Biopic of Palestinian singer Mohammad Assaf, whose winning of the pan-Arab version of TV talent show Pop Idol in 2013 led to a moment of national pride and unity in Palestine, which finally had something to celebrate on the international stage.
Palestinian-Dutch director Hany Abu-Assad (who received Oscar nominations for Paradise Now, 2005, and Omar, 2013) shows the tough circumstances in which Assaf, first as a little boy in Gaza, and later in his twenties, grows up to be a singer. The Israeli occupation continuously plays a role in the background, such as when Assaf and his friends - as well as his feisty sister who suffers from kidney failure - cycle along the separation barrier. From the wedding parties at which he makes his singing debut as a boy to the enormous pressure he feels during the final of Arab Idol, with all of Palestine glued to the tube, Assaf always embodies his country, yearning for freedom.
- Director
- Hany Abu-Assad
- Countries of production
- UK, Palestine, Qatar, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates
- Year
- 2015
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2016
- Length
- 100'
- Medium
- DCP
- Original title
- Ya tayr el tayer
- Language
- Arabic
- Producers
- Ali Jaafar, Amira Diab
- Production Companies
- Idol Film Production LTD, 03 FZ LLC, Cactus World Film
- Sales
- Seville International
- Screenplay
- Sameh Zoabi, Hany Abu-Assad
- Cinematography
- Ehab Assal
- Editor
- Eyas Salman
- Production Design
- Nael Kanj
- Cast
- Nadine Labaki, Tawfeek Barhom
- Local Distributor
- September Film