Sharqiya

Sharqiya

Cast: Ednan Abu Wadi, Misa Abd el-Hadi, Ednan Abu Muhrab
Director: Ami Livne
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 85 minutes

Synopsis: Neither family nor work colleagues appreciate Kamel Nadjer (Ednan Abu Wadi) - the young Bedouin security guard at the Be'er Sheba central bus station. So when the desert shack that he shares with his relatives faces demolition, Kamel decides to take action, by first staging a bombing in the bus station, then preventing it. Reinvented as a hero, he will save his village and win the admiration he so desires.

Release Date: Screening at the Jewish International Film Festival
Sydney: 1 - 18 November - Event Cinemas, Bondi Junction
Melbourne: 7 - 25 November - Classic Cinemas, Elsternwick
Visit the official Festival website at: www.jiff.com.au

Sharqiya Director's Notes

Directed by Ami Livne
Winner: Best Feature Jerusalem Film Festival 2012

The story is inspired by a true event. In 2005, a Bedouin security guard was seriously injured after preventing a bombing at Be'er Sheba's central bus station. Suddenly, he was everybody's darling, a hero.

I was always fascinated by the Bedouin culture and this film was an opportunity for me to dive into the Bedouin's world in order to learn about their traditions and lifestyle so that I could bring their story to a greater audience.

I approached Sharqiya with much curiosity and modesty, just as If I was making a documentary film. To obtain the realistic world depicted within the film, the cast was comprised of "non-actor" Bedouins who lived the area where we shot. Intimacy and trust were also key elements in the process of bringing their performances to the big screen. And in order to shoot the film in authentic locations, the crew had to maintain a low profile and film very discreetly, so as not to attract the attention of crowds.

Kamel, the security guard, simple, modest, good-natured, is torn between two worlds: the Israeli society which treats him with suspicion, and his own family, who alienate him because he prefers to work for the Israelis over his own tradition.

Through Kamel, we receive a new insight about an obscure silent minority in Israel and the complicated situation of the unrecognised Bedouin villages that are scattered in the desert of southern Israel. But more than anything, Sharqiya is about a man who wishes to be accepted by the society in which he lives.