Tuesday, July 16 - 2:00pm
Tel Aviv on Fire
Drama/Comedy (Luxembourg, Belgium, Israel, France, 2019) Arabic and Hebrew. 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed by Sameh Zoabi
Winner – Best Film
Haifa International Film Festival, Israeli Film Competition Award
Venice Film Festival, Interfilm Award
Winner – Audience Award
Sarasota Film Festival – Best in World Cinema
Palestinian director Sameh Zoabi’s irreverent satire on the Arab-Israeli conflict follows Salam (Kais Nashif, “Paradise Now”), a winsome slacker whose uncle gets him a job on a sudsy Palestinian TV soap opera “Tel Aviv on Fire,” popular with both Israelis and Palestinians. Salam’s daily commute from Jerusalem to the Ramallah set through the Israeli checkpoint leads to regular encounters with the IDF officer in charge (Yaniv Biton, “Mossad 101”). In order to gain his favor, Salaam allows the commander to suggest changes to the plot that would steer a sultry Arab female spy fall in love with an IDF general. Torn between the demands of the army officer and the show’s Arab financial backers on how the love story will end, Salaam devises a final masterstroke.