Eran Riklis has completed shooting his new film Dancing Arabs. Sayed Kashua wrote the script based on his eponymous debut novel, and his third novel, Second Person Singular. Starring Tawfeek Barhom, Ali Suliman, Yael Abecassis, Daniel Kitsis, Michael Moshonov, Laëtitia Eïdo, and Norman Issa, the film was shot in Jerusalem and Kfar Kassem over the course of 33 days.
The film tells the story of Eyad (Barhoum), a boy from an Arab village who has the opportunity to attend a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem. Eyad tries hard to fit in with the Jewish-Israeli culture of the late 1980s. He develops a close friendship with Jonathan (Moshonov), who suffers from muscular dystrophy, and is embraced as a member of family by Jonathan’s mother Edna (Abecassis). Time passes and as Saddam Hussein’s Scud missiles loom over the horizon, Eyad knows love and disappointment, and makes a decision that will alter the course of his life forever.
Esteemed director Eran Riklis is known for films such as the recent Human Resources Manager (2010) which won 5 Israeli Ophir Prizes, including Best Screenplay and Best Director; Lemon Tree (2008) which won the Panorama Audience Award in Berlin; and The Syrian Bride (2004) which has garnered over 20 international prizes. His most recent film, Zaytoun (2012), won the Audience Award in Toronto and was the opening film of the Jewish Film Festival Berlin & Potsdam 2013. Zaytoun is currently showing in Israeli theatres.
Arab Israeli author and journalist Sayed Kashua is known for his biting humor as expressed in his novels, columns for Haaretz newspaper, and his very popular television sitcom Avoda Aravit (Arab Labour).
Dancing Arabs is a production of United Channel Movies, co-produced with United King Films. The Israeli/German/French co-production was funded by the Israeli Film Fund, The Jerusalem Film Fund, Eurimages, Canal + CNC, Arte and other European organizations.
