Palestine
September 23 through October 8th 2019
Born in Dubai, Mahdi Fleifel lives and works between Denmark, England and Greece. A graduate of the UK’s National Film & Television School, he studied Fiction Directing under Stephen Frears and Pawel Pawlikowski. In 2010 he founded the London based production company Nakba FilmWorks with Irish producer Patrick Campbell. Fleifel’s critically acclaimed debut feature, A WORLD NOT OURS, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received over 30 awards, including the Berlinale Peace Prize, and the Edinburgh, Yamagata and DOC:NYC Grand Jury Prizes. He was named Best New Nordic Voice at Nordisk Panorama, and received the New Talent Award at CPH:DOX in 2013. In 2016 Fleifel won a Silver Bear for A MAN RETURNED. His follow up, A DROWNING MAN, was selected in the Official Competition at Cannes, and was nominated for a BAFTA. His last film, I SIGNED THE PETITION, won Best Documentary Short at IDFA and was nominated for the 2018 European Film Awards.
During Mahdi’s residency at Dar Jacir in the Fall of 2019, he conducted casting sessions, met various colleagues and potential local partners and crew in Bethlehem. He also began working on an idea for a short film with young filmmakers from Deheisha.
Mahdi Fleifel’s film “A Man Returned” was screened as part of our online public program in response to COVID-19 in April 2020. The film won the Silver Bear at Berlinale in 2016.
