Eyes of a Thief
+Paired with Short
+Palestine in Focus
Saturday, 11/7 at St. Anthony Main Theatre
7:00 p.m.
Buy tickets >>>
Director: Najwa Najjar
Narrative feature, drama, 98 mins, 2014
Country: Palestine/France
Language: Arabic
Minnesota premiere
Principal cast: Khaled Abol Naga, Souad Massi, Maisa Abd Elhadi, Nisreen Faour, Malak Ermili
“Political film making at its most tellingly personal and accessible.. Thief is a fine film which, like Najwa Najjar’s first feature Pomegranates and Myrrh, wraps the personal and the political into a seamless whole.” –Jonathan Holland Hollywood Report Eyes of a Thief Rio Review
Synopsis: Everyone has secrets, but some are more dangerous than others. Eyes of a Thief begins at the height of the second Palestinian Uprising in 2002, with Tareq (Naga) bearing gunshot wounds. Tended to by local nuns and a priest who help him escape, he’s soon arrested by Israeli soldiers. Released from prison ten years laterm Tareq returns to his hometown to find for his daughter Nur. Along the way he meets Malak (Ermili), an angry girl on the verge of violence; a woman, Lila (Massi), who tries to ensure Tareq stays away from the girl she raised; and Adel (Suheil Haddad), the town’s assumed leader, whose draconian laws keep the townsfolk silent and afraid. Egyptian superstar, Khaled Abol Naga and Algerian Singer Souad Massi come together in Najjar’s engaging story about corruption, family, and resistance.
Najwa Najjar is a Palestinian-Jordanian filmmaker, writer, and director. Her debut feature film Pomegranates and Myrrh (2009) screened at over 80 festivals (including Mizna’s 2010 Twin Cities Arab Film Festival), won international awards, was sold worldwide and released theatrically. A speaker on numerous panels on cinema and a Jury member of several International Film Festivals, Najjar has reviewed books and published articles on Palestinian cinema. She has also been a reader for the Rawi Sundance Lab for Arab scriptwriters and more recently a Creative Advisor for the Sundance Labs (2013 and 2014).
Festivals:
London Palestinian Film Festival, 2014
Cairo Film Festival, 2014
Kolkota International Film Festival, 2014
Chicago Palestinian Film Festival, 2015
Awards:
Best Director, Kolkota International Film Festival, 2014
Best Actor (Khaled Abol Naga), Cairo Film Festival, 2014
Screening with “Condom Lead“
