Doha Film Institute
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A lonely Palestinian artist hatches a daring plot to break into a secret Israeli prison and steal back a trove of looted antiquities from a legendary general in this hybrid documentary based on a true story.
A failing museum and a career hampered by the Israeli Occupation push Naji, a struggling Palestinian artist, to undertake a daring heist inside a prison in the Negev Desert. Inside, Naji must outwit Moshe Dayan, an Israeli military legend, who has hidden away a massive collection of stolen Palestinian archaeology. Naji carefully executes his heist as he deals with mistrust from his fellow inmates. Ultimately, Naji is faced with a decision—choose his own personal revenge or help his fellow inmates in the Palestinian resistance. As Naji gets closer to finding the artefacts, he also must come to terms with a tragic loss that has been haunting him since childhood. Shifting between documentary and narrative, 'Theft of Fire' is a heist film where the audience becomes part of the robbery. At its core, the film questions how a people can tell their narrative when history is being stolen out from under their feet.

Credits

Director
Amer Shomali
Screenwriter
Amer Shomali
Producer
Rashid Abdelhamid, Ina Fichman

About the Director

Amer Shomali
Amer Shomali is a Palestinian multidisciplinary artist who uses painting, films, digital media, installations, and comics to explore and engage with the sociopolitical landscape in Palestine. Much of his work examines the creation and use of the iconography of the Palestinian revolution. Shomali co-directed the award-winning animated documentary ‘The Wanted 18’, which premiered at the Toronto Inte
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