Alam

Directed by Firas Khoury
Film Movement
2022
109 Minutes
France, Tunisia, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Qatar
Arabic, Hebrew
Coming of Age, Drama
Coming of Age, Middle Eastern Studies
NR
DVD $150.00
PPR $350.00
DRL $499.00
PPR+DRL $599.00

To submit an order, request a preview screener, or ask a question contact Erin Farrell

Despite being part of a young generation of Palestinian Arabs whose families chose to stay and challenge the Israeli state after Al-Nakba, 17-year-old Tamer and his friends are just like any other group of teenage boys. They clumsily search for drugs, flirt with girls, play video games, and slack off at school. However, when a beautiful new student named Maysaa​​’ joins their class Tamer immediately falls for her and, by association, is drawn into her political activism. Together they join fellow classmate, Safwat, in an operation to covertly raise the Palestinian flag and peacefully disrupt the local celebrations planned for Israel’s Independence Day – otherwise known to Palestinians as a day of mourning and memorialization for their displacement 70 years prior. Unsure of his own political convictions, Tamer must quickly determine what matters to him and what price he is willing to pay for freedom.

A skillful examination of the fraught political awakening young Palestinians are forced to undergo, this TIFF world premiere “perfectly captures teenage fearlessness and bravado along with a certain cluelessness about how the real-world works” (Variety). An striking debut feature film from Firas Khoury, ALAM marries conversations around nationalism and iconography with the universal themes of growing up.

Cast

  • Mahmoud Bakri
  • Sereen Khass
  • Saleh Bakri
  • Mohammad Karaki
DVD Features

Sound: 5.1 Surround & 2.0 Stereo

Discs: 1

  • Highest Rating
    "Khoury’s convincing and engaging screenplay perfectly captures teenage fearlessness and bravado along with a certain cluelessness about how the real world works. This intelligent, sensitive treatment of the rarely seen, everyday lives of young Palestinian citizens of Israel marks tyro feature writer-director Firas Khoury as a talent to watch...."
    Alissa Simon, Variety
  • Highest Rating
    "This directorial debut which looks at a new third generation of Palestinians living in Israel is a fascinating take on a group of young people whose future is so constrained it almost compresses the screen."
    Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily
  • Highest Rating
    "...crackles with the energy of both the insouciance of teenage rebellion and hedonism, and the awakening of political activism."
    Laurence Boyce, Cineuropa
  • Highest Rating
    "...ALAM stimulates audiences to ponder the ever-changing meaning of iconographies and how, similarly, histories are rewritten as generations pass."
    Krishnanunni Padinjassery, High on Films
  • Highest Rating
    "Alam is an enjoyable viewing experience, which many films dealing with politics are not. I credit the filmmaker for the humanity that he’s instilled into the picture."
    Jason Delgado, Film Threat

Gallery

Awards & Recognition

You May Also Like...