Basil Khalil received the Best Director award at the Cervignano Film Festival for his short film “Ave Maria”.
The film was awarded Best Screenplay at the Grenoble Film Festival, the oldest French festival for short films, received a special mention at the Palm Springs Short Film Festival, the most important short films festival in North America, and came in first place at Cinema Without Borders.
"Ave Maria" has so far participated in 42 film festivals in 19 countries, including Australia, France, Italy, Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico, the United States, Sweden, Greece and the United Kingdom.
During its 14 minutes, the film depicts the quiet lifestyle of five nuns in a secluded West Bank convent whose vow of silence is broken when Israeli settlers are involved in an accident outside the walls of the convent on a Saturday, the Jewish holy day that prohibits the use of mobile phones and technology.
The title of the film was taken from an ancient Roman Catholic prayer in Latin. The short stars Maria Zurayk, Huda Imam, Shady Srour, Ruth Farhi and Maya Koren.
Khalil wrote the script in collaboration with Daniel Yanez, and it was produced by Incognito Films and Flying Moon and funded by the German Robert Bosch Stiftung.
