"Next step Gaza"

Women film directors shone at the Dubai film festival earlier this month. A tale of forbidden love in the Gaza Strip won the top prize at the eighth Dubai Film Festival, where a new generation of Arab women directors stole the spotlight. "Habibi" (My Love in Arabic), directed by Susan Youssef, won Best Arab feature film, and the film's star, Maisa Abdel Hadi, won best actress. The film, which also won the best editor award, tells the story of two Palestinian lovers, Qais and Leila, growing increasingly religious under the control of the Islamist group Hamas. The couple meet at university in the West Bank, but both are expelled by Israeli authorities to Gaza. Leila's brother is a Hamas member, and her relationship with Qais is forbidden. In one scene, the two are arrested on a beach for being together out of wedlock, forbidden under the Islamic sharia Law imposed by Hamas. They both try to escape the Israeli-blockaded territory using false visas, but the plan is thwarted by Israeli authorities, and the film ends with Leila being forced into an arranged marriage with a man picked by her father. Youssef cried upon receiving the award, and in her acceptance speech said: "I hope we can show the film in Gaza."