Omar is a marvel of a film, not only for its content, but for what it represents within cinema history for Palestine. Waleed Zuaiter and Hany Abu Assad assembled a team of Palestinian investors and producers to invest in the film in order to avoid being referenced as the “occupied territories” at Hollywood awards shows. This film was not only the first film to be nominated as “Palestine” at the Oscars, but also the first Palestinian film to be honored at the UN in 2014 and was a prelude to the Palestinian flag being raised at the UN in 2015.

Abu Assad focuses on a perspective of Palestinian survival that is not covered in the mainstream news, following a young Palestinian man who is blackmailed into working as an informant for the IDF and has to choose between his freedom, his friends and the love of his life. This nuanced take on the search for freedom doesn’t shy away from exposing the harsh realities that are faced when having to fight for autonomy under an occupation. Sometimes, you become the thing you despise the most in order to secure stability for those you love the most. — Laith Zuaiter