A Conversation with Filmmaker Najwa Najjar - Behind-the-Scenes into making Between Heaven and Earth
Acclaimed filmmaker Najwa Najjar will give the audience glimpses of her behind-the-scenes journey into making the film. How did she enhance the elements of a road trip to portray the Palestinian struggle? What is communal and what is personal, and how does she blur the two in the film?
This conversation took place on December 8, 2020.
Writer/Director Najwa Najjar received her BA in Political Science and Economics and an MA in Cinema (US). She has written and directed over 10 award-winning documentaries and narrative features, including her critically acclaimed debut Pomegranates and Myrrh (2009). Her film Eyes of a Thief (2014) won awards for Best Director and Best Actor, among many others, and was the Palestinian entry in the 2015 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Globe Awards. She recently completed her third feature film, Between Heaven and Earth.
A speaker on numerous panels on cinema and a jury member at several international film festivals, she has taught Masterclasses on directing and screenwriting at Galway Film Festival and at LuxFest. Najjar has written book reviews and published numerous articles on Palestinian cinema. She has also been a reader for the Rawi Sundance Lab for Arab scriptwriters and was an advisor for the Rawi Sundance Scriptwriter’s Lab. She currently lives in Palestine.
Donna K. Khorsheed completed her Bachelor of Arts in Commercial Art and Design in the UK. She has worked as a Program and Artistic Director with non-profit organizations, where she developed a first-class program that embraced the multilayered cultures of a greater Asia. She has also closely engaged with Pan-Asian artists and curated their works, providing them with opportunities for exhibition and public outreach. She has presented events with award winning poets and combined them with music, film and theatre productions. Donna is the Artistic Director of the Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A Conversation with Filmmaker Najwa Najjar - Behind-the-Scenes into making Between Heaven and Earth
Acclaimed filmmaker Najwa Najjar will give the audience glimpses of her behind-the-scenes journey into making the film. How did she enhance the elements of a road trip to portray the Palestinian struggle? What is communal and what is personal, and how does she blur the two in the film?
This conversation took place on December 8, 2020.
Writer/Director Najwa Najjar received her BA in Political Science and Economics and an MA in Cinema (US). She has written and directed over 10 award-winning documentaries and narrative features, including her critically acclaimed debut Pomegranates and Myrrh (2009). Her film Eyes of a Thief (2014) won awards for Best Director and Best Actor, among many others, and was the Palestinian entry in the 2015 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Globe Awards. She recently completed her third feature film, Between Heaven and Earth.
A speaker on numerous panels on cinema and a jury member at several international film festivals, she has taught Masterclasses on directing and screenwriting at Galway Film Festival and at LuxFest. Najjar has written book reviews and published numerous articles on Palestinian cinema. She has also been a reader for the Rawi Sundance Lab for Arab scriptwriters and was an advisor for the Rawi Sundance Scriptwriter’s Lab. She currently lives in Palestine.
Donna K. Khorsheed completed her Bachelor of Arts in Commercial Art and Design in the UK. She has worked as a Program and Artistic Director with non-profit organizations, where she developed a first-class program that embraced the multilayered cultures of a greater Asia. She has also closely engaged with Pan-Asian artists and curated their works, providing them with opportunities for exhibition and public outreach. She has presented events with award winning poets and combined them with music, film and theatre productions. Donna is the Artistic Director of the Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) in the San Francisco Bay Area.