Twin Cities Arab Film Festival 2021

Between Stagnation and Movement

Expired October 4, 2021 4:59 AM
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9 films in package
Bab Sebta / Ceuta’s Gate
Bab Sebta or Ceuta’s Gate consists of a series of reconstructed situations based on observations made on the border of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on Moroccan soil.
Ultimate Ink
A calligrapher receives a strange note from a client about a deceased man who has his same name.
Clebs / Mutts
In a stray-dog refuge in Agadir, Morocco, more than 750 animals find help and protection while awaiting adoption.
The Sailor
An Egyptian living and working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reflects on his new surroundings through a series of images and observations.
Bethlehem 2001
While reflecting on the present, a young Palestinian recalls childhood memories of the military invasion and siege of Bethlehem. By trying to understand how his parents led him though those difficult times.
Now, If You Look At the Sky
Now, if you look at the sky is a video that takes the form of a ritournelle, a refrain, where lines, colours, and sound constitute a territory.
Galb' Echaouf
This film focuses on organic life in the desert to reconstruct people’s amnesia about the situation in Western Sahara.
Closed captions available
Walkout 1
Some time after a mysterious weather event caused a cloud of sand from a faraway desert to settle over an unnamed city, this miasma of dust shows no sign of lifting. Clogging up the eyes and choking the horizon, it has become a fact of everyday life.
Closed captions available
Rhythm of Forgetting
By juxtaposing scenes from present-day Lebanon with fragmented testimonies and dream-like sequences, the film journeys into the collective memories of a traumatic past that still haunts the present.
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We often get stuck in a rhythm, a pattern of movement that keep us in one place, tending to one situation, sometimes far longer than we intend. Whether (im)mobilized by convention or war or occupation, creatures desire movement and change: a push beyond the status quo, a changing of the guard, a revolutionary burst of energy to incite something different and new. In this series of short films, each film uses sound an image to explore the place between life and death, memory and forgetting, war and peace, and stagnation and movement.


While reflecting on the present, a young Palestinian recalls childhood memories of the military invasion and siege of Bethlehem. He tries to understand how his parents led him through those difficult times.

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Festivals and Awards

Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland, 2020

Palestinian Film Festival, Romania, 2020

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About the filmmaker

Ibrahim Handal is a Palestinian filmmaker and cinematographer from Bethlehem. In 2019, he obtained his BFA in Cinematography at Dar Al-Kalima University. Handal has directed several narrative and experimental short films and he also worked as Director of Photography on various short films including the Cannes Cinefondation 2019 winner Ambience by Wissam Al Jafari. He also worked on several feature film productions in Palestine in the camera and lighting departments. Handal is in development for his first feature film.


  • Year
    2020
  • Runtime
    14 minutes
  • Language
    Arabic, English Subtitles
  • Country
    Palestine
  • Director
    Ibrahim Handal
  • Screenwriter
    Ibrahim Handal
  • Producer
    Ibrahim Handal
  • Cast
    Hind Abushkaidem, Yousef Abushakaidem
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