Out of Competition
World Premiere

WAITING FOR QUDS



Devorah Blachor

Country of production: Israel
Year: 2004
Language: English, Hebrew, Arabic
Mins: 79

Production company: Bo Co Productions
Producer: Matt Rees
Cinematography: Devorah Blachor
Editing: Matt Rees, Devorah Blachor
Music: Ivan Reichl

Source: Blachor, Devorah
Shai Agnon 10 Apt. 22
Jerusalem, Israel 93589
Tel: +972 544 485 395
Fax: + 972 2 566 4947
e-mail: bo@netvision.net.il


The reality of coexistence for Jew and Arab, a life constantly invaded and divided by politics and war, is epitomized by the marriage of Abed al-Ahmar, a Palestinian Muslim raised in a West Bank refugee camp and Allegra Pacheco, an Israeli human rights lawyer from a middle-class New York Jewish home. Filmmaker Devorah Blachor, Allegra’s cousin, chronicles how Allegra and Abed bridged the enormous gaps of religion, culture and country to come together. The film follows Allegra before and after Abed is arrested during an Israeli army raid on Bethlehem, and then imprisoned as an administrative detainee without charge or trial. At the time of the arrest, Allegra is five months pregnant. As Allegra goes through her pregnancy and fights to get her husband out of prison, the film goes back in time to examine their disparate childhoods. For Abed and Allegra, these differences of nationality, religion and culture are not as important as what binds them – love, a commitment to a better world for all, and their son Quds. Waiting for Quds makes an ideal companion piece to Until When… and This World: Inside Israel’s Jails, also screening in the 2005 CIDF.


Devorah Blachor has worked as a producer, director, video editor and writier in the United States and Israel. In her capacity as a writer and journalist, Ms. Blachor was the Jerusalem correspondent for the New York Daily News for three years, covering the Aqsa Intifada. She has written news, features and human interest articles for a number of American, European and Israeli newspapers and magazines.

FILMOGRAPHY

WAITING FOR QUDS (2004)
MASS OF THE MILLENIUM (2000)

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2005 AT 5.30 PM. / FACET CINEMATHEQUE
SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2005 AT 8.30 PM. / CHOPIN THEATRE