Nun Wa Zaytun (2015)

While listening to the stories of the people Murad meets with his Mobile Cinema, trekking from one venue to another, Nun wa Zaytun transports us to another Palestine. We encounter a simple rural life, far from the cultural and social stereotypes of modern, urban Ramallah or Tel Aviv, only kilometers away. Scattered communities come together for a moment to watch films shot in Palestine over 20 years and in which some of them even acted. This moment of communal harmony and artistic pleasure contrasts rudely with the bitter realities they face in coping with encroaching settlements, the attrition of ancestral land and the daily brutalities of occupation and poverty. From Yanun, where only 5% of the village olive groves are still freely accessible, to Aqabat Jabr camp where refugees wait to return all the while trying to cope, to Bethlehem which gathers in solidarity with Gaza under attack, Murad's films allow people a moment of reverie and hope. In Bayt Marsam, we hear tales of Pharoahs, pyramids, lost jewels and fanatic Israeli and American archaeologists. In the "Hani Amer State", enclosed by Israeli settlements and checkpoints and the wall on all sides, we share a love story of Shakesperean dimensions. From all these unknown and proud Palestinians we learn that their attachment to their land, their homes and families and to their disappearing way of life remains as strong as the Zaytun roots and branches, against all odds and despite all they have endured for generations.