Projects We Have Supported

Enjaaz Projects

CAIRO EXIT

A love story between a young christian girl and a moslem boy and their struggle to live in Egypt.
Genre: Drama 
Director: Hesham Issawi
Producer: Sherif Mandour
Premiered at DIFF 2010

THIS IS MY PICTURE WHEN I WAS DEAD

What if death is not the end of his journey?
Genre: Documentary 
Director:  Mahmoud Al Massad
Producers: Hanneke Niens, Hans de Wolf 
Premiered at DIFF 2010

HAMAMA

Hamama is a nearly 90-year-old female healer and living legend in the Emirates, faced by personal and social challenges.
Genre: Documentary
Director: Nujoom Al Ghanem
Producers: Khalid Al Budoor,Nujoom Al Ghanem
Premiered at DIFF 2010

NOMAD'S HOME

Nomad's Home sees an Egyptian filmmaker's journey to the remote regions of a militarised Sinai Peninsula sparking an intimate dialogue, when she encounters a Bedouin social entrepreneur in a tiny village in the shadow of Moses Mountain. 
Genre: Drama
Director: Iman Kamel
Producers: Tallal Al Muhanna
Premiered at DIFF 2010

GAZA-STROPHE

We came to Gaza in the aftermath of the war, and with our friends the Palestinian Human Rights delegates, we discovered the extent of the «Gaza-strophy».
Genre: Documentary
Directors: Samir Abdallah, Kheridine Mabrouk
Producer: Matthieu de Laborde
Premiered at DIFF 2010

LEAVING BAGHDAD

Sadik, an Iraqi man, flees Baghdad, trying to escape the grip of Saddam Hussain's regime, his nightmares and his own guilt.
Genre: Fiction 
Director: Koutaiba Al Janabi 
Producers: Koutaiba Al Janabi, Hanna Heffner
Premiered at DIFF 2010

THE ROAD TO BETHLEHEM

A quirky story of the director who returns to her  hometown of Bethlehem to make a film about the wall. Nothing turns out as planned. 
Genre: Documentary
Director: Leila Sansour
Producer: Deborah Burton
Premiered at DIFF 2010

IMAMS GO TO SCHOOL

A group of apprentice imams at Paris's Great Mosque undergo a programme of secular training, in order to comply with new social regulations. They train at the Catholic Institute of Paris. 
Genre: Documentary
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Producer: Eric Borg
Premiered at DIFF 2010

ZELAL

A quiet masterpiece of hard-hitting reportage, Mustapha Hasnaoui and Marianne Khoury's 'Zelal' has drawn global critical praise for its hard-hitting and sobering insight into the lives of those afflicted by mental illness in Egypt today. 
Genre: Documentary
Directors: Marianne Khoury, Mustapha Hasnaoui
Producers: Gabriel Khoury, Marianne Khoury
Premiered at DIFF 2010

ZINDEEQ

An exiled Palestinian film-maker, documenting memories of the 1948 'Nakba', finds himself having to return home to face his own fears and identity.
Genre: Drama
Director: Michel Khleifi
Producer: Omar Al-Qattan
Premiered at DIFF 2009

Enjaaz Supported 22 new Projects for 2011 cycle

BEIRUT HOTEL

Beirut Hotel, a high-wire drama that follows a short-lived romance between a young Lebanese singer trying to escape her controlling husband and an NGO staffer who is about to be accused of spying. The France-Lebanon fiction feature is directed by Danielle Arbid (In the Battlefields, A Lost Man).

CHE GUEVARA DIED IN LEBANON

Che Guevara Died in Lebanon, a personal documentary from Lebanon about a former commander of the Lebanese civil war who transforms into a peace activist. The film is directed by Christina Foerch Saab.

