Unrolling its 36th edition, from 9-18 November, 2014, Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) exclusively hosts the MENA Premiere of Palestinian Eyes of a Thief by Najwa Najjar. The Palestinian feature has been submitted to represent Palestine at the Oscars in 2015 within the Best Foreign Language category.

The film will be showcased at CIFF's International Competition with the attendance of the Algerian-born French singer Souad Massi and Egyptian star Khaled Abol Naga. Najjar's Eyes of a Thief also co-stars Malak Ermileh, Khaled Hourani, Iman Oun, Elias Nicola, Nisreen Faour, Emil Andre.

Eyes of a Thief was filmed in the heart of the occupied territories of Palestine for nearly
25 days, 21 days of which were spent in Nablus and surrounding rural areas. Based on a true story during the upheavals of the Palestinian Uprising in 2002, the film follows Tarek, a man hedged with a mysterious aura, whose weary-stale body still suffers from non-healing wounds. We get to know that he was arrested by the Israeli soldiers and recently got released, to finally head to his hometown in search of his daughter Nour, whom he haven't seen for 10 long years since his arrest. Jadedly roaming every place he lived before, Tarek senses the changes that overtook this town, which is buried with secrets. Mysteries gradually come to surface and Tarek's undisclosed past is unmasked, with spotting light on the essence of the Palestinian society and their choice to stay and fight, not only for Palestine's freedom but for the whole Arab region as well.

Written and directed by Najwa Najjar, Eyes of a Thief is Najjar's second feature-length film after Al-Mor Wa Al Rumman, which earned the Golden Dagger for Best Cinematography at the Muscat Film Festival in Oman in 2009. The film also received the Best Arabic Film Award at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Before embarking on feature-film projects, Najjar directed a short documentary entitled Na'im Wa Wadee'a, which garnered the award for Films of Conflict and Resolution from Hamptons International Film Festival in USA, in 2000.