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Salt of this Sea

About the Film
Year Released: 
2008
Running Time: 
109
Documentary/Fiction: 
Fiction
Synopsis: 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Soraya (spoken-word artist Suheir Hammad) travels to Palestine to retrieve her grandfather's savings, frozen in a Jaffa bank account after his 1948 exile. Struggling to feel at home in the land of her ancestors, she meets Emad, a young Palestinian whose ambition, contrary to hers, is to leave forever. When confronted with unwieldy official policies that deny her access to the fruit of her grandfather's life's work, she must take things into their own hands, even if it's illegal. Stubborn, passionate, and determined to reclaim what's theirs, she and Emad set out on a road trip for poetic justice across a lush Palestinian (now Israeli) landscape—after which there is no return. 

Annemarie Jacir's award-winning directorial debut represents a fresh, viscerally affecting, and definitive statement from second-generation Palestinian Americans. Rife with symbolism, director of photography Benoit Chamaillard's color-saturated lensing of Palestinian landscapes and composer Kamran Rastegar's evocative score make palpable the yearning and frustration of a quest to reclaim what was stolen.

~Roya Rastegar, Tribeca Film Festival

Poster Image: 
Director
Film Director: 
Annemarie Jacir
Production Info
Reported or Estimated Budget: 
€800,000
Location: 
Ramallah, France
Other Interesting Production Info: 
Since Palestinians are not allowed to travel from one town to another, unless provided with permits by Israeli authorities, the entire cast and crew were denied permission to move about. Due to such hindrances, the film had to be completed in France.
Categories About the Film
Genre: 
action
drama
romance
Keywords: 
activism and social justice
education
family
immigration
sexuality
state violence and security
Racial/Ethnic Affiliation: 
Arab American
Filmmaking Team
Writer's Name: 
Annemarie Jacir
Producer: 
JBA production of France, Clarity Production, Augustus Film, Louverture Films, Mediapro, Philistine films, Tarantula, Thelma Film
Cinematographer: 
Benoit Chamaillard
Primary Cast: 
Suheir Hammad, Saleh Bakri, Riyad Ideis, Shelley Goral
Exhibition/Distribution Info
Distributor: 
Pyramide International (all media), Lorber Films (USA, 2010- theatrical), Shooting Star Filmcompany BV (2009-Netherlands, theatrical), trigon-film (2008, Switzerland, theatrical), New Star (2009, Greece, all media).
Box Office Earnings: 
$556913
Where to find it/How to get it: 
DVD widely available
Festivals/Awards: 

CANNES - OFFICIAL SELECTION, Un Certain Regard, 2008; FIRST PRIZE - BEST FILM

Sguardi Altrove Film Festival, Italy 2009; SPECIAL JURY PRIZE- Osians Asian & Arab Film Festival, 2008; BEST FIRST FILM- Traverse City Film Festival, 2009; SPECIAL JURY PRIZE - Oran International Festival of Arab Cinema, 2009; RANDA CHAHAL PRIZE - Journées Cinématographiques de Carthage, 2008; AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD- Houston Palestine Film Festival, 2009; AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD - BEST FEATURE- Chicago Palestine Film Festival, 2009; BEST FILM- Cairo Refugee Film Festival, 2009; BEST ACTRESS (Suheir Hammad) - Amal EuroArab Film Festival, 2009; PALESTINE'S OFFICIAL OSCAR ENTRY FOR BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM, 2008; SOPADIN FINALIST.

World premiere was in May 2008 as an Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard)

Links
Link to the official film website: 
Philistine Films
Links to Official trailer: 
Salt of this Sea Official Trailer
Links to interviews (written) with Director/Filmmakers: 
Genna Terranova, “Salt of this Sea: Annemarie Jacir,” Tribeca Film Festival, August 11, 2010, accessed December 17, 2012.
Badar I. Salem, “Annemarie Jacir: A Palestinian Treasure,” Variety Arabia, July 18, 2011, accessed December 17, 2012.
Links to Videos of Interviews: 
Interview with Annemarie Jacir on 'Salt of this Sea'
Salt of this Sea Interview
Analysis
Personal Film Review and Cultural Context: 

An intimate portrayal of the complexity of Palestinian identity, Salt of This Sea traces Soraya’s visceral confrontation with her family’s emotional and material heritage. Part road film and part adventure, the journey traces the characters’ struggle to find their places in a forbidden landscape where writer and director Annemarie Jacir develops a stark, yet endearing atmosphere based on the dire circumstances that engulf Soraya’s psyche. The chord struck by Soraya’s relationship with Palestine resonates powerfully in the film’s most sensitive moments and the camera’s eye renders her tribulations to be memorable long after the film is over. Moreover, the observational standpoint of the cinematic apparatus allows Jacir to give viewers a larger picture of Soraya as an individual, a symbol of occupied Palestine’s oppression and a powerful voice against a country that still denies its citizens many basic freedoms.

~Farhat Rahman

Readings: 

Terri Ginsberg, “Palestinian Women Filmmakers in the New World Diaspora,” accessed December 17, 2012, http://www.academia.edu/1268981/Palestinian_Women_Filmmakers_in_the_New_World_Diaspora

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