Anas: An Indian Film

Colour, DIGIBETA
Spain, 2009, 118 min
IP – International premiere
Section: Documentary Films in Competition

Synopsis

Anas Zaghlul from the town of Nablus is an engaging Palestinian who was once a promising athlete and an usher at a movie theater. One dark night several years earlier he found the mutilated corpse of a Palestinian woman, a victim of revenge for allegedly cooperating with the Israelis. Since that time, Anas has known what it means to be on the brink of madness. With the perceptive eye of a cameraman, the filmmaker suggestively links one individual’s state of mind with a contemplative look at an occupied country whose dismal reality is reminiscent of a never-ending nightmare. In order to achieve an intense existential feel, he makes use of innovative visual symbols and literary texts (e.g. Robert Walser). His uncommon hero, Anas, looks back to his childhood and adolescence, mulls over memories of friends and of his brother, whose life was cut short by alcohol. Despite occasional confrontations with psychiatrists and with an imam concerned about possession by the devil, Anas tries to lead a quiet life.

About the director

Enric Miró spent the past three years in Jerusalem as a reporter for Catalan public television, where he has worked since 1989 as a cameraman on documentaries, current affairs reports, and the daily news. In 2004 he shot his first documentary for television, Miguel on the Spot (Miguel: ne terren), taking it to many festivals and winning awards in New York, Cracow, and Geneva. He has been making short films since the early 1990s (Abran las puertas, Los días de Figaro), and they have enjoyed festival play as well.