Lutuf Nouasser

It is a time when Rome rules the world with the power of life and death in their hands. The province of Roman Palestine is a bubbling cauldron of rebellion and control. And on this greater canvas Luke, narrates a story of wonder, amazement and impact... The world is anticipating this moment in history but no one can imagine God touching His creation in the form of a little baby named Jesus. Much is recorded in the Gospels about Jesus' miraculous birth, to a young virgin named Mary, in Bethlehem, but little is known about his quiet growing up in Nazareth. Joseph, his adopted father, seems to have died well before Jesus turns 30 and begins his ministry.

Yacine is the veterinarian of the only zoo remaining in the Palestinian West Bank. He lives alone with his 10-year old son, Ziad. The kid has a special bond with the two giraffes in the zoo. He seems to be the only one to communicate with them. After an air raid in the region the male giraffe dies. His mate, Rita, won’t survive unless the veterinarian finds her a new companion. The only zoo that might provide this animal is located in Tel Aviv ...

Turbulent comedy about two Palestinian brothers who smuggle the dead body of their father from Jerusalem to Ramallah with the Israeli Police, a bunch of terrorists and the Russian Mafia breathing down their necks.

An examination of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 through to the present day. A semi-biographic film, in four chapters, about a family spanning from 1948 until recent times. Combined with intimate memories of each member, the film attempts to portray the daily life of those Palestinians who remained in their land and were labelled "Israeli-Arabs," living as a minority in their own homeland.

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

A man enters the car and drives it to a local car dealer where he hopes to sell it. It seems that he has moved back from Canada and cannot afford the tax on the car. The dealership is manned by two. One appears to be the worker of the pair - keeping the cars clean and running. The other is a cookie cutter version of many auto salesmen to be found everywhere in the world. He is Shmuel, the apparent owner of the lot and has seen the same car in a German dealer's catalog priced at €50,000. He conferences with Siso, the worker of the pair, whose financial support he needs and convinces him to invest in the purchase of the car. In the typical car dealer fashion, Shmuel makes a deal to buy the car from the "ignorant Arab" for €5,000.

Santa Claus tries to outrun a gang of knife-wielding youth. It's one of several vignettes of Palestinian life in Israel - in a neighborhood in Nazareth and at Al-Ram checkpoint in East Jerusalem. Most of the stories are droll, some absurd, one is mythic and fanciful; few words are spoken. A man who goes through his mail methodically each morning has a heart attack. His son visits him in the hospital. The son regularly meets a woman at Al-Ram; they sit in a car, hands caressing. Once, she defies Israeli guards at the checkpoint; later, ninja-like, she takes on soldiers at a target range. A red balloon floats free overhead. Neighbors toss garbage over walls. Life goes on until it doesn't.

1964, a village in Galilee. The Mukhtar collaborates with Israeli military rule. Someone is forging work permits, and the Mukhtar's son and a steady metalsmith, Mahmud, want to marry the same woman. These story lines cross when the village teacher is arrested and jailed for the forgeries, with the Mukhtar's approval. Mahmoud discovers who the real forger is and goes to the Mukhtar, whose son assumes Mahmud has come to denounce him. He sets off to burn down Mahmoud's house; tragedy follows. At Mahmud's side through his troubles is Mabruq, the village fool who, like others, particularly a young woman named Jamilah, still suffers from witnessing horrors in the 1948 war.

This drama portrays a day in the life of a Palestinian family during a curfew announced by the Israeli army in a Palestinian refugee camp on the Gaza Strip in 1993. From that point on, they must live behind closed shutters, barred from their daily lives and needs.

Hansel and Gretel tells the tale of two young children driven from home by their scolding mother. Losing their way in the dark forest they stumble upon the cottage of a kindly old woman. But is this kindly old woman everything she seems...?