Elvis of Nazareth

a film by Rani Massalha

Hamoudy, a 12-year-old beggar of the streets of Nazareth, befriends Khalil, an old singer and a fan of Elvis Presley. Khalil claims that the “King” himself gave him his oud. The child steals him his instrument, and tries to sell the oud. But Hamoudy soon realizes that the oud is worth nothing, and that Khalil is just a dreamer.

Gold Wihr – Arabian Film Festival in Oran, in competition at Doha Film Festival…

« This story deals with very local subjects. My fellow Palestinian countrymen liked a lot the subject because for once, we tell a story and we do not limit ourselves to politics. The Palestinians need that, to be told stories about people who live somewhat “ordinary” lives. » Rani Massalha

Rani Massalha
A Palestinian political refugee who studied in France, started working in cinema with Misr International Films in Cairo (Yussef Shahin & Co) as a production assistant, and later as an assistant for Rachid Bouchareb (« Outside the Law ») and the directors Hiner Saleem and Bruno Dumont. Rani is currently developing a feature, « Giraffada », as a co-writer, co-producer and director with MACT Productions and Antoine de Clermont Tonnerre (President of uniFrance), in addition to two original scripts.

MACT Productions
Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre created MACT in 1992 with is wife Martine, both already having strong filmographies as feature films producers. Together, they’ve produced, among others, « Central do Brasil » by Walter Salles, « Cabaret Balkan » by Goran Paskaljevic, « Comédie de l’innocence » by Raoul Ruiz, « Le Pont des Arts » by Eugène Green, « Nue Propriété » by Joachim Lafosse or « La Fiancée Syrienne » and « Les Citronniers » by Eran Riklis, and many more.