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„Coffee with...“ Adam Bakri and Waleed Zuaiter

Today's „Coffee with...“ session featured actor Adam Bakri, protaganist in the film OMAR which screened last night at the hey! Open Air Cinema, as well as actor and executive producer Waleed Zuaiter.

An engaging audience was present at another relaxed „coffee with“ session with questions focusing on the political aspects and possible consequences of the film; however, Zuaiter refused to make politics the central theme, as does the film itself,  focusing on the „universal“ and „human“ aspects of the Palestinian experience. Indeed, the conversation held that the film was not an attempt to solve any political problems; the backdrop might be contemporary politics, but for Zuaiter the characters and the relationships in the film are what make it worth watching.

Moreover, because of the lack of industry in Palestine, Zuaiter's goal is for film to progress in Palestine, that is, to get to the point where film in Palestine is not always about the „bigger change,“ but about the film itself – a notion audiences across this region might be familar with. His first time producing, Zuaiter admits it was a learning process.

Asked about the reception of the film in Palestine, Bakri says that it has yet to be screened but questions whether the reception can match the overwhelming response of Sarajevo's audience last night.