AT the El Gouna Film Festival, young Palestinian director Mohammed Almughanni won the Audience Award for his wonderful short film, An Orange From Jaffa. Born and raised in Gaza, Mohammed moved to Ramallah in the West Bank as a teenager. He then decided to study at Lodz film school in Poland, and to create stories about the communities living in the shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

An Orange From Jaffa recalls his attempt to visit relatives in Jaffa. 

You shot An Orange from Jaffa before the Gaza conflict. Do you think the tone of the movie would have been different if you were telling the same story now? 
Yes. When this happened to me I felt the heaviness of that world, the contempt, and I wanted to express a quiet violence. The story is set at a checkpoint. It’s not a border; it’s within Palestine. East Jerusalem is considered by the UN to be occupied Palestinian land. But this is what happens every day. They’re controlling our lives; many cities have checkpoints like this.

Can you describe the two characters in the story?
The young protagonist is naive because he lives in Europe. He’s not guilty of anything, he has a residency card in Europe, and there he can move wherever he wants. The taxi driver is an ordinary man who tries to do his job conscientiously. But the occupation traps them in one place. 

Do the characters fear for their lives in this everyday situation?
It is very similar to what normally happens. I saw many times on checkpoints, soldiers standing there drinking Coca-Cola, and taking selfies, and making fun, and TikTok videos. If you go to TikTok or Instagram, you will see how they’re burning houses in Gaza, and killing, and shooting, and posting on Facebook and social media and TikTok. It’s an army on TikTok, unfortunately.

But this film is not about Gaza, it’s about the West Bank. In Gaza, it’s a very different reality. It’s another level of tragedy to be honest. I couldn’t go to Gaza, and I wish I could go and make my films there, that I always dreamed of making.

Why is it called An Orange From Jaffa?
The oranges of Jaffa are very well known for their quality. There were many orchards that were cut down when they built the city of Tel Aviv. Jaffa is known for the best oranges. Because they couldn’t go to Jaffa, they taste an orange from Jaffa. It’s a metaphor, it’s a smell from Jaffa.

They are in the West Bank, but what’s the situation in Gaza?
From Gaza nobody can go to Jaffa for sure. They cannot even go to Ramallah. Gaza, for 20 years, has been an open-air prison. Almost nobody can leave Gaza, with very few exceptions. There are many IDs: Gaza ID, West Bank ID, Jerusalem ID, 48 ID, Lebanese ID, but they’re all Palestinians. They divided us with so many different IDs. 

Why did you have an argument with the British press, the Daily Telegraph?
In November, last year, at the IDFA Forum, I was pitching a film, Son Of The Streets. I questioned why IDFA didn’t take a side when it came to solidarity with Palestinians who are being oppressed in Gaza, and a genocide is happening.

IDFA has stood for Ukraine, for example. They changed their logo to include the flag of Ukraine. But when it’s in Palestine, they didn’t say anything.

Instead, they accused me of anti-semitism simply because I was talking about my film and about the situation. IDFA stated: “We don’t endorse ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.” And I asked them: “What do you endorse — Palestine from where to where? From the wall to the wire? Or from where to where?”

The British media misquoted me. I had said clearly that there are many Jewish people who are standing on the side of Palestine and it’s not about religion, but they accused me of anti-semitism. I am not anti-semitic. I am a Semite myself because we, Palestinians, are Semites too.

An interview with Mohammed Almughanni can be viewed here https://www.facebook.com/reel/1052627846298363