By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
(07-01) 02:52 PDT RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) —
Her back to the camera, a Gaza woman ashamedly unbuttons her dress before a female Israeli soldier, revealing that her breasts were removed in a failed attempt to halt cancer.
In this climactic scene in “Fatenah” — the first serious Palestinian attempt at animation — the heroine flunks the security check and isn’t allowed to enter Israel for treatment.
The 30-minute film is inspired by the story of a Gazan woman whose battle against breast cancer included fighting inept Palestinian doctors and indifferent Israeli soldiers, documented in a report by the Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights after she died in 2004.
Filmmakers said they used animation to make their grim subject more appealing — weaving a Mideast tale whose characters crisscross the Arab-Jewish divide. An Israeli human rights activist becomes Fatenah’s close friend and a love story between Fatenah and a Gazan man threads the story together. The film turns the territory into harshly colored scenes: an Israeli checkpoint, crowded buildings and the sea.
“Fatenah” opens Wednesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
It is the first animated film for commercial release made in the Palestinian territories, on a budget of $60,000 from the World Health Organization. Producers are sending it to film festivals abroad.
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