CONFESSIONS AND STRUGGLE

Confessions and Struggles, a documentary by Eliane Raheb, which explores the Lebanese civil war from the points of view of two radically different people: the first, the ex-leader of a major Christian militia who now seeks forgiveness and redemption; the second, a 60-year-old Shia woman struggling to find information about her son who disappeared during the war and potentially at the hands of the former

Doaa... Aziza

Doaa… Aziza, Egyptian director Saad Hendawy’s documentary that questions whether the grass really is greener on the other side. Hendawy’s film follows two young women – an Egyptian raised in France but conflicted about her identity who decides to relocate to Egypt, and another from Egypt who decides to fix her sense of alienation by moving to France.

GATE NO. 5

Gate No. 5, the second documentary from award-winning Lebanese director Simon El-Habre (The One Man Village). The film follows four truck drivers whose lives revolve around waiting at the city’s port, itself closely intertwined with Lebanon’s history.

HERCULE VS. HERMES

Hercule vs. Hermes, a France-Morocco documentary from Mohamed Ulad, which traces the Homeric battle between a Moroccan peasant nicknamed Hercule and a wealthy French corporate heir who uses all possible tactics to get the family to quit their plot of land on one of the most beautiful beaches in northern Morocco.

THE RIF LOVER

L’Amante du Rif (The Rif Lover) from Moroccan director, writer and producer Narjiss Nejjar. The fiction feature is inspired by a true story about a 20-year-old girl jailed for 10 years for being the lover of a drug baron.

SECTOR ZERO

 Sector Zero, the directorial debut from Nadim Mishlawi, a documentary about the derelict area of Karantina on the outskirts of Beirut, its peculiar history and its reflection of Lebanon’s troubled past.

THE LAST FRIDAY

The Last Friday, from Jordan’s Yahya AlAbdallah, a fiction feature about a 40-year old divorced father who is forced to resort to a solution he’s desperately trying to avoid when faced with a medical emergency.

THE INVISIBLE POLICEMAN

The Invisible Policeman, a fiction feature directed, written and produced by Palestinian director Laith Al-Juneidi. The film follows Abu Sa’ed, a Hebron policeman and father of nine living in the old city that is entirely outside of his control, as he tries to find the funds to bail his teenage son from jail.

UNCLE NASHAAT

Uncle Nashaat, the documentary debut from Jordanian-Palestinian filmmaker Aseel Mansour. The film chronicles the director’s search for the truth behind the death of his uncle, a Palestinian fighter believed killed by the Israelis in 1982, and the impact of his discoveries within the family.

YAMO

Yamo (Mum), by Lebanese documentary filmmaker Rami Nihawi, an effort at self-discovery through an examination of the director’s mother as she works 21 hours in four jobs daily and endures past the pain of a life filled with a broken marriage and a past carved by civil war.

39 Seconds

Genre: Fiction Feature/ Drama 
Director: Lara Saba
Producer: Nibal Arakji
Are we born with our destiny or can it be changed? Nour loses her parents in a car accident. She has no money and now must take care of her disabled grandmother... India has everything a woman dreams of, but cannot have a child. Finally, she is pregnant. But she is attacked by a drug addict and loses her baby. Doctor Karim phones her husband, Malek, with the news. Malek drives like crazy to get to his wife and kills Nour's parents... The addict is Marwan, 13. He ran away from his abusive mother and now lives on the streets. He ends up in a hospital emergency room as a result of an overdose. Doctor Karim wants to commit him to rehad, but Marwan manipulates him into letting him go. Marwan then attacks India because he wants money... The doctor represents destiny. Karim hesitated for 39 seconds before he let Marwan leave the hospital, unknowingly unleashing a chain of events that will forever change the lives of the characters. 

10 Years

Genre: Documentary
Director: Mahmood Soliman
Producer: Nivine Afify, Mahmood Soliman
in 2002/ 2003, I made a documentary about an Egyptian woman who sharpened knives on the streets to make a living and raise her children. She was determined to educated her children to ensure they do not suffer like she did. At the same time, the inheritance plan of the Egyptian president's son began. Now, I am working on a documentary about the same woman and her sons... but in January 2011, things changed. 

Born on the 25th of January

Genre: Feature Documentary
Director: Ahmed Rashwan
Producer: Ahmed Rashwan
From January 25 to May 27, 2011, the film tracks four moonths of the Egyptian revolution as seen through the director's eyes. January 25 is the beginning, but May 27 is not the end -because the revolution continues, despite all the crises. 

