Layabout and small-time hood, Mousa has all kinds of skills. A refugee camp resident, this Palestinian does not give a damn about his father’s hard-won permit to work legally in the Israeli part of Jerusalem; he would rather earn a living stealing and selling Israeli cars. Mousa is convinced that his future lies far away from all the violence and constraints that mark the life in the divided city. Following the theft of a Passat one day he is given a brutal going-over by Palestinian militia-men. On closer inspection of the vehicle, he makes a discovery which suddenly makes apolitical Mousa of interest to all sides.
Muayad and Rami Alayan defiantly tread their own path in a playful film that provokes laughs while exploring the situation in Palestine. An innovative tribute to the French New Wave Cinema.
"We wanted to do something that is awkward. Not necessarily a comedy genre. We wanted something that was weird, and would feel dreamy, fairy tale-ish. When things are so awkward and with so many events that happen to you, it can make you laugh and cry at the same time. /.../ Living in Palestine sometimes the tragedy is so big, you cannot stop yourself and laugh about it. When things are so absurd there will be always comedy behind it. That’s where the idea came from." (Muayad & Rami Alayan)
Muayad Alayan
A Palestinian born in Kuwait in 1985, Alayan studied in San Francisco before returning to Bethlehem to make films about the realities of life for young Palestinians. His first short film, Lesh Sabreen?, premiered at the International Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand in 2009 and screened at over 60 international festivals. Love, Theft and Other Entanglements marks his feature-film debut.
filmography
2009 Lesh sabreen? (short)
2010 Mute (short)
2012 Al-hijara al-muqadasa (Sacred Stones) (documentary)
2015 Al-hob wa al-sariqa wa mashakel ukhra (Love, Theft and Other Entanglements)