Habibi Bistanani And il Bahar

'My Love Awaits Me by the Sea' is a poetic documentary narrating the story of director Mais Darwazah, who takes a first time journey back to her homeland, Palestine. She leaves a secluded reality and follows a lover whom she has never met; Hasan, a Palestinian artist, who unveils a beautiful and Utopian world to her. Fairytale and reality are woven together to question the elusiveness of place and the need to believe in dreams. In a land fragmented and engulfed by years of struggle, she finds her tranquil love awaiting her in a 'home' protected and held together by today's Palestinians. They defy their everyday reality - far removed from their needs - by holding onto their dreams. This film pays tribute to Hasan Hourani, a Palestinian artist who, with his imagination, rises above the Occupation. Hourani completed 'Hasan is Everywhere', a children's book of illustration and poetry, just before his tragic death by drowning in the forbidden sea of Jaffa in 2003.