Directed by Muayad Alayan and co-written alongside Rami Alayan, the film will be distributed in the Arab world by MAD Solutions.
Following Muayad Alayan’s A House in Jerusalem‘s world premiere at the 2023 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in the Limelight section, the international sales agent Heretic Films released the film’s international poster.
The poster depicts the film’s heroine, Rebecca, sinking below the surface of the water, reflecting the enigmatic journey that she will dive into in an attempt to reveal the mystery around her new home.
After distributing Alayan’s previous two features — The Reports on Sarah and Saleem (2018) and Love, Theft, and Other entanglements (2015) — MAD Solutions will also be distributing A House in Jerusalem in the Arab world.
In the hope of fulfilling their life-long desire of living in the Holy Land, a Jewish American family move to Jerusalem, where they buy a house that was once the property of Palestinians. Shortly after they settle in, they discover the grave of a young Palestinian girl in their new garden, which dates to the 1940s. Their hopes for a utopian life begin to crumble as seven-year-old Rebecca finds it hard to adapt to her new home, and is increasingly haunted by the ghost of the dead girl.
Starring Johnny Harris, Makran Khoury, Souad Feres, Miley Locke, and Sheherazade Makhoul Farrell, A House in Jerusalem was the only Arab project selected for the 36th edition of Cinemart the IFFR Pro’s Production market.
The film was co-produced by PalCine Productions in Palestine, Wellington Films in the UK, Red Balloon Films in Germany (who are also collaborating with MAD Solutions in Ameer Fakher Eldin’s Yunan), Metafora Production in Qatar, and Key Film.
The film also received several development funds from the Doha Film Institute, Netherlands Film Fund, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, British Film Institute, and French Consulate General Jerusalem. Additionally, it received the Filmmore Postproduction Award and the AFAC’s Cinema Grant.
A House in Jerusalem is Alayan’s second film to world premiere at Rotterdam, following the success of his sophomore feature The Reports on Sarah and Saleem, which starred Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi and won 2 awards at the 2018 IFFR.
