AVE MARIA Screens at Warehouse421 and Alserkal Avenue in the UAE

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Palestine's Oscar Nominated Short Film

AVE MARIA Screens at Warehouse421 and Alserkal Avenue in the UAE


A few days after receiving a nomination for the 88th Academy Award® for Best Live Action Short Film, Basil Khalil's Palestinian short film AVE MARIA is having two debuts in the UAE. The screening marks the beginning of an ongoing collaboration between MAD Solutions and Cinema Akil.

Held on Wednesday, January 20th, the first screening was part of Warehouse421 film screening program and was followed by Emirati filmmaker, Nawaf Al Janahi's feature film Sea Shadow.

The Second screening is part of the Where We Dwell film season, presented by Reel Palestine at Alserkal Avenue and will take place on Saturday, January 30th.

During the last week, AVE MARIA received the Prix de Hermes (Best Short Film) award at Fréjus short-film festival in addition to competing at the 3rd Sudan Independent Film Festival (SIFF) (21-27 January) in Sudan.

AVE MARIA's Oscar® nomination was received after a successful run at well over 65 film festivals in 27 countries, gathering 11 awards in just 7 months. The film began its journey with its world premiere in the Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival in May 2015. Recently, it won the prestigious Best Muhr Short Award at the 12th Dubai International Film Festival. MAD Solutions, AVE MARIA's distributor in the Arab world, revealed that the film will have a commercial release in the Arab world ahead of the Academy Awards ceremony, alongside it's other Oscar®'s contender, Theeb, which is the first distribution initiative of its kind in the region.

The 14-minute comedy tells the story of an order of Palestinian nuns living in the middle of the West Bank wilderness. Their daily routine of silence and prayer is disrupted when a family of Israeli settlers breaks down right outside their convent, just as the Sabbath is beginning. The family need to get home but can't operate the phone, and the Nuns have taken a vow of silence.

AVE MARIA's screening times in the UAE (GMT +4)

Saturday January 30 at 09:00 PM - Al Serkal Avenue