Tick-tock: Palestinian/Egyptian short film seeks financial support

Ahram Online, Monday 14 Jan 2013

Hamilton's latest film has been invited to premier at the Rotterdam Film Festival this January

Though I Know the River is Dry
Still shot from 'Though I Know the River is Dry'

'Though I Know The River is Dry' is an independent short film which tells the story of Alaa, a Palestinian man caught between the past and the future. It's been invited to screen at the Rotterdam Film Festival this month and the Doha Tribeca Film Festival later this year.

The film is also nominated among 23 titles in the Rotterdam Film Festival's Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films.

While in currently in its final stages of editing, it still needs financial support to be able to "professionally colour and grade the picture and mix the sound. It will give the film the full depth of sound design and picture detail that it needs to make an impact."

Written and directed by independent filmmaker and producer of the annual Palestine Festival of Literature Omar Robert Hamilton, the film features Paradise Now star Kais Nahif.

In his director's statement, Omar Robert Hamilton, who is also a co-founder of the media collective Mosireen, explains that filmmakers and artists have an obligation to tell people's stories.

"With this short I think we are telling a relevant and resonant story, and telling it in a way that is both challenging and dramatic," he said.

"Having worked in Palestine for the last five years, living there for a month or two each year, I have been constantly thinking about how cinema - our most immersive artform - can hope to recreate even a fraction of the Palestinian experience," the director continues.

For more information about contributing to this film here.

Short link: