Mohamed Jabaly (b. 1990) is a Palestinian filmmaker, producer, and artist from Gaza City.

He has won several Awards for his work, including Best Directing at IDFA for his latest film, Life is Beautiful – Al Haya Helwa, which is screened in this year’s festival, the Grand Prix Award at FIFDH, the International Competition Jury Award for Best Film at One World Festival and the Audience Award at Docville Belgium. His previous award-winning documentary, Ambulance, has been shown at some of the world's largest film festivals and has been distributed globally.

Mohamed has held workshops in filmmaking for young people and served on juries for several film festivals. Mohamed holds a BA from Nordland Film & Art College in Northern Norway and is currently pursuing his MA at the National Academy of Arts in Oslo while touring his new film.

Borrowing the title from Palestinian poet Ghassan Kanafani's book عالم ليس لنا, A World not Ours, Mahdi Fleifel sketches out moments from daily life of relatives and friends in the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in South Lebanon. Fleifel grew up in the camp until the age of nine when he moved to Denmark with his family. However, he continued to visit Ein el-Hilweh as part of his summer vacations, compiling a special film diary over the years. As he matures and sees through the camera, Ein el-Hilweh gradually transforms from the "Disneyland" of his childhood into what it really is. Guided by his family's experience and archival material, a personal coming-of-age journey is traced, alongside a contradictory sense of belonging, as well as the notion of identity through the story of three generations of Palestinian refugees. From the Oslo accords, to Fatah, local heroes in the World Cup, the film’s narrative follows the everyday relationships of the characters which compose a rich, humorous and simultaneously cruel microcosm. Fleifel's often nostalgic gaze does not match the deep disillusionment of his friend Abu Eyad, highlighting the distance between the visitor and the prisoner which separates and simultaneously unites the two friends. Fleifel will meet Abu Eyad again in Athens in 2013 where he will film the documentary Xenos.

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Aliki Arvaniti

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Passionate about cinema in a town with no schools or infrastructure, young Mohamed Jabali from Gaza has the unexpected opportunity to attend a film festival in Tromsø, Norway. What no one expects is that it will take him seven years before he can return home. The Rafah border, the only gateway for the people of Palestine to the outside world, suddenly closes.

In Tromsø, the film community embraces Mohamed and supports him in the surreal and unfair legal battle he must fight for his residency permit. Meanwhile, far away from his family, he edits all the footage he has filmed in Gaza and completes his first feature film. Most importantly though, his faith in his homeland matures together with what he is doing, bringing the struggles of the Palestinian people to the world.

This compassionate self-portrait consists of a plethora of photos and videos of the director himself from the age of 14 until the moment he was able to return home. He conveys to us with humor and integrity what it means to be from a state that is not recognised while not being able to make decisions about your own life.

Life is Beautiful is structured as a letter to Mohamed’s mother, whom he had to wait so long to embrace, and turns into an ode to friendship, solidarity and perseverance. Through his sensitive and observant gaze, Mohamed expresses his gratitude for the chosen family he found in the North, and with a few doses of irony sets aside hostility and humiliation, inviting us to reflect on what the strength of the spirit can accomplish.

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Antigoni Papantoni

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The texts have been produced by the network Filmmakers for Palestine gr.
*We consider Filmmakers to be every person who designs, implements, analyzes and teaches cinema: from editors to assistant directors, from lighting technicians to film critics, from viewers to programmers. A film is created by every gaze that shapes it.

Editing & Translation Team: Sofia Grigoriadou, Christina Phoebe, Maximillien Luc Proctor, Sophia Thomopoulos