{"id":1577,"date":"2026-06-08T13:07:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:07:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:07:03","slug":"palestine-german-project-chentian-by-lemon-tree-the-syrian-bride-scribe-suha-arraf-adds-jordan-co-producer-arab-media-network-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1577","title":{"rendered":"Palestine-German Project \u2018Chentian,\u2019 by \u2018Lemon Tree,\u2019 \u2018The Syrian Bride\u2019 Scribe Suha Arraf, Adds Jordan Co-Producer Arab Media Network (EXCLUSIVE)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tPedigreed Palestinian producer May Odeh (\u201cAisha Can\u2019t Fly Away,\u201d \u201cA Useful Ghost,\u201d \u201cHanging Gardens,\u201d\u201c200 Meters\u201d) has added Jordan\u2019s Rina Khoury from Arab Media Network \u2018s Abu-Lughod Studios to her early list of backers of \u201cChentian,\u201d helmed by \u201cLemon Tree\u201d and \u201cThe Syrian Bride\u201d scribe Suha Arraf.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1575\">U.K. Detective Drama Series \u2018Death in Benidorm,\u2019 Brazil\u2019s \u2018Emergency 53\u2019 to Bow at Italian Global Series Festival<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe buzzy project, now in development, scooped the \u20ac35,000 ($41,650) Tin Post-Production Award at this year\u2019s\u00a0G\u00f6teborg Film Festival Nordic Film Market. It will next be pitched June 10 at the ECAM Forum co-production market in Madrid.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tOdeh, who received the <em>Variety<\/em> MENA Talent Award in 2000, is producing for Odeh Films in Palestine and Germany\u2019s Mayana Films, co-founded with Zorana Mu\u0161iki. The film is produced in association with German producer Lena Zimmerhackel and with support from the Arab Cultural Fund.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tSet in \u201can isolated farming Palestinian village inside Israel\u201d according to the logline, \u201cChentian\u201d centers on two sisters, Nabila and Shams, bound by an exchange marriage to two brothers. When her husband dies in a tractor accident, Nabila who lives trapped in the same household as Shams and her husband Walid, starts to develop a forbidden desire for her brother-in-law. As Israeli authorities begin confiscating their land, personal tensions collide with political pressure.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201c\u2018Chentian\u2019 is a feminist and political film about the relationship between women\u2019s bodies and the land. The body and the earth intersect through a strong symbolic layer, as both are sources of creation and women and the land alike are both given without limits,\u201d Arraf told <em>Variety<\/em>, before expanding the core of the film.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThere can be no liberation of Palestine without the liberation of women,\u201d she pointed out, adding: \u201cIn \u2018Chentian,\u2019 the female protagonists were raised to believe that they are not capable, that they lack the strength or ability to act. But when an opportunity finally presents itself, they discover that they are powerful and fully capable of doing anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201c\u2019Chentian\u2019 tells the story of repressed female potential and the lack of confidence women are often made to feel about their own abilities, until they come to realize how strong they truly are.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tUnderscoring the rural setting, a rarity as \u201cmost Palestinian films take place in refugee camps or cities,\u201d Arraf said the atmosphere in the pic draws from her own experience of growing up until the age of 18 in \u201ca beautiful Galilean village near the Lebanese border [the Israeli town of Mi\u2019ilyaa]. \u201cYou may leave the village, but the village never leaves you,\u201d she observed.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1573\">\u2018Obsession\u2019 Producers Tea Shop on Finding Curry Barker, Why YouTube Creators Shouldn\u2019t Immediately \u2018Move On to $20 Million Studio Movies\u2019 and Sequel Talks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tTo pay for her university studies, she herself worked in tobacco farming, a harsh physical work \u201cwhich taught me patience and faith in the belief that eventually you will see the result of what you have planted and cared for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe relationship to the land is extremely important for us Palestinians,\u201d Arraf insisted. \u201cMost of our land has been confiscated, taken away to build roads, military camps, or settlements [Israelis] call \u2018mitzpe\u2019. I still remember being around 10 years-old, when large parts of my village\u2019s land were confiscated. But the village resisted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tGoing back to her feature, Arraf said locations, cast and crew are still up in the air as the film is in the financing stage. But she feels confident in the hands of Odeh, \u201ca Palestinian like me who also comes from a small village. She is an exceptional producer and a fierce fighter for the films she believes in,\u201d Arraf stressed.<br \/>Odeh for her part said that when first approached by Arraf a year and a half ago, she was convinced by the material and the helmer\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI came on board \u2018Chentian\u2019 first of all as a Palestinian producer who is deeply committed to producing more films by women directors, and especially more stories where women are not on the margins, but truly at the center,\u201d said Odeh. \u201cWhat immediately moved me [with \u201cChentian\u201d] is how the film speaks about very intimate female experiences while still reflecting larger political realities, without becoming didactic,\u201d added the producer who will be looking at ECAM Forum for potential co-producers \u2013 including\u00a0from Spain, sales agents and festival programmers.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMeanwhile Arraf whose first feature, the multi-awarded \u201cVilla Touma,\u201d hit the screens in 2014, is looking forward to her second directorial gig.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cI write for other directors\u00a0because I truly love writing. But the kind of films I aspire to direct are different: visually layered with minimal dialogue, built on complex human relationships, symbolism, poetry and the beauty of the image itself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tHer next screenplay, entitled \u201cKingdom of Bees,\u201d will also be female-focused. Inspired by a true story from her village that involved a woman from her own family, the story set against the backdrop of war in Lebanon will focus on the \u201cgolden generation of peasant women.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1571\">Samuel Releases \u2018Samuelito,\u2019 Blending Latin, Reggaeton and K-Pop<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Madrid ECAM Forum-bound \u2018Chentian\u2019 by Suha Arraf\u00a0has added Jordan to its Palestine-Germany co-production\u00a0set up.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1166,1448,1449,1450,1451],"class_list":["post-1577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-ecam-forum","tag-lemon-tree","tag-may-odeh","tag-mayana-films","tag-suha-arraf"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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