Najwa Najjar

Najwa Najjar (Arabic: نجوى نجار‎) is a film writer/director. Recently elected to the Academy of Arts and Sciences (Writers Division) 2020. Born to a Jordanian father and Palestinian mother, she began her career making commercials and has worked in both documentary and fiction since 1999. Her debut feature film Pomegranates and Myrrh picked up 10 international awards, sold worldwide and was released theatrically and screened at over 80 international festivals.[1]

Najjar's first fictional film, Pomegranates and Myrrh, features a young Palestinian dancer who defends her family's land after her husband is sent to an Israeli prison.[2][3] According to Najjar, when the film was first screened in Ramallah there was public outcry by the Hamas Government in Gaza [4] over the film's portrayal of "what was deemed its 'unpatriotic' portrayal of an untrustworthy wife of a political prisoner."[5] At the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, the film won the Best Arab Film award.[6][7]

Her second film Eyes of a Thief also is a multi-award-winning thriller based on a true story, and shot entirely in Palestinian Territories.[8] with Egyptian multi-award-winning star actor and producer Khaled Abol Naga as the lead and the Algerian sensational singer Souad Massi debut as an actress, Eyes of a Thief was the official Palestinian submission to the 2014 87th Academy Awards (The Oscars).Eyes of A Thief, a Palestinian/Algerian/French/Icelandic co-production which received the support of Sundance Scriptwriting Lab, Sundance Duke Award, Dubai Film Connection, Jordan Film Fund and was a participant in the Rome International film Festival New Cinema Network.[9]

Her third feature film, a road trip: Between Heaven and Earth completed in November 2019 played at the Cairo International Film Festival international competition, and won the Naguib Mahfouz Best Screenplay award. The film lined up to play at several international prestigious film festivals was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Najjar's work includes several award-winning films also shown worldwide; Yasmine Tughani (2006), Naim and Wadee’a (1999), Quintessence of Oblivion (2000),[10] Blue Gold (2004), A Boy Called Mohamad (2002), and They Came from the East which opened the 2004 European Academy Awards.[11] Najjar produced a collection of short films by international filmmakers Gaza Winter (2009).

The 1999 documentary film Naim and Wadee’a was based on Najjar's family and includes the oral histories of Na’im Azar and Wadee’a Aghabi, a couple who were forced to leave their Jaffa home in 1948. The film won the Award for Films of Conflict and Resolution at the 2000 Hamptons International Film Festival.[12]

A speaker on numerous panels on cinema and a member of International Film Festival Juries, Najjar has also reviewed books, and her articles on Palestinian cinema have been published. She was an advisor and reader for the Rawi Sundance Lab for Arab scriptwriters, and organized seminars for Palestinian filmmakers, and recently gave a Directors Masterclass in Galway International Film Festival. Najjar lives in the Palestinian Territories.[8]

Early life

Her fragmented past was pieced together with stories, accompanied by the pictures that her maternal grandparents hurriedly tucked away when they were forced to leave Palestine in 1948. It was those pictures seen and stories told years later by her parents that made up her first taste of a country. A camera given to her by her father, a Jordanian who was living in Jerusalem, journalist at one point in his life, and also forced to leave in 1948 ... and the music her mother loved, which filled the house which became her tools for expression.

At university in the US, she was confronted with horrific stereotypes of herself and Palestinians, and a media determined not to see Arabs otherwise. She realised being annoyed wouldn't make a difference. Armed with a MA/Cinema, she went back to the center of the conflict.

Now living in a No Man’s Land between Ramallah and Jerusalem inside the 450-km Israeli Wall surrounded by havoc and destruction, she blinded herself to a situation worsening daily with no hope in sight, and opened her eyes to the possibilities that lie in cinema.

With over 10 award-winning films including Palestinian nomination 2015 Oscars Best Foreign Film/ Golden Globe Awards, she has learnt that films allow people to dream the same dream, feel emotions and fill empty spaces together – and ultimately have hope.

She worked to promote that hope, and advise other Arab filmmakers by first being a Reader and then an Advisor for the Rawi Sundance Screenwriters Lab. And by bringing in Egyptian and Algerian superstars to Palestinian land, and a first on its screen, broke new ground for filmmakers and proved further shared commonalities across borders, passports, flags and show the power of cinema.

This was not the first time she has opened doors as all her films including Pomegranates and Myrrh and Eyes of a Thief have all been completely shot in the Palestinian Territory defying the restrictions by bringing in Palestinians from all over the country, and those in diaspora to work on her set, while making sure the crew is equally divided male/females.

Representing Palestine at all the major international film festivals by one film or another, or on the Jury of these festivals has further highlighted the narratives that need to be told by the people living in the country. While another untested ground was explored in her recent feature Between Heaven and Earth, cinema is just a part of her life and passions. Family especially, and friends, travel, arts & books, sports... adventures to the unknown, getting lost, cooking different foods, meeting new people are all the good things in life for her.

Najjar has a BA in Political Science/Economics and earned her MA in Film in Washington, DC.

Filmography
  • Naim and Wadee’a (1999)
  • Quintessence of Oblivion (2000)
  • A Boy Named Mohamed (2001)
  • Blue Gold (2004)
  • They Came from the East (2004)
  • Yasmine Tughani (2006)
  • Pomegranates and Myrrh (2009)
  • Eyes of a Thief (2014)
  • Between Heaven and Earth (2019)

2019 Between Heaven and Earth (Writer/Director) A love story about divorce. Sometimes the most unexpected roads in life are in the detours you didn’t mean to take. A road movie in Palestine. OFFICIAL COMPETITION Cairo International Film Festival NAGUIB MAHFOUZ AWARD for Best Screenplay Film Independent Fast Track/LA MIA Coproduction Rome IFF Special Jury award Cairo Film Connection

2014 EYES OF A THIEF Writer/Director Inspired by a true story a Palestinian sniper returns to his town after 10 years to find the daughter he left behind. Palestine Nomination for Best Foreign Film Oscars 2015 and Golden Globes 2015 Winner Best Director Kolkotta Int’l Film Festival 2014 Winner Best Actor Cairo Int’l Film Festival 2014 **Certificate of Appreciation Malak Ermileh Malmo IFF 2015 Audience Award Best Feature Film Boston FF 2015 Sundance Scriptwriting Lab 2011 Sundance Duke Grant Recipient Jan 2011 Winner Dubai Film Connection Dec 2011 Winner Jordan Film Fund Dec 2011 Participant Rome International Film Festival New Cinema Network HANI KORT Winner Best Producer with an invite to the Producer’s Network Cannes Film Festival 2013

2009 GAZA WINTER Producer Gaza’s Winter is a collection of 12 short films made by filmmakers from around the world immediately after the bombardment of Gaza which left some 1,417 Palestinians dead, over 10,000 homes destroyed and thousands severely and permanently injured. The collection comprises work by the following directors: Islam al Burbar (Gaza), Tareq Elayyan (Gaza), Dima Hamdan (UK), Fahad Jabali (Iceland), Pilar Tavora (Spain), Salim Abu Jabal (Golan Heights), George Azar (Palestine/Jordan), Ismail Habbash (Ramallah), Mathieu Cauville (France), Khmais Hmaid (Tunis), Raed al Helou (Ramallah), and Omar Hamilton (UK).

2009 POMEGRANATES AND MYRRH Writer/Director Independent fictional film (95 min) on a Palestinian female search for freedom after her husband is imprisoned. (Arabic/ English/Hebrew with subtitles) shot super 16mm. Screened in over 70 int’l festivals Script Winner Screenplay Development Fund Amiens Cinema in Motion San Sebastian Film Festival (4 awards) Winner Best Arab Film Audience Award DohaTribeca FF Winner Amal Arab European Film Festival Spain Grand Prix Winner Best Actress and Best Cinematographer Muscat International Film Festival Youssef Chahine grand prix de cinema at Festival International de Cinéma d'Auteur de Rabat Special Mention for best actress Festival International de Cinéma d'Auteur de Rabat

2006 YASMINE’S SONG Writer/Director 20-minute short fictional tale on two lovers trying to crossing divides ...they thought nothing could stop them (Super 16mm Arabic with subtitles) competition Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival 2006 official selection 56th Berlinale Cannes Short Film Corner Locarno International Film Festival (over 50 international film festivals) winner: Grand Prix FICA/Portugal Herodotus Peace Award Bodrum International Film Festival Special Mention Locarno International Film Festival Best Musical Score SoleLuna film Festival Palermo Italy Journalist Award Short Film Festival Morocco

2004 THEY CAME FROM THE EAST A take on the three Wise Men of the Biblical past in Palestine today. Three minute piece opened the European Film Academy awards in Barcelona 2004

2004 BLUE GOLD 24 minute documentary on the water situation in the country with particular emphasis on the Hebron area. Commission by European Commission (Arabic/English/Hebrew with subtitles)

2002 A BOY CALLED ... MOHAMMED Writer/Director 10 minute documentary on a 12-year-old boy, Mohammed, who works carrying goods for Palestinians across the Qalandia Checkpoint manned by Israeli soldiers. (Arabic with English subtitles) Winner: Films for Peace and Justice

2001 JAWHAR AL SILWAN (QUINTESSENCE OF OBLIVION) Writer/Director/Producer/ Camera 45 minute documentary on Cinema Al Hambra still standing at the end of Salahaldin Street in Arab East Jerusalem. Behind it’s now sealed doors lie the stories of the city’s history. Arabic (English subtitles) Beta SP Winner: ART Desert Rain Film Festival, Italy (6/2001)

2000 NAIM & WADEE’A Writer/Director/Producer 20 minute documentary on the social history of Yaffa, Palestine based on the oral history of the filmmaker’s family, and includes photo archives of the Azar family (a Yaffan family) Arabic (English and French subtitles) Beta SP Winner: Films of Conflict and Resolution at the Hamptons International Film Festival 2000 Movimiento de Documentalistas, Argentina (9/2002)

References
  1. "Palestinian drama 'Pomegranates and Myrrh' opens in UAE at Eid". Al Bawaba. August 29, 2011.
  2. Anderson, John (July 15, 2009). "Review: 'Pomegranates and Myrrh'". Variety.
  3. Chaudhary, Suchitra Bajpai (September 16, 2011). "My world: Film-maker Najwa Najjar". Friday.
  4. Kuttab, Daoud (April 3, 2009). "Palestinians Angry About Portrayal of Prisoners' Wife by Palestinian Filmmaker". Huffington Post.
  5. Ball, Anna (2012). Palestinian Literature and Film in Postcolonial Feminist Perspective. New York: Routledge. pp. 70–71, 182–183. ISBN 978-0-415-88862-2.
  6. Ebiri, Bilge (November 4, 2009). "Doha-Tribeca Fest's Six Best Middle Eastern Films". Vulture.
  7. Jaafar, Ali (December 4, 2009). "Rab Pack: the Arab new wave". Variety.
  8. "Najwa Najjar profile". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  9. "Fabbrica dei Progetti La Selezione del 2011" (PDF). Rome Film Festival. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  10. Najjar, Najwa (18 April 2008). "How cinema helped me to survive in Palestine". The Guardian.
  11. "Najwa Najjar biography". Festival Scope. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  12. Farsoun, Samih K. (2004). Culture and Customs of the Palestinians. Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Greenwood Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-313-32051-4. Najwa Najjar.

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