Norsk filminstitutt

Documentary film Life Is Beautiful
(Life Is Beautiful - Al Haya Helwa)


Living the diaspora wasn’t a choice. In forced exile, in the dark, arctic winter, Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly is fighting using his camera to feed hope for a better future.  


A young Palestinian filmmaker is invited to Norway to share his work: creating and spreading positive images of his hometown Gaza. While on tour, the border to Gaza closes indefinitely and he is stranded in the Arctic. With nowhere to go, he applies for residency and in the process finds himself stripped of his identity. Thus begins an odyssey through bureaucracy. Refusing to be put in a box, he turns his camera on himself to define his identity, find his future, and create his own story. 

Production and distribution

Production Year:
2023
Production country:
Norway
Co production country:
Palestine
Qatar
Release date (national):
2023-11-13
Release date (international):
2023-11-13
Production company:
Stray Dog Productions Oslo
Co production company:
Idiom Films
Al Jazeera
Financing company:
Norwegian Film Institute
Fritt Ord Foundation
Nordnorsk Filmsenter AS
Filmfond Nord
Executive producer:
Mohanad Yaqubi
Esther van Messel
Anne Fabini
Producer:
KriStine Ann Skaret
Co producer:
Anad Abdelwahab
Muhammad Refaat
Film consultant:
Helle Hansen
Eirin Gjørv
Bente Roaldsvig
Ingrid Dokka
Gjermund Gisvold
Sales agent:
First Hand Films

Director

  • Mohamed Jabaly

    Mohamed Jabaly (b. 1990) is a Palestinian filmmaker, producer, and artist from Gaza City. He came to Norway in 2014 and has since made a name for himself in the international film industry. His first full-length documentary, Ambulance, has been shown at several of the world's largest film festivals and has won several awards. These include the One World Media Award for Best Feature Documentary at BAFTA in 2017, the BBC Arabic Young Journalist Award, the SunBird Award at Days of Cinema in Palestine, the FIPA D'or Award, and the Jury Award for Best Documentary at FIPA in Biarritz, France in 2017.

    In addition to his work in filmmaking, Mohamed has conducted filmmaking workshops for young people and served on juries for several film festivals. Currently, he is pursuing his MA in Fine Art at the Oslo National Academy of Art. He holds a BA in Moving Images from Nordland Film & Art College in Northern Norway. In 2019, he joined Stray Dogs production as a director, and his feature documentary Al Haya Helwa / Life is Beautiful is scheduled for release in autumn 2023.  

     

     

     

    Mohamed Jabaly

Awards

2023:
IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
IDFA Award for Best Directing - International Competition
2024:
International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights
Gilda Vieira de Mello Prize
2024:
One World - International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Prague
Best Film
2024:
Docville International Documentary Film Festival
Audience Award

Festivals

2023:
IDFA - International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
2024:
TIFF - Tromsø International Film Festival
2024:
Göteborg International Film Festival
2024:
Human International Documentary Film Festival
2024:
International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights
2024:
West Nordic International Film Festival
2024:
Nordic Palestinian Film Festival
2024:
One World - International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Prague
2024:
Docville International Documentary Film Festival
2024:
Cinema Politica Sofia
2024:
Arabiske filmdager - Arab Film Days
2024:
Liberation DocFest Bangladesh
2024:
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
2024:
DOXA Documentary Film Festival
2024:
Krakow Film Festival

Crew

Director:
Mohamed Jabaly
Screenplay:
Mohamed Jabaly
Cinematographer:
Mohamed Jabaly
Editor:
Erland Edenholm
Anne Fabini
Sound Design:
Anna Nilsson
Composer:
Gaute Barlindhaug
Narrator:
Mohamed Jabaly

Technical information

Genre:
Youth
Society & Politics
Format:
DCP 2k
Screen ratio:
16:9
Colour:
Colour
Sound format:
Stereo 5.1
Length in min's:
93'
Language:
Arabic
English
Norwegian
Subtitles:
English

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