Skip to main content
Palestine Islands film image; three girls hanging out on beat-up pickup truck

Palestine Islands

VIFF Short Forum

Living as a refugee at Balata camp in the northern West Bank, Maha choreographs a scenario to fulfill the unrealized goal of Palestinian sovereignty for her ailing blind grandfather.

 

Supported by

    

Community Partner

Directors
Cast

Sama Idreesi, Kamel El Basha

Credits
Country of Origin

France/Jordan

Year

2023

Language

In Arabic with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
23 min
Drama Human Rights & Social Justice Shorts
Topshot Films

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Made in Palestine Project – Rashid Abdelhammid

Producer

Topshot Films Bastien Daret, Arthur Goisset, Robin Robles

Screenwriter

Nour Ben Salem, Julien Menanteau

Cinematography

Éric Devin

Editor

Manon Falise

Production Design

Ayoub Nahhas

Original Music

Jack Bartman

Nour Ben Salem headshot; Palestine Islands director

Nour Ben Salem

After a master’s degree in cinema at the Sorbonne and a TV series course at La Fémis, Nour Ben Salem worked as a scriptwriter for television and cinema. She co-wrote the feature film Hard Shell, Soft Shell (2021) directed by Emma Benestan, as well as several episodes of the series Reign Supreme for Arte/Netflix. Palestine Islands is her first work as a director.

 

Julien Menanteau headshot; Palestine Islands director

Julien Menanteau

After studying cinema in Montreal and at the Sorbonne, Julien Menanteau directed his first short film Rikishi (2017), followed by Samaritan (2018), a creative documentary shot over two years in Palestine. Broadcasted on Arte, the film won a star from the SCAM. Lads, his upcoming debut fiction feature, received support from the CNC.

 

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

There Will Be Blood

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
158 min

Paul Thomas Anderson's lacerating epic about the birth of the oil age: Daniel Day-Lewis is extraordinary as the prospector entirely consumed with his own enterprise, a Trumpian figure of naked self-assertion; Paul Dano the evangelist who may be his nemesis.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Godland

Dir. Hlynur Pálmason
143 min

In the late 19th century, a Danish Lutheran priest is dispatched to a far corner of Iceland where a devout farmer has seen fit to build a church. The physical journey is arduous. His spiritual journey, more taxing still.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Balconettes

Dir. Noémie Merlant
105 min

In this flamboyant black comedy set in Marseille during a heatwave, writer-director-star Noémie Merlant and her two besties have to cover up the unpleasant evidence of a disastrous night partying with the hunk across the way.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Hard Eight

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
101 min

Anderson's debut is a deceptively modest character piece about a veteran gambler (Philip Baker Hall) who takes a much younger man under his wing and teaches him how to play the system and win. Until things take a darker turn...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Monk in Pieces

Dir. Billy Shebar & David C Roberts
95 min

A playful and engaging portrait of the avant-garde singer, composer, choreographer and performance artist Meredith Monk. Philip Glass, David Byrne and Bjork share their observations.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

The Master

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
138 min

Joaquin Phoenix as WWII vet Freddie Quell falls into the orbit of Philip Seymour Hoffman's self-styled prophet Lancaster Dodd in this tremulous 1950s psychodrama from Paul Thomas Anderson.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema