Wri/Dir: Rashid Masharawi | Drama 81’
An intelligent and thoughtful film kicks off this year’s CAIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Passing Dreams is a feature-length Palestinian film written and directed by Rashid Masharawi. Upbeat and full of optimism throughout the film follows Sami, a 12-year-old boy, who embarks on a journey across Palestine with his uncle (Ashraf Barhom) and teenage cousin Maryam (Emilia Massou)
It will be an eventful voyage of discovery – of each other, and the people the meet along the way who share their stories reflecting the difficulties of restrictive life and a thwarted existence. So what starts as a family-centred road movie broadens out into a complex study of this Middle Eastern country and its hopes and aspirations in the occupied territories.
The trip will take them from a refugee camp in the West Bank, where Sami lives, to other Palestinian cities such as Bethlehem, the Old City of Jerusalem, and Haifa all atmospherically captured in Duraid Munajim’s limpid camerawork and set to a lilting score from Johanni Curtet.
Significantly the pigeon is carrying a ring bearing a small blue pearl, a keepsake from Sami’s grandma to help him through life. In some ways this pigeon comes to represent hope and the future, so finding it is vital to keep Sami’s dreams alive. Sometimes there’s a safety in hope: It can suspend us from to need to achieving anything but brings us closer to our each other in the process. And that’s surprising upshot of this tenderly crafted latest feature from the award-winning Palestinian filmmaker. @MeredithTaylor
THE CAIRO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL | 13-23 NOVEMBER 2024