‘I Hate Cinema’ by Ward Kayyal and ‘Moonscape’ by Mona Benyamin

I Hate Cinema

A short film that tells the story of Sami, a young boy who loves cinema. A famous director arrives at school to shoot a movie at the school. Sami seizes the opportunity to act, but soon discovers the director's truth, and Sami's view of the director changes and Sami's relationship with the director develops into a plan of revenge.

Ward Kayyal, born in Haifa. He studied cinema at Minshar School of Art and graduated in 2021 in directing and photography. During his career, Ward worked on dozens of production projects in the field of theater, cinema, and advertising. In addition, he directed three short drama films within the educational process and a short documentary film.
Ward's professional career revolves around independent Palestinian artistic projects, as he aims through his work to develop and strengthen independent artistic work to have a clear and independent political vision.
Ward tries to present a different modern and youthful image in production through directing and photography and presenting political/social issues in different and new ways.

2019 | 24 min
Arabic with English subtitles
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Moonscape

Moonscape is a short film that takes the form of a music video for a ballad/middle-of-the-road song, performed as a duet between a male and female singer, in Arabic. The song traces the story of a man called Dennis M. Hope, who claimed ownership of the Moon in 1980 and thus founded the Lunar Embassy – a company that sells land on a variety of planets and Moons, and makes a connection between his story and that of the director's – a young Palestinian woman living under the Israeli occupation, longing to end the misery of her people in any way possible.

The visuals of the film are a hybrid of surrealist scenes from the Arab music industry, reenacted by the artist’s parents who also play the roles of the singers in the film, and film noir; in addition to founding footage from the NASA archives, references from canonic films which influenced the art world and show representations of the Moon, and screenshots of Email correspondences with staff members of the Lunar Embassy. All in order to explore the relationship between hope, nostalgia, and despair.

Mona Benyamin is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Haifa. In her works, she explores intergenerational outlooks on hope, trauma and questions of identity, using humor and irony as political tools of resistance and reflection. Her recent works have been screened — among others — at MoMA, Another Gaze, Sheffield DocFest and Columbia University.

2020 | 17 min
Arabic with English subtitles