Between Heaven and Earth Wins the Naguib Mahfouz Award for Best Screenplay at the Cairo International Film Festival

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In its World Premiere

Between Heaven and Earth Wins the Naguib Mahfouz Award for Best Screenplay at the Cairo International Film Festival


Palestinian film Between Heaven and Earth by director Najwa Najjar wins the Naguib Mahfouz Award for Best Screenplay at the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), where it landed its world premiere and screened in the Official Competition, earning wide audience and critical acclaim due to its high artistic quality. The screening was also attended by a numerous stars and media personnel as well as wide audience.

Based on a true story, the film follows a thirty-something couple, Salma and Tamer, who have been married for the past five years, and living in the Palestinian Territory. The first time Tamer is ever given a three-day permit to cross the Israeli checkpoint, is to file for divorce in the courts in Nazareth. At the courthouse, they are confronted with a staggering discovery, a secret which sends Salma and Tamer spinning on a road trip exploring the loss and betrayal of the past, and of themselves.

Written and directed by Palestinian filmmaker Najwa Najjar, the film is produced by Ustura Films, in co-production with Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg) and Oktober Films (Iceland). MAD Solutions hands the film's Arab world distribution.

Najwa Najjar is a Palestinian writer/director. She received her BA in Political Science and Economy, and her MA in Film and Video Production (USA). Since 2000, she has worked on both documentary and feature films. In 2009, she directed her award-winning critically acclaimed debut feature film Pomegranates and Myrrh (2009), followed by her second award winning film: Eyes of a Thief, which earned the award for Best Actor at the Cairo International Film Festival and was Palestine's official submission for the Oscar Awards for Best Foreign Film category in and the Golden Globe Awards. Between Heaven and Earth is her latest project.

Najwa is also a guest speaker in several panel discussions and was on several international film festival juries, as well as a reader for the Rawi Screenwriters Lab and Sundance Screenwriters Lab.