Love, Theft and Other Entanglements Contends at Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon

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The Sole Arab Film in the Competition

Love, Theft and Other Entanglements Contends at Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon


Ahead of taking part at the Tiburon International Film Festival in California, USA, Muayad Alayan's film Love, Theft and Other Entanglements is set to participate at Tripoli Film Festival in Lebanon
(20-27 April). The film has been selected to contend in the Feature Films section at the festival.

Director Muayad Alayan commented "We are extremely thrilled to have our Lebanese premiere at Tripoli Film Festival and we look forward to the film's commercial release in Lebanese theaters soon."

Since 2014, Tripoli Film Festival is one of the most important cinematic events conceived to ameliorate the image of the city. The Tripoli Film Festival aims to enrich the local cultural environment in Tripoli, promote the rich cultural heritage of Tripoli and its local artists, in addition to branding and marketing Tripoli and its region as a highly promising tourist destination. The third edition that will be held in April 2016 will include national and international filmmakers, international festival programmers and critics.

Shot in black and white, the film revolves around a Palestinian car thief who gets into the trouble of his life when he steals the wrong car. What he thought was an Israeli car and an easy way to make money, turns out to be a load of misfortune when he discovers a kidnapped Israeli soldier in the trunk.

Love, Theft and Other Entanglements is director Muayad Alayan's debut feature film. He also was the Director of Photography for the film which was co-written and co-produced with Rami Alayan through PalCine Productions. The film stars Sami Metwasi, Maya Abu Alhayyat, Ramzi Maqdisi, Riyad Sliman, Kamel Elbasha and Hussein Nakhleh with MAD Solutions handling the film's distribution in the Arab world.

Muayad Alayan's film won Best Narrative award at the 19th Arab Film Festival (AFF) in San Francisco, USA. Most recently, Love, Theft and Other Entanglements competed within the Official Competition Debut Film at the 26th Carthage Film Festival and was selected for Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), where it screened in the Arabian Nights section, which screens world renowned films with a distinctive Arab flavor.

The film's world premiere was held at Berlin International Film Festival within the Panorama Section and was nominated for the Best First Feature Award at Berlin International Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival in the United States, Taipei Film Festival in Taiwan and Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland. It was also screened as part of Vancouver International Film Festival, Reel Palestine Festival in Dubai's Alserkal Avenue, Haifa International Film Festival in Palestine, as well as Silk Road Film Festival in Dublin, Ireland.

Muayad Alayan is a Palestinian film director, producer and cinematographer based in Jerusalem. After completing his studies in San Francisco, Alayan returned to Palestine with the goal of making organic cinema by and about Palestinians as a community; a cinema made through the participation of people coming together to tell stories, against all odds and with means that creatively defy limitations. At the age of 22, Alayan tested his vision with his first narrative short, Lesh Sabreen?, which was made with the participation of youth and young adults in his home village focusing on their experiences and concerns as youth living in Jerusalem under occupation. The film was premiered in competition at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France in 2009 and went on to compete at several other prestigious festivals such as Palm Springs Shortfest and Dubai Film Festival, in addition to over 60 other festivals in 25 countries worldwide.