A Story about Friendship

I first heard the name Hassan Hourani in Dorit Rabinyan's article 'The Exile's Return' in the Guardian in April 2004. Since then I've been trying to find a way to tell the story of their friendship, and in a style which reflects Dorit's prose and Hassan's drawings. In June of this year that opportunity arose. The film was commissioned by the 'Frameworks' scheme, a joint initiative of the Irish Film Board, RTE and The Arts Council of Ireland. This will be my fifth Frameworks film, and without doubt the most challenging to date. I set out from the start to reflect the true life circumstances with began with their meeting in late 2002 up until Hassan's untimely death in summer 2003 as faithfully as possible. To this end, I am retracing their footsteps, from the initial meeting on 8th Avenue in New York, through Hassan's home in Ramallah, and ultimately to the beach at Jaffa in Israel where Hassan drowned. I have been aided immeasurably in getting to this point by Dorit herself, Hassan's brothers Khaled and Mahmoud, as well as the Hourani family and Khaled's colleagues at the Palestine Art Academy. Preproduction begins this week, and my first step takes me to New York this friday to visit and film the places where Dorit and Hassan lived and worked.