Projects 2020/2021
November 27, 2020
Projects 2021/2022
CLOSE UP
We are excited to share the powerful documentary projects that are selected to participate at the Close Up 2021-2022 Edition. This year’s cohort of directors and producers hails from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.
BRIDGE
Deniz Tortum, TURKEY & Producer: Fırat Sezgin, TURKEY
Set in Istanbul between 1970-73, BRIDGE (in development) is an essay documentary that focuses on the construction of the first Bosphorus bridge using archival and new footage. Seen from a current perspective where our future is at stake due to climate change, it reflects on a time when we thought we would control the future.
CONCRETE LAND
Asmahan Bkerat, PALESTINE/JORDAN & Co-writer: Ban Maraqa, JORDAN
An intimate story about a Bedouin family of three generations, in its struggle to hold on to its traditional life under the pressures of urbanization. Their only wish is to stay together, with their loyal yet eccentric pet sheep, Badrya, firmly by their side. Now, the life of the still-singing family is about to change as a new building constructions take over, and the city challenges their way of life.
DON QUIXOTE OF KABUL
Nemat Khoshahmadi, AFGHANISTAN
Mr Watandost, who is one of the Hazara tribes in Afghanistan, has been fighting against corruption, poverty, and ethnocentrism for many years and as a result, he faces many problems and bitter stories on this way.
ENTANGLED HOPEFUL BIRD
Dawood Hilmandi, AFGHANISTAN & Ezatullah Alidost, AFGHANISTAN
Like many Afghan children, we were born in the middle of the hot flames of war and the battlefield. As long as we can remember, our memories are filled with terrifying pictures — limbs and dead bodies of civilians, wounded soldiers, an amputated leg of a father, and massacre of innocent people whose voices were never heard. This documentary aims to tell the parallel stories of Afghan men and women who are as described entangled within a dark and suppressed situation, yet still they stay hopeful and resilient through these times.
THE GOVERNOR
Danel Elpeleg, ISRAEL
My grandfather was a military governor of the Arab citizens of Israel after the establishment of the state. The positive image he presented to me slowly crumbles when I reveal his true actions as ruler. A journey that makes me ask questions about my personal-political heritage, and my present self.
HOLLYWOOD GATE
Mohammed Mohammed, EGYPT & Producer: Talal Derki, SYRIA
Confidential project.
HOT SPOT
Karin Kainer, ISRAEL
Outstanding teens from all around the world including Palestinians & Israelis live and study together at a unique international boarding school for change, oasis of peace and sustainability, located at the heart of Israel, a burning conflict zone.
I AM AN OLIVE TREE
Yasaman Sharifmanesh, IRAN
This film is about the people of Afrin, the people who after leaving their city and settling in the camp, try to build a new city and rebuild their lives. The film is based on the characters and their passion and struggle to survive. They call themselves forgotten people whom the world has forgotten.
LET’S PLAY SOLDIERS
Mariam Al-Duhubhani, YEMEN & Producer: Mohammed Al-Jaberi, YEMEN
A 16-year-old child soldier, Nasser, returns home to seek his place in the community in Yemen, but the only available jobs are manual labor; none offer a good income or a future. Once home, Nasser realizes that he must protect his two younger brothers from following the same myth of becoming a soldier to make a man.
LIFE IN THE SHADOWS
K.D., AFGHANISTAN & Producer: Ilyas Yourish, AFGHANISTAN
Two curious children, stuck in a ghetto, are navigating their lives in a terror-infested and broken society. Life in the Shadows provides a rare picture of how an ongoing genocide is affecting the life of a small Hazara community.
RADIO BERLIN
Sepehr Atefi, IRAN/GERMANY & Kaveh Azarhoosh, IRAN/UK
In 1939 the first-ever Persian radio station was founded in Berlin, broadcasting Nazi propaganda across Iran. The station’s launch started a global propaganda war over Iran which continues to this day and fuelled the development of a network of pro-Nazi Iranian collaborators which played a crucial role in shaping Iranian history for the decade after the end of the world war.
