The Jacket [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Mathijs Poppe
ficha de la película] is a portrait of Jamal Hindawi, a Palestinian man who lives in exile with his family in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. Together with his friends, he makes political theatre about their profound connection to their homeland, Palestine, and their situation as refugees in their country of residence, Lebanon. When Jamal embarks on a journey to search for an important lost theatre prop, he witnesses how the successive political and economic crises have disrupted an entire region and its people.

The documentary, helmed by Ghent-born filmmaker Mathijs Poppe, will be screened in the Luminous section of this year’s IDFA, running from 14-24 November.

Speaking about his long-gestating project, the director says: “I met Jamal during my first visit to the Shatila refugee camp about 13 years ago, when I was 19. I volunteered at a youth centre in Shatila and had brought a camera with me to conduct interviews with the people I met in the camp. I wanted to make a documentary about the camp and the situation of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

“However, as I filmed the people who had welcomed me so heartily, I noticed how I fell into the same traps as many other media outlets. […] Instead of me using the camera to bridge connections, it felt like it had created more distance. Disheartened, I decided not to use the footage upon my return to Belgium.

“In the years after, I came to the realisation that shifting the filmmaker-subject relationship was essential in order to change the narrative. By introducing fictional contexts, I wanted to share the production process of making a film with the people I had met in Shatila. In this way, we would be able to tell a story together. Since Jamal had a background in theatre, I asked him and his family whether they wanted to join me in making a film together.”

The Jacket is being produced by Elisa Heene for Mirage (Belgium) in co-production with Elisa Sepulveda Ruddoff for Fulgurance (France), Noortje Wilschut for Family Affair Films (Netherlands) and Lara Abou Saifan for Placeless Films (Lebanon). Berlin-based Pluto Film is selling it worldwide.

Check out our exclusive trailer below: