Omar by Hany Abu-Assad

Neither love nor war is simple and straightforward in occupied Palestine. Young and handsome Omar is in love with Nadia, his militant best friend Tarek’s younger sister. Separated by the Wall that snakes through the occupied West Bank, Omar has become adept at dodging surveillance bullets in order to climb the wall and visit the beautiful Nadia. However, after an Israeli soldier is killed in an act of defiant resistance, Omar becomes a pawn in a cat-and-mouse scheme that undermines his future plans and childhood friendships.

Hany Abu-Assad was born in Nazareth, Palestine, in 1961. After having studied and worked as an aeroplane engineer in the Netherlands for several years, Abu-Assad entered the world of cinema as a producer. He produced the 1994 feature film ‘Curfew’, directed by Rashid Masharawi. In 2005, he directed the often-debated film ‘Paradise Now’, which won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and was also nominated for the Academy Award in the same category (representing Palestine).