When I Saw You

Preview + Q&A with director Annemarie Jacir
Thu 5 June, 6.30pm

'A touching, beautiful masterpiece of a film, an ode to the displaced the world over and to any of us who have ever lived somewhere other than our own birth country, yearning for home.'
-The Huffington Post

Listen to the Q&A from this event

1967. The world is alive and ripe with possibility - new music, style, hope. But in Jordan, thousands of refugees from Palestine are held waiting for their right to return to their homeland. Amidst this, a young boy yearns to be reunited with his father. Restlessly cooped up in the refugee camp, he secretly sets out on his own, and along the way, attaches himself to a group of young freedom fighters who take him under their wing. Together, they embark on a journey of adventure, driven by an unshakable resolve to be free.

Following on the acclaimed Salt of this Sea, writer and director Annemarie Jacir proves with When I Saw You that she has become a leader in Palestinian contemporary cinema. This heartfelt and moving film, Palestine's entry for the 2013 Academy Awards, is suffused with a distinct sense of this revolutionary time and place.

Palestinian-born Annemarie Jacir is one of the leading figures of the 'Arab New Wave', with two films premiering as official selections of the Cannes Film Festival, one in Venice and most recently Berlin with When I Saw You, which won the NETPAC award for Best Asian Film there. Garnering a nomination at the Asian Pacific Screen Awards, it was also Palestine's 2013 Oscar Entry for Best Foreign Language Film. When I Saw You's production was noted for being entirely Arab and Palestinian financed, with a Palestinian cast and crew, and all Palestinian producers, marking a new trend for independent cinema. Part of a group of Arab filmmakers pushing new boundaries, she has written, directed and produced over sixteen films.