehab Hoorani
Producer: David Gerson, Waleed F. Zuaiter
OMAR is a psychological thriller situated on the occupied West Bank. A concrete wall divides the hometown of Omar and his two best friends Tarek and Amjad. Regularly they risk their lives climbing the separation wall to simply hang out. Omar also has a secret love on the other side, high schooler Nadia, Tarek’s sister. Repeatedly humiliated by the Israeli soldiers and surrounded by violence, the young men are desperate to gain a sense of control. A soldier is shot, and Israel’s revenge is swift; Omar is confined and tortured. Israeli agent Rami cuts a deal with him: find Tarek and avoid imprisonment for the rest of your life.
OMAR shares themes and narrative elements with director Abu-Assad's acclaimed PARADISE NOW. With excellently portrayed characters, played mainly by amateurs, it explores the fate of people under intense pressure.
Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961) is from Nazareth, but immigrated to The Netherlands in 1980, where he studied technical engineering. He has worked extensively as a director, writer, and producer. In 2006 his film PARADISE NOW won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it received an Academy Award-nomination in the same category.
2008
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2013
Roswitha Skare - Professor, Department of Culture and Literature, University of Tromsø, Norway
Abdalsalam Shehada - Documentary filmmaker, Gaza, Palestine
Anne Marit Bachmann - Student, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway
Palestine | 2013 | 97 min
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Screenplay: Hany Abu-Assad
Photography: Ehab Assal
Actors: Adam Bakri, Waleed Zuaiter, Samer Bishara, Leem Lubany, Ehab Hoorani
Producer: David Gerson, Waleed F. Zuaiter
OMAR is a psychological thriller situated on the occupied West Bank. A concrete wall divides the hometown of Omar and his two best friends Tarek and Amjad. Regularly they risk their lives climbing the separation wall to simply hang out. Omar also has a secret love on the other side, high schooler Nadia, Tarek’s sister. Repeatedly humiliated by the Israeli soldiers and surrounded by violence, the young men are desperate to gain a sense of control. A soldier is shot, and Israel’s revenge is swift; Omar is confined and tortured. Israeli agent Rami cuts a deal with him: find Tarek and avoid imprisonment for the rest of your life.
OMAR shares themes and narrative elements with director Abu-Assad's acclaimed PARADISE NOW. With excellently portrayed characters, played mainly by amateurs, it explores the fate of people under intense pressure.
Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961) is from Nazareth, but immigrated to The Netherlands in 1980, where he studied technical engineering. He has worked extensively as a director, writer, and producer. In 2006 his film PARADISE NOW won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it received an Academy Award-nomination in the same category.
2007
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2013
Roswitha Skare - Professor, Department of Culture and Literature, University of Tromsø, Norway
Abdalsalam Shehada - Documentary filmmaker, Gaza, Palestine
Anne Marit Bachmann - Student, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway
Palestine | 2013 | 97 min
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Screenplay: Hany Abu-Assad
Photography: Ehab Assal
Actors: Adam Bakri, Waleed Zuaiter, Samer Bishara, Leem Lubany, Ehab Hoorani
Producer: David Gerson, Waleed F. Zuaiter
OMAR is a psychological thriller situated on the occupied West Bank. A concrete wall divides the hometown of Omar and his two best friends Tarek and Amjad. Regularly they risk their lives climbing the separation wall to simply hang out. Omar also has a secret love on the other side, high schooler Nadia, Tarek’s sister. Repeatedly humiliated by the Israeli soldiers and surrounded by violence, the young men are desperate to gain a sense of control. A soldier is shot, and Israel’s revenge is swift; Omar is confined and tortured. Israeli agent Rami cuts a deal with him: find Tarek and avoid imprisonment for the rest of your life.
OMAR shares themes and narrative elements with director Abu-Assad's acclaimed PARADISE NOW. With excellently portrayed characters, played mainly by amateurs, it explores the fate of people under intense pressure.
Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961) is from Nazareth, but immigrated to The Netherlands in 1980, where he studied technical engineering. He has worked extensively as a director, writer, and producer. In 2006 his film PARADISE NOW won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it received an Academy Award-nomination in the same category.
