In a bid to qualify for the 2015 Oscar race, UAE-born Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel has launched a crowd-funding campaign for his documentary A World Not Ours on Aflamnah.com.
Fleifel, along with producer Patrick Campbell, aims to raise $30,000 (Dh110,190)to secure a seven-day theatrical release in Los Angeles. As per the regulations of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a film will not be considered for Oscar consideration if has not been released in New York and Los Angeles.
A World Not Ours, which received the Sanad grant in 2012 from Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF), is an intimate, humorous portrait of three generations of a family in exile in the refugee camp of Ain El-Helweh in southern Lebanon.
Based on a wealth of personal recordings, family archives and historical footage, the film is a study of belonging, friendship and family. The film also features home videos of Fleifel’s childhood in Dubai during the 1980s.
While the funds collected through the campaign will go towards mandatory advertising, publicity and lobbying costs, the campaign offers rewards in exchange for pledges. Your support could make you richer by $10 and even $15,000.
According to a statement, rewards range from thank you credits and souvenirs from Ain El-Helweh to executive producer credits and script evaluations for aspiring filmmakers.
Ain El-Helweh is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon and is home to 70,000 refugees cramped within a square kilometre.
“We never gave the prospect any thought until people started telling us we had a good chance, given the film’s success, and that we should give it a shot. We were also encouraged by the Arab film nominations in this year’s Oscars race.
Ask any filmmaker what they wish or look forward to the most, and they’ll likely say screening their film in front of a big audience, so for us the Oscars ultimately means winning more viewers,” said Fleifel in a statement.
The 2014 Oscars has robust Arab participation with nominations for Hany Abu-Assad’s feature film Omar, Jehane Noujaim’s feature documentary The Square and Sara Ishaq’s short documentary Karma Has No Walls.
Aflamnah.com will run the campaign for forty days until March 2014. This may be extend if the financial target is not met.
To make a contribution, go to
http://www.aflamnah.com/en/a-world-not-ours-academy-award-campaign/