The North American rights to Firas Khoury’s coming-of-age drama “Alam” (The Flag) have been sold to Film Movement. The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival, and will be playing in competition at Rome Film Festival on Tuesday. The first trailer debuts here (below). MPM Premium is handling international sales.
Michael Rosenberg of Film Movement said: “Set among a group of Palestinian teens living in Israel, Firas Khoury’s debut feature marries universal themes of growing up with the complex political awakening young Palestinians are forced to undergo living under occupation. Film Movement is excited to bring this tender coming of age drama to North American audiences next year.”
The film centers on Tamer, a Palestinian teenager living in Israel. He and his friends lead a typical high-school student’s life until the arrival of the beautiful Maysaa’. To impress her, Tamer agrees to take part in a mysterious flag operation on the eve of Israel’s Independence Day, which is a day of mourning for Palestinians.
Toronto’s Nataleah Hunter-Young said of the film: “A fluid and absorbing feature debut from Firas Khoury, ‘Alam’ is a coming-of-age drama full of contemporary urgency. Skilfully pointing out the unsubtle mechanisms of nationalism, Khoury draws us through the maze of control and contradiction that follows the forced forgetting of history.”
Khoury commented: “The film is an attempt to bring into light the circumstances in which the Palestinian youth is forced to develop, the sharp existential contradictions they are subjected to at a young age. In that sense, ‘Alam’ is a story of a collective, embodied in the life of a young man (Tamer), who wishes to step out of the safe zone of passive fear into the light of freedom. But as always, freedom does not come without sacrifice. Tamer will know freedom only if he is willing to pay the price.”
The film is produced by MPM Film, Paprika Films, Philistine Films, Red Sea Film Festival Foundation, Metafora Productions and Lacydon Bay Productions.
https://variety.com/2022/film/global/film-movement-alam-1235406170/