2006
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2013
Roswitha Skare - Professor, Department of Culture and Literature, University of Tromsø, Norway
Abdalsalam Shehada - Documentary filmmaker, Gaza, Palestine
Anne Marit Bachmann - Student, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway
Palestine | 2013 | 97 min
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Screenplay: Hany Abu-Assad
Photography: Ehab Assal
Actors: Adam Bakri, Waleed Zuaiter, Samer Bishara, Leem Lubany, Ehab Hoorani
Producer: David Gerson, Waleed F. Zuaiter
OMAR is a psychological thriller situated on the occupied West Bank. A concrete wall divides the hometown of Omar and his two best friends Tarek and Amjad. Regularly they risk their lives climbing the separation wall to simply hang out. Omar also has a secret love on the other side, high schooler Nadia, Tarek’s sister. Repeatedly humiliated by the Israeli soldiers and surrounded by violence, the young men are desperate to gain a sense of control. A soldier is shot, and Israel’s revenge is swift; Omar is confined and tortured. Israeli agent Rami cuts a deal with him: find Tarek and avoid imprisonment for the rest of your life.
OMAR shares themes and narrative elements with director Abu-Assad's acclaimed PARADISE NOW. With excellently portrayed characters, played mainly by amateurs, it explores the fate of people under intense pressure.
Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961) is from Nazareth, but immigrated to The Netherlands in 1980, where he studied technical engineering. He has worked extensively as a director, writer, and producer. In 2006 his film PARADISE NOW won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it received an Academy Award-nomination in the same category.
2005
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2013
Roswitha Skare - Professor, Department of Culture and Literature, University of Tromsø, Norway
Abdalsalam Shehada - Documentary filmmaker, Gaza, Palestine
Anne Marit Bachmann - Student, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway
Palestine | 2013 | 97 min
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Screenplay: Hany Abu-Assad
Photography: Ehab Assal
Actors: Adam Bakri, Waleed Zuaiter, Samer Bishara, Leem Lubany, Ehab Hoorani
Producer: David Gerson, Waleed F. Zuaiter
OMAR is a psychological thriller situated on the occupied West Bank. A concrete wall divides the hometown of Omar and his two best friends Tarek and Amjad. Regularly they risk their lives climbing the separation wall to simply hang out. Omar also has a secret love on the other side, high schooler Nadia, Tarek’s sister. Repeatedly humiliated by the Israeli soldiers and surrounded by violence, the young men are desperate to gain a sense of control. A soldier is shot, and Israel’s revenge is swift; Omar is confined and tortured. Israeli agent Rami cuts a deal with him: find Tarek and avoid imprisonment for the rest of your life.
OMAR shares themes and narrative elements with director Abu-Assad's acclaimed PARADISE NOW. With excellently portrayed characters, played mainly by amateurs, it explores the fate of people under intense pressure.
Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961) is from Nazareth, but immigrated to The Netherlands in 1980, where he studied technical engineering. He has worked extensively as a director, writer, and producer. In 2006 his film PARADISE NOW won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it received an Academy Award-nomination in the same category.
2004
THE NORWEGIAN PEACE FILM AWARD JURY TIFF 2013
Roswitha Skare - Professor, Department of Culture and Literature, University of Tromsø, Norway
Abdalsalam Shehada - Documentary filmmaker, Gaza, Palestine
Anne Marit Bachmann - Student, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Tromsø, Norway
Palestine | 2013 | 97 min
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Screenplay: Hany Abu-Assad
Photography: Ehab Assal
Actors: Adam Bakri, Waleed Zuaiter, Samer Bishara, Leem Lubany, Ehab Hoorani
Producer: David Gerson, Waleed F. Zuaiter
OMAR is a psychological thriller situated on the occupied West Bank. A concrete wall divides the hometown of Omar and his two best friends Tarek and Amjad. Regularly they risk their lives climbing the separation wall to simply hang out. Omar also has a secret love on the other side, high schooler Nadia, Tarek’s sister. Repeatedly humiliated by the Israeli soldiers and surrounded by violence, the young men are desperate to gain a sense of control. A soldier is shot, and Israel’s revenge is swift; Omar is confined and tortured. Israeli agent Rami cuts a deal with him: find Tarek and avoid imprisonment for the rest of your life.
OMAR shares themes and narrative elements with director Abu-Assad's acclaimed PARADISE NOW. With excellently portrayed characters, played mainly by amateurs, it explores the fate of people under intense pressure.
Hany Abu-Assad (b. 1961) is from Nazareth, but immigrated to The Netherlands in 1980, where he studied technical engineering. He has worked extensively as a director, writer, and producer. In 2006 his film PARADISE NOW won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it received an Academy Award-nomination in the same category.
