8th Annual Houston Palestine Film Festival: Omar (at Rice Cinema)

The Oscar-nominated film Omar will headline the 8th Annual Houston Palestine Film Festival, which takes place over three weekends in May. Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad’s drama, nominated for best foreign-language feature, kicks off the South’s only celebration of Palestinian cinema May 9 at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

“We are also excited to announce that we will be expanding our festival’s program by adding a third Saturday in the line up this year. Adding to the excitement is Houston’s biennial FotoFest, which this year will highlight contemporary Arab visual arts and mixed media. This citywide event will feature the works of 48 Arab artists, including six from Palestine. To follow such a great event with our annual film lineup is a wonderful opportunity.”

This year’s HPFF lineup includes feature-length films and a number of short documentaries about Palestinian life in the Middle East and abroad. The films will screen at MFAH and the Rice Cinema at Rice University on alternate weekends. The screenings at Rice will be followed by a reception featuring Palestinian crafts, food and music.

Saturday, May 24
Omar

Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad’s drama OMAR (2013), nominated for best foreign-language feature, kicks off the South’s only celebration of Palestinian cinema May 9 at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and will be re-screened on May 24, 2014 in Rice Cinema.

Omar is the gripping story a young Palestinian baker who is forced to make tough decisions about love, friendship and politics against the backdrop of occupation and the struggles of daily life in the West Bank.

Omar (Adam Bakri) is a Palestinian baker who routinely climbs over the separation wall to meet up with his girl Nadja (Leem Lubany). By night, he’s ready to risk his life to strike at the Israeli military with his childhood friends Tarek (Eyad Hourani) and Amjad (Samer Bisharat). Arrested after the killing of an Israeli soldier and tricked into an admission of guilt by association, he agrees to work as an informant.

So begins a dangerous game—is he playing his Israeli handler (Waleed F. Zuaiter) or will he really betray his cause? And who can he trust on either side?

Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now) has made a dynamic, action-packed drama about the insoluable moral dilemmas and tough choices facing those on the frontlines of a conflict that shows no sign of letting up.

The Houston Palestine Film Festival is made possible in part by a grant from the Houston Arts Alliance. For more information, visit www.hpff.org.