Written and directed by Award winning Palestinian American filmmaker Mohammed Saffouri, Touchline will celebrate its North America Premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.
Touchline is based on director Mohammed Saffouri’s grandfather’s life, on the day he was drafted for the National soccer team, a war began in Palestine, and he was forced to give up his dream. This Arabic film is Basil Aksar’s (Ahmad) breakthrough performance.
Touchline shares the story set in 1948, of a teenage boy called Ahmad who plays soccer in a local club in his town Haifa. He gets an offer to play for the Palestinian National Team after a wonderful performance in a friendly match. On his way back home, Ahmad and his two friends face soldiers blocking their way and see the people of the city fleeing, only to come home and find his family also packing to flee and seek refuge somewhere safe. This marked the beginnings of an ongoing war in Palestine, Ahmad had to leave his home, friends and most importantly his dreams behind.
Director Mohammed Saffouri distinguished himself early on in his film career by earning a Capital Emmy for his debut documentary film, The First. Touchline is the first Jordanian film to be screened at Tribeca, and Saffouri is also the first alumni from George Mason University to have a film screened at Tribeca in the festival’s history. He graduated from George Mason University in 2020 with a degree in Film and Video Studies and a concentration in Film Directing. Throughout his eight years in the film and media industry, he has directed three films, produced four films, written three films, and created more than ten promotional videos for companies and non-profits. His work has been screened at such festivals as the Washington DC International Film Festival, the Virginia Film Festival, the Malmo Arab Film Festival, and others. The talented young director is currently developing his first narrative feature film.
Touchline will screen at Tribeca Film Festival on Monday, June 13th at 8:00 pm and Saturday, 18th June at 8:30 pm.
Watch the first official trailer for Touchline.
Touchline is produced by Tareq Baddar, the stunning cinematography was created by Ghassan Nazmi and the beautiful symphonies were composed by Omar El-Deeb.