The Tale of the Three Jewels
Screening with the director Michel Khleifi
© Michel Khleifi / Sindibad Films
Film
screening in the presence of the director Michel Khleifi, as part of the lectures on "colonial violence & anti-colonial
cinema". An event by the Department of Transcultural Studies.
The event will
be followed by a Q&A with the director in French with English translation.
Synopsis
Yussef,
a twelve-year old Palestinian, is a child of the Intifada: while his father is in prison and his brother a fugitive from the
Israeli army, he lives alone with his mother and sister. Even though his life is constantly marked by violence, he lives in
his imagination, often escaping from the refugee-camps to the Gaza country-side. One day, as he is bird-hunting, he becomes
the hero of a modern-day tale: he falls in love with Aida, a young gypsy girl who is the "leader" of a group of children.
In order to marry her, Yussef must first find the three jewels missing from a family necklace, brought from South America
by the girl's grand-father.
How can Yussef reach such a distant continent? His quest, woven into the daily lives
of the people of Gaza, will lead him to his death and at the same time to his resurrection thanks to a wise old man who recites
to him the enigmatic words inscribed on a manuscript which Yussef must first find and then throw into a desert well... It
is thus that Yussef not only discovers the three jewels but also life and its meaning.
