Available for streaming Nov. 19-21st through the JFI Screening Room.
MAYOR is a real-life political saga following Musa Hadid, the Christian mayor of Ramallah, during his second term in office. Surrounded on all sides by Israeli settlements and soldiers, most people in Ramallah will never have the chance to travel more than a few miles outside their home, which is why Mayor Hadid is determined to make the city a beautiful and dignified place to live. His immediate goals: repave the sidewalks, attract more tourism, and plan the city’s Christmas celebrations. His ultimate mission: to end the occupation of Palestine. Rich with detailed observation and a surprising amount of humor, MAYOR offers a portrait of dignity amidst the madness and absurdity of endless occupation while posing a question: how do you run a city when you don’t have a country?
The film will be followed by a conversation between Megan Gelstein of Catapult Films and filmmaker David Osit.
MEGAN GELSTEIN is an Emmy® Award-winning producer and the Senior Program Director of Catapult Film Fund. In that role, she supports and cultivates independent documentary filmmakers and creative support to documentary films globally. Prior to joining Catapult, she worked as an independent producer where her work was supported by Sundance Documentary Fund and Chicken & Egg Pictures. Megan worked at PBS/WGBH-TV for over 15 years, where she produced and directed films for ‘American Experience’ and for ‘NOVA’. She won a National Emmy® Award in the category of Research for her work on the PBS series “Africans in America”. In addition, she has produced award-winning documentaries that have been nationally broadcast on The History Channel, ITV Network of London, and The Discovery Channel.
DAVID OSIT (Director / Producer / Cinematographer / Editor) is an Emmy Award-winning director, editor and composer. David is one of the directors of the feature documentary THANK YOU FOR PLAYING, which premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, broadcast on POV in 2016, and was nominated for three Emmy awards, winning for Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary. He also edited and produced OFF FRAME, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and Berlinale in 2016. His first film, BUILDING BABEL, premiered at True/False in 2012. David is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents and the Sundance Nonfiction Director's Lab.