Palestinian director Rashid Masharawy has expressed gladness for selecting his movie, “Palestine Stereo”, for screening at the Cairo International Film Festival competitions, noting that the movie is his sixth in the feature category after a series of short and documentary productions.
Through the movie, Masharawy says he posed a question about the destiny of the Palestinian nation through a social plot that runs against a background of occupation and related issues ranging from settlement activity, security blocks and economic boycott. He explains that each of these issues can make a separate movie plot.
Masharawy intentionally formulated his story as a self-criticism of Palestinians, providing a perspective of their lives amid occupation and mounting martyrs toll, he says. He tackles the split between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, mainly reflected in the existence of two governments, one in Ramallah and another in Gaza, besides other examples of disunity.
Masharawy says the making of the movie was not free of hardships. One scene was meant to be filmed near the Qalandia crossing, a step that was prevented by Israeli troops. The crew had to fabricate a mock setting to film the scene.
Arab and European experts contributed to the movie with a budget that surpassed US$1.5 million, says Masharawy. It is seminal for a Palestinian cinema industry, largely relying in Palestinian actors and technicians, he stresses.
Masharawy believes the introduction of Palestinian cinema in frequent experiments seeks to share the Palestinian suffering with the world through various methods of treatment. As he puts it, every Palestinian is a recruit struggling against occupation on his own way.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
