Doc Corner: A 'Mayor' in Palestine

By Glenn Dunks

Documentaries about bureaucracy can be tricky. Not everybody has the luxury of being Frederick Wiseman and be given over four hours to luxuriate in the minutiae of a major city’s political processes like he did in this year’s City Hall. And if nothing particularly interesting happens then all you’re left with is a movie about people pushing paper around for 90 minutes, which would thrill me by doubtful many others. American director David Osit is at something of an advantage with Mayor, however; set in the city of Ramallah in the Palestinian West Bank.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Osit has missed the obvious story right in front of his face. For the opening stretches of Mayor, about Ramallah’s Mayor Musa Hadid, the director is seemingly content to focus on administrative nonsense including an amusing, extended narrative strand around Hadid’s inability to grasp the concept of city branding (as a public servant myself, I related). I was beginning to think that this film would be just a curious diversion showing how life in the Palestinian National Authority does carry on.

But Osit proves to be much smarter than that in how he has structured Mayor...

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Chi Film Fest: Palestine's Oscar submission "Gaza Mon Amour"

by Nick Taylor

I felt much warmer towards Gaza Mon Amour at its conclusion than when it began. The gradual expansion of its story and stabilization of its aesthetic strategies are what got me on its side. At its core, Gaza Mon Amour is buoyed by the mutual, barely spoken ardor between fisherman Issa (Salim Daw) and dressmaker Siham (Hiam Abbass), but the script gives near-equal attention to their work lives and the friends and family members that populate their lives. It’s an admirable scope, though one might wonder when Tarzan and Arab Nasser, the twin sibling writer/director duo behind Palestine’s International Film submission, are going to move their story forward. It’s not clear for the first half hour whether the film will find itself or collapse entirely...

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