Habibi

Genre: Narrative
Director: Susan Youssef
Producer: Susan Youssef
A story of forbidden love, is the first fiction feature set in Gaza in over 15 years. The film is a modern re-telling of the legendary tragic romance 'Majnun Layla', which was set in seventh century Arabia, when a poet named Qays fell in love with Layla. Driven by the intensity of his passion, Qays was known as 'Majnun Layla', which translates as 'madman for Layla'. In the contemporary setting, two students in the West Bank are forced to return home to Gaza, where their love defies tradition. To reach his lover, Qays graffiti's poetry across town. 

The Infiltrators

Genre: Documentary
Director: Khaled Jarrar
Producer: Sami Said
The film explore the various attempts people have made to look for gaps in the Wall, hoping to sneak through them. The complex process of passing into the 'other side' involves emotions such as fear and angst, and actions such as running, jumping and crawling endlessly through dark passages. Some attempts end in failure but others result in success. Some people are caught by Israeli soldiers while others reach their destination. It is a cat and mouse game in which failure only leaders to greater persistence. 

It's All In Lebanon

Genre: Documentary
Director: Wissam Charaf
Producer: Pierre Sarraf, Monica Borgmann
In Lebanon, after 17 years of a civil war that left 200, 000 dead, we have miraculously managed our way out. But 20 years later, have managed to build a nation? This film tells the story of the peaceful years of a schizophrenic country, a country torn between the longing to turn the page and forget and the desire to remember and keep fighting "till the liberation of Jerusalem". Based on the main post-civil war events and how political parties presented them through video-clips of propaganda, "It's All in Lebanon" is a journey through modern Lebanon. A country torn between violence, lust and amnesia. 

My Brother

Genre: Drama/ Art Movie
Director: Kamal El Mahouti
Producer: Kamal El Mahouti
Constructed like a puzzle, the film is the portrait of an artist caught between France and Morocco, set against the pulsating rhythm of Gnawa folk music. The feature tells the story of Mo Bensalah, a Moroccan immigrant's son in his forties. We see the essence of Mo through a journey into his paintings. Mo has broken off a relationship and thrown himself heart and soul into his art. His internal voice and feelings guide us to the core of his identity crisis. Through the character of Mo, "My Brother" showcases the complexities of being French, Arab and Muslim in today's society. 

Ouardia Once Had A Son

Genre: Fiction Feature
Director: Djamila Sahraoui
Producer: Les Films de l'Olivier / Neon Productions
An Abandoned house, isolated in the Algerian countryside... Here Ouardia has buried her son Tarik, a soldier possibly killed by his own brother Ali, leader of an Islamist group. She is watched by one of Ali's men who lost an arm in an explosion. In this universe tense with pain and brittle with drought, life will reassert itself. Thanks to the garden the Ouardia will create. Thanks to the guard, adopted by Ouardia. Thanks to the arrival of the child of Malia, who was loved by both brother, and who died at childbirth. And then Ali returns, seriously injured...

Tannour Maxi (Heels of War)

Genre: Fiction
Director: Joe Bou Eid
Producer: Ghassan Yared, Joe Bou Eid
In the summer of 1982, in a sheltered village protected by its armed men, it took less than three months for radical changes to set in the lives of two families of different backgrounds. A burdened priest and a proud woman in love add to the stress of the village's conscience. In the midst of all this, is a little refugee, who will provide solace to the people around her as she follows her destiny. A marriage will take place, and the servant will become the master… The film is a torn memory and a personal story, documented by a storyteller recounting the union of his parents.

Taxi Ballad

Genre: Fiction Feature/ Drama
Director: Daniel Joseph
Producer: Walid Fakhreddine
Youssef moves to Beirut in the hope of becoming the best taxi driver in the city, but is quickly disillusioned. While driving through the streets at night, he meets a bored American pilates instructor named Jordan, who is equally bored with her life and career. They form an unlikely bond, as he shares with her nostalgic stories from times past.