The Reports on Sarah and Saleem

Based on an affair between Israeli Sarah and Palestinian Saleem, this gripping thriller-drama unfolds into an intricate game involving Israeli intelligence and Palestinian political groups.

When Jewish Sarah tells her colleague at the café she runs that she has been unfaithful to her military husband, the confession is met with a shrug. But when she adds that the man she had an affair with is Palestinian, the reaction takes a dramatic turn. «There are millions of Jewish men, and you choose an Arab!» her colleague exclaims in shock.

Set against the vibrant backdrop of Jerusalem, we witness the lives of the two titular characters being completely turned upside down, while racism and violent tendencies on both sides begin to surface. The film also serves as a powerful feminist commentary, with the women in the story taking the lead in seeking rational solutions to the conflict.

Archive 2019

Director

Muayad Alayan is a Palestinian director and cinematographer based in Jerusalem. He studied film in San Francisco and has directed several short films. His feature film debut, Love, Theft and Other Entanglements, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2015. The Reports on Sarah and Saleem won awards at film festivals including Dubai and Hamburg. His latest film is A House in Jerusalem (2023).

This film is part of