Samira

"Samira" is a surrealist drama. It delves into the core issues and themes that have been the driving force of my personal and professional life: reflecting on mythology, national and gender identity. In this film, Israel- Palestine becomes a laboratory in which I investigate these universal issues in the local setting. My film is a modern Dybbuk tale, it tells the story of Oren, a privileged man possessed by the spirit of Samira, a Palestinian woman who died under his watch. This possession results in Oren’s pregnancy, which shatters his identity as a man, taking him on a new path into a future where gender and politics are undermined. This intimate journey of a pregnant man, haunted by a dead woman’s spirit, allows the characters to experience different modes of identification, transition and liberation. With surrealist film tradition as my inspiration, I will use the film’s montage to add an element of alienation and dictate the narrative. I want the film to transgress the power relations between men and women, and I hope that this story will trigger the viewers to question the familiar gender roles by suggesting other options.