Profile:Basil Khalil/Director/Oscar Nom/Ave Maria

Award winning director Basil Khalil was born and raised in Nazareth, to a Palestinian
father and British mother. After studying for an MA at Screen Academy Scotland, in
Edinburgh, Basil worked on a number of television productions in London. In 2011 Basil
was featured by SCREEN International Magazine as one of “top 10 Arab filmmakers to
watch”.  Quote "In the film I focus on the strict rules and obligations that the nuns and Israeli settlers adhere to, which sometimes border on the absurd, preventing each of these groups from interacting with each other despite living on the same piece of land. However, sometimes due to exceptional circumstances, their two worlds collide, leaving them with no choice but to recognise the absurdity of their strict rules, whether they be political or religious, and ultimately break them. They have to work together to overcome their differences, even if it’s just for a few hours. It is these absurd and unique rules and situations that have always sparked my interest when finding new material, because that is where you find the deep, humane, and extraordinary life stories. The nuns you see in the film live a life of silence under the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, as well as a life of religious silence and solitude. On the other hand we have the Israeli settlers, who represent one of the reasons behind this military occupation, yet they are also "occupied" by their strong religious beliefs and rules. I wanted to highlight the mutual mistrust that these two groups have for one other, as well as their eventual cooperation and the lessons learned from this adventure, and to show that it is possible for people to put aside their differences in the name of a common goal" You can email your questions to 123filmeasy@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @123Film