A short film that portrays the touching naive vision of a child, Jawed, of the socio-political conflict between Israel and Palestine.
WHO ARE WE AND WHAT IS OUR GOAL?
We are a crew of 5 portuguese Film School students from UBI, in Covilhã, and ESAP, in Oporto. We are not professional, we are just learning and trying to expand our horizons, making a contribution to our curriculum and professional future.
Our goal is to raise money for the production of the short film Jawed, which is right now in the early stages of Pre-production, and has come to a halt, as we don´t have the money we need to cover all the expenses necessary for us to move forward.
With this project we hope to achieve some esthetical perfection and call people’s attention to the important socio-political problem that we are approaching, which is often forgotten and ignored.
THE STORY
The short-film Jawed tells the story of 7 year old Palestinian boy, called Jawed. He lives a tough childhood and feels constantly threatened by the socio-political environment he lives in: the Israelite-Palestinian conflict.
Jawed is a dreamy and ambitious child, and taking into account his circumstances and the consequences this conflict has already caused in his life, including his father’s death, he takes the adult decision of putting an end to the war between his country and Israel. To do it, he plans on using his own toys, but these aren’t many, so as a last resort, Jawed writes a letter to Santa Claus.
OUR PROJECT
Jawed is a project that the crew is very close to. We would really like to see it getting made, and it’s the kind of project that we’d be very proud to see having a “happy ending”.
We feel that this short film holds a great importance to society, as it has a message that must get to everybody’s ears and, more specifically, everybody’s eyes. I’d say it’s definitely a project that has a chance to stand on its own.
This fiction short is based on the Israelite-Palestinian socio-political conflict, which will appear just as narrative background, told through the innocent, naive and pure eyes of a Palestinian child, who lives amidst the chaos of this war.
This short film has no elements of morality or judgement. The main purpose is to sensitize the audience and society by way of metaphors, symbolisms and a child’s point of view, without using violent and shocking images or events that actually happened in the East.
The choice of having a child leading the story is no coincidence, and it is, perhaps, the strongest and most important part of the narrative. It is a subtle way of creating empathy with the audience and raising awareness to the events going on in these two countries.
Above all, we want to show a reality that is often overlooked by a lot of people and that doesn’t get the attention it deserves, a reality that doesn’t exist in the countries protected by the European Union, a reality that many close their eyes to and pay little attention to, a raw reality that many live and suffer daily.
It’s a project that wants to speak for those who can’t.
