User:Najwa najjar

Palestinian/Jordanian {Writer/ Director Najwa Najjar received her BA in Political Science and Economics, MA in Film/Video Production (US). She has worked in both documentary and fiction since 1999. Her debut feature film Pomegranates and Myrrh (Palestinian/French/German) (2009) picked up 10 international awards, sold worldwide and was released theatrically and screened at over 80 international festivals.

Her second award winning feature film Eyes of a Thief (2014)Palestinian/Algerian/French/Icelandic co-production which received the support of Sundance Scriptwriting Lab, Sundance Duke Award, Dubai Film Connection, Jordan Film Fund and was a participant in the Rome Int’l film Festival New Cinema Network. The film won Best Director and Best Actor awards, among many others, and was the Palestinian nomination for the 2015 Oscars Best Foreign Film and the Golden Globe Awards.

Her third feature film, a road trip: Between Heaven and Earth completed Nov 2019 played at the Cairo International Film Festival international competition, and won the Naguib Mahfouz Best Screenplay award. Unfortunately upcoming international film festivals were postponed due to the worldwide pandemic coronavirus.

Previous work include several award-winning films also shown worldwide (Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, Hamptons,) : Yasmine Tughani (2006), Naim and Wadee’a (2000), Quintessence of Oblivion(2001), Blue Gold (2004), A Boy Called Mohamad (2002), and They Came from the East which opened the 2004 European Academy Awards. Najjar produced a collection of short films by international filmmakers Gaza Winter (2009).

A speaker on numerous panels on cinema and a Jury member of several International Film. Festivals, she has given Director’s Masterclasses in Galway, Luxembourg and Berlin. Najjar has reviewed books, and her articles on Palestinian cinema have been published. She has been a reader for the Rawi Sundance Lab for Arab scriptwriters and has been an advisor for the Rawi Sundance Scriptwriter’s Lab. She is working on a writing for cinema workshop for young refugees in Jordan/Lebanon/Syria and Palestine for the year 2020.