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THE PASSPORT
From 13 May 2025 to 24 May 2025
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
When a Gazan dies during a connecting flight in Belgrade, on his way to Canada, the authorities don't know how to deal with his corpse, as the borders with Gaza are closed.
The film follows Marwan, a Gazan in his forties who finally gets a Canadian visa to visit his brother in order to repair old wounds. On the eve of his departure, his factory is destroyed in an Israeli attack. The only way out of Gaza is through a smuggling tunnel with a group of strangers. In Cairo, he was again delayed by bureaucracy. Finally boarding a flight to Canada, he dies peacefully. In correspondence in Belgrade, a mortician mistakes him for her lost fiancé, giving rise to a surreal marriage and failed corpse smuggling before he is finally sent to Canada.
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Rakan Mayasi
DIRECTOR
Rakan Mayasi is an independent filmmaker originally from Palestine, who lives between Brussels and Beirut. He studied cinema and trained in South Korea and Hungary under the mentorship of Abbas Kiarostami and Béla Tarr. He has written and directed several short films. Roubama was part of the official selection at the Locarno Film Festival in 2012. His short films Bonboné and Trumpets in the Sky had their world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the latter won honorable mention for Best Short Film.
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Today, more than ever, our Palestinian voice must be heard loud and clear. Despite the seriousness of the subject, I conceived The Passport as a light-hearted road movie that deals with identity and death through dark humor. I believe that humor expresses strength and resilience in times of suffering. Recently, I've been traveling a lot, which has got me used to airports. I felt trapped in a vicious circle where my visas and passport were the most important tools for getting out of this limbo. Passport was born of this realization: airports are a kind of no-man's-land, and a reflection of the liminal state in which Palestine finds itself. Is it all just one big prison?
I was abroad when I was told that my father had died. It was very difficult for me to be far away and try to find a flight to Jordan where he had died. This personal experience opened up in me the question of life and death and the dissolution of identity.
May Odeh - Mayana Films
PRODUCER
May Odeh is an award-winning Palestinian producer, filmmaker, founder of Odeh Films in Palestine, as well as co-founder of Mayana Films with Berlin-based producer Zorana Mušikić. May's work has been presented and awarded at major international festivals. May was named "MENA Talent of the Year 2020" by Variety. She is known for producing 200 Meters, Hanging Gardens, Thousand Fires, Notes on Displacement and many others. Her films have been sold in many territories, to major TV networks and platforms. May curates the Palestinian Film Platform, which celebrates Palestinian cinema worldwide.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
- FICTION / BLACK COMEDY / COLOR / 4K
- FIRST LONG FILM
PRODUCED BY: May Odeh, Mayana Films (Palestinian Territories)
- COPRODUCED BY: Zorana Mušikić, Mayana Films (Germany) | Abdallah Ramahi - Zenobia Production (Jordan)
- LANGUAGE: Arabic, English, Serbian
- LIEU DE TOURNAGE: Palestine or Jordan, Serbia or Balkans (Eastern Europe)
- BUDGET ESTIMATED: €1,340,850
- FINANCING IN PLACE: €53,000
- SEARCH FOR PARTNERS: Co-producers, international sellers, TV pre-purchases, investors
- CURRENT STATUS: In development
Director
- Rakan Mayasi | rakan.mayasi@gmail.com | +32 496 66 11 17
Producer
- May Odeh | may.odeh@gmail.com | +970597168631 | www.mayana.film