Ship of Fools
This animated documentary stitches together colorful and ragged fragments of the personal life of Alia, a Lebanese woman. Growing up facing war and displacement, searching and not finding freedom, she forms a friendship with a would-be superhero on the shore of Beirut called Abu Samra. She trains with him, and their monsters meet. Together, Alia and Abu Samra survive by finding comfort in the insanity that the city has sown in them. When the Lebanese revolution starts on October 17, 2019, they realize they are not alone.
Directors Spotlight
Alia Haju
Director
Alia Haju is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and musician. Alia grew up in South Lebanon until 1994 when she fled, during the Israeli war on Lebanon, to the UAE and later the US. In 2005 she returned to Lebanon to complete a BFA at AUB. She then worked at Reuters as a photographer and photo editor, covering the SWANA region and the Syrian war, and as a freelance investigative video-journalist for multiple media organizations. She is co-author of the award-winning feature-doc “Kashkash”. Alia received multiple funds for her films like AFAC, Dohafilminstitute, MFG Filmförderung and a music album fund from NYFA.
- Runtime
- 29 minutes
- Country
- Lebanon, Germany, United States
- Language
- Arabic, English
- Director
- Alia Haju
- Cast
- Jan Fabi
- Cinematographer
- Jan Fabi
- Composer
- Luis Schöffend
- Editor
- Tobias Wilhelmer
- Screenwriter
- Manuel Rees, Frank Carsten Walter
- Sound Design
- Luis Schöffend
- Animator
- Amelie Kahlo, Alexia Mokry
- Music
- Huda Asfour
- Producer
- Manuel Rees, Frank Carsten Walter
- Premiere
- World