Official Lineup
At Trianon Cinemaحبيبي حسين
Habibi Hussein
2025
|Documentary
|96'
by Alex Bakri اليكس بكري
[Palestine, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Sweden]
Greek and English subtitles
Synopsis
A Palestinian projectionist embarks on a journey through the West Bank, seeking parts to restore an old movie theater's projector while clinging to hopes of reclaiming his former position: then a German NGO arrives to renovate the old cinema, radically changing the dynamic. Alex Bakri’s power-conscious documentary Habibi Hussein dismantles the feel-good façade of “aid work”, revealing the power imbalances, condescension and erasure that underpin a German-led attempt to revive Jenin’s cinema. It reflects on power imbalances and raises questions about the practices of Western projects in war-torn countries.
Official Poster
Biography
Alex Bakri اليكس بكري is a Palestinian filmmaker who has worked for a decade as an editor, on Taste of Cement and the Oscar-nominated Of Fathers and Sons, and as an actor in Eran Kolirin's Let It Be Morning and Elia Suleiman's The Time That Remains. He was a cameraman on the Cinema Jenin restoration itself; Habibi Hussein, his first feature as director, is built from the material he shot there. It won the Shadi Abdel Salam Award for Best Film at Cairo.
Director's photo
