Sharqiya Trailer (2013)

Trailer for Sharqiya.

The plight of a Bedouin family living in an “unrecognized” village in contemporary Israel receives understated but eloquent treatment here. Filmed on location in the Negev desert, this affecting tale pivots on a modest man who yearns to be fully accepted by the country he lives in.

Kamel, an Israeli military veteran, works as a security guard at the central bus station. As he commutes each day from the isolated land owned by his family since the Ottoman Empire (an ownership claim that the Israeli government does not recognize because there are no extant documents), the contrasts between his home and the urban center make it feel as if he is traveling forward and backward in time.

When the Israeli authorities deliver a demolition order for the property, it increases tensions already apparent between Kamel, his older brother and sister-in-law. The brothers try to appeal, but even the Bedouin Authority office advises them to accept compensation and leave their land. As the eviction day approaches, Kamel comes up with a plan...