Satellite Voices

Dubai

Pomegranates and Myrrh

August 30, 2011

Najwa Najjar’s critically acclaimed film arrives in the UAE

• Text by Holly Williams

"Pomegranates and Myrrh" has won international awards and critical acclaim and will begin its hugely anticipated run in Dubai from the first day of Eid at The Picturehouse in Reel Cinemas. Distributed by Founoon Film Distribution the film will be screened until September 14 with five screenings daily. From September 15 to 28 the film will screen in Abu Dhabi at Vox Cinemas Marina Mall.

Part romance, part drama and part political commentary the film has won rave reviews at the Sundance, Rotterdam, Edinburgh, Durban, Locarno, Berlin, Cannes film festival and not to mention other global festivals in addition to being screened in the United States.

Najwa Najjar, Director of Pomegranates and Myrrh says: “It's amazing that so many people got to see my film, and it still makes my heart jump to think about it. After all the difficulties and dramas the great response really is the icing on the cake. But it was Dubai that helped give it that boost."

Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director of the Dubai International Film Festival, said that supporting the theatrical run of the film reaffirms the festival’s commitment to taking the best of Arab cinema to a wider audience. 

Set in Ramallah during this decade it narrates the story of a dancer whose husband is imprisoned after defending her from an attack by a settler. In his absence and faced with the threat of land confiscation she seeks to regain her lifelong love of dance – and in doing so meets a Palestinian returnee and choreographer. The film stars veterans of Arab cinema Hiam Abbas, Yassmine Al Massri, Ali Suleiman and Ashraf Farah.

The Dubai Mall