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The Idol Trailer (2016)

Trailer for The Idol, starring Qais Atallah and Hiba Atallah.

Gaza. Synonymous to so many with conflict, destruction and despair but to Mohammed Assaf, and his sister Nour, Gaza is their home and their playground. It’s where they, along with their best friends Ahmad and Omar, play music and football and dare to dream big. Their band might play on secondhand, beaten-up instruments, but their ambitions are sky-high. For Mohammed and Nour, nothing less than playing the world-famous Cairo Opera Hall will do. It might take them a lifetime to get there but, as Mohammed will find out, some dreams are worth living for.

In an attempt to remain authentic, The Idol actually did some of its filming on location in Gaza. While you might first think this is not a big deal -- really? -- this is the first feature film to do so in decades.

If you are thinking this is a Slumdog Millionaire spin-off, it's hard to blame you, but the film is in fact based on a very true story of Mohammed Assaf, who made his way from a refugee camp in Gaza to Egypt by car in two days. Border delays caused the hopeful singer to arrive to Arab Idol -- yes this is real -- a bit late, causing him to get locked out of additions. If you can fight to make it out of Gaza, what the heck is a hotel door gonna do, right? In order to get noticed, he jumped a wall and began to sing to contestants and... well... the rest of the story is too good to tell and should be saved for this movie.

The Idol Trailer Screencap

I hadn't heard of Mohamamd Assaf, so when the The Idol trailer began I couldn't help but think this film was desperately trying to be the next Slumdog. Then it became clear with the help of the critical acclaim that something non-fiction was going on here. Since just about everybody recognizes the location Gaza -- though I doubt many can find it on a map -- the film gets extra kudos of portraying a biopic that is truly pretty dang cool. Even without Gaza as the source of our protagonist, the story of Mohamamd is uplifting and, if you want to be impresses by the guy, feel free to spoil yourself over at Wikipedia.

Duration
2 min 4 sec

Views
2,454

Posted On
March 08, 2016
Director
Hany Abu-Assad

Writer
Hany Abu-Assad

Studio
StudioCanal

Release
May 6, 2016
Cast
Qais Atallah
Hiba Atallah
Abd-Elkarim Abu-Barakeh
Teya Hussein
Tawfeek Barhom
Trailer Tracks
No Music Available